Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2004 | 8:21 a.m.
Enrique Tinoco has no idea where his zeal and innate talent for cooking come from.
Could it have anything to do with the fact that he grew up on a ranch in Mexico, where cows, goats and chickens provided fresh meat?
How about his father the farmer, bringing home fresh supplies of everything from broccoli to barley?
And how about his mother, whose talents as a homemaker provided his family with meals from scratch every day?
Tinoco's insistent answer to each question? "No," "no" and "nope."
When pressed, Chef Tinoco as he is known by his regular customers at both of his Tinoco's Bistros supposes it's mostly because he was in the right place at the right time.
Tinoco has not attended any culinary academies in his 20 years in the business, nor does he intend to. His education came from those who saw his potential long before he did, and Tinoco's "degree" is one born partly of hard work and partly of, as he called it, luck.
He didn't find his career; it found him.
And Tinoco, 36, who spent most of his life in Los Angeles, now finds himself in Las Vegas and has dedicated his life's work to establishing a place for locals.
His bistro in the Arts Factory on East Charleston Boulevard reflects the artistic element throughout the complex: Wooden tables shaped like easels have swirls of paint to finish off the effect; a wooden floor is designed to resemble brick; lights hanging 4 feet from the ceiling illuminate 11 booths decorated with throw pillows; Remy Martin barrels hang from the corners; and paintings, including a portrait of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, cover stone walls.
Accolades and awards aren't his concern ("I'm not too much into competitions," he said). Tinoco is more focused on getting to know his community and establish a rapport with each and every one of his customers, even going so far as to help them decide what to eat.
"Every person who walks in says my name," he said. "If they don't see me here, they know I'm at the other bistro. When some customers come in, we already have their drink on the table."
Tinoco's equivalent of a plaque or trophy?
"I like to see my plates empty," he said. "That is the biggest compliment I can get from a customer."
Tinoco grew up on a 400-acre ranch in Guanajuato, Mexico, with four sisters and two brothers. His father, Ruperto, put him to work in the fields cleaning grass off the plants when he was 9, but schoolwork came first.
"The only time I was out in the field was when I was out of school," he said. "My parents wanted me to get a good education."
Although he grew up watching his mother prepare everything from scratch, he never pitched in.
"My job was eating it," he said, flashing a grin. "There were no diets we ever had to worry about. Everything was natural."
Nothing about the lifestyle made much of an impression on Tinoco, as it was the norm.
"Home cooking is always done in our little town in Mexico, and everybody is a farmer," Tinoco said. "There were many basic traditions, and not much creativity."
In 1983 Tinoco, then 15, decided to take a vacation and visit his uncle in California.
He had no plans to work while there, but his uncle, a chef at a Los Angeles restaurant called Chianti, asked Tinoco if he would like some part-time work there.
Tinoco accepted. It was a decision that would change his life.
Inquiring mind
Initially Tinoco was relegated to washing pots and pans and cleaning floors, but his hard work ethic was soon noticed by his employers.
"During a busy part of the season, I was cleaning pots and they said they needed help peeling tomatoes and carrots," Tinoco said. "I volunteered, and the next thing I knew they were pushing me to do more stuff.
"They asked me, 'Do you know how to read?' I said, 'Yes, of course,' and they had me start reading recipes and getting the ingredients ready," Tinoco said. "I ended up helping the sauce prep chef with stocks and sauces."
Tinoco suddenly found himself with an insatiable curiosity about how the food was prepared, and began asking questions of the kitchen staff.
"One of the things you learn in the kitchen is that anyone interested to learn is always asking questions," Tinoco said.
Antonio Tomasi, then the executive chef of Chianti, was more than willing to answer all Tinoco's questions.
In the process Tinoco found his mentor.
"Antonio is one of the people I got so much ideas of intelligence from," Tinoco said. "He gave me the recipe to follow in the kitchen. He told me, 'Don't think so much about it. To make cooking taste great, do it with love.' "
Bit by bit, Tinoco gained more of Tomasi's confidence, and soon the chef was teaching his apprentice everything -- even recipes no one else had access to.
"Every time he changed his sauces, he used to put a tablecloth around it so no one else could see," Tinoco said. "I was one of the only people he shared it with."
Tomasi never explained why he shared his secrets, but Tinoco theorized that, "I think it's because sometimes you see a kid you're not worried that he's going to spit it out to anyone else."
Being privy to such secrets "made me feel great. To this day, I still appreciate it. Tomasi opened so many doors in so many ways. I feel so proud."
In demand
Tinoco spent the next three years honing his skills as an apprentice. His stock was rising and others noticed it.
Others like Celestino Drago, who had been executive chef at Chianti before Tomasi and who struck out on his own in 1983. He spent three years raising money to open his own restaurant, Celestino, in 1986.
"He knew how good I was, so he pulled me over," Tinoco said. "He and Tomasi were almost brothers. He said to Tomasi, 'I want Chico.' That was my nickname. It means 'small' or 'little.' "
When he asked Tomasi what he should do, "He said, 'Go, he's going to pay you a dollar an hour more than us.' That was my major reason for going," Tinoco said.
Tomasi eventually opened his own restaurant as well and in 1987 asked Tinoco to join him.
But Tinoco, who by now was a line chef at Celestino, had another offer to consider. La Loggia, a restaurant opened near Universal Studios by an American/ Italian/Guatemalan cooperative, wanted his talents.
He accepted, and it was at La Loggia that went from being a student to a teacher.
"They had an Italian chef, and wanted me to work with him," Tinoco said. "I worked for him a week, at which point I told them they needed to change the menu and add specials every day.
"When I went to work there they were doing 25 to 30 dinners every night. It took me 30 days, and we were serving more than 100 dinners every night."
He added some of his own creations to the menu, including a cilantro and chicken pizza and smoked salmon with salmon caviar.
"I came up with those on my own, based on what I was taught," Tinoco said. "Creativity, I think, comes from your own personality, when you get into something you like a lot."
Tinoco left La Loggia after eight months to take a job at Mum's, a Long Beach eatery owned by John Morris, a man who Tinoco said initially didn't know a lot about the restaurant industry.
"He just knew he wanted us to be No. 1 all the time," Tinoco said. "I was executive chef, and I had only two assistant chefs. It was a big challenge every single day."
But Tinoco rose to that challenge on a regular basis, working upwards of 14 hours a day and coming up with new specials seven days a week.
"Every day I'd have a new pasta, soup and fish," Tinoco said.
He ended up at Mum's for 11 years "because they treated me good, I really liked it and loved the challenge."
Moving on
During that tenure Tinoco received numerous offers to work elsewhere, but nothing sounded good until Las Vegas entered the picture.
"When the second tower at Luxor was finished, Tim Emer, the executive chef for the entire hotel, came to see me. He'd been told about me," Tinoco recalls. "By this time, I was free to tell anybody anything, so I showed him my cooking secrets."
Emer immediately invited Tinoco to demonstrate his skill at Luxor. Tinoco agreed, and, not surprisingly, his demonstration went over well.
"I got an offer two days later, but I couldn't accept it, because it was much less than I was making in Long Beach," he said.
Emer was understanding, but still managed to get Tinoco to Las Vegas -- but not working for Luxor.
"He said, 'Why don't you move here and open a bistro for the locals?' " Tinoco said. "I took two days off and looked around and found a place to lease."
The original location of Tinoco's Bistro, opened in 1998, was 1756 E. Charleston Blvd. Tinoco had saved up enough money to fund the operation himself, and it was an instant success -- at least with lunch.
"Lunch was great, but dinners were always tough," he said. "After people got familiar with my cooking, the same faces began popping up once a week."
He opened a second and third bistro in 2001. The first, at Jones Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, lasted eight months. Tinoco explained, "many people just didn't know about it." (The location is now the site of an M&M Soul Food restaurant.)
The second, at 310 E. Warm Springs Road, was slow to start, but business has improved.
Even though the original location did healthy business, Tinoco never liked the location. Wanting something closer to the Strip, Tinoco moved to the 103 E. Charleston Blvd. location and simultaneously closed his original operation six months ago (the building is still awaiting another tenant).
As part of his agreement with the Arts Factory, 12 artists combined to create his bistro's decor. "It was a good thing for me," he said.
His menu, a mixture of Italian, French and Tinoco's own creations, includes lobster ravioli, chicken satay (Thai, marinated chicken skewers, Asian slaw and spicy peanut sauce) and cilantro jalapeno.
His favorite part of owning his own restaurant is finding new things to create.
"I may come out and talk to a customer, and they'll say, 'I don't know what to eat today,' " Tinoco said. "I'll ask, 'meat, chicken, fish? Red wine? White wine?' Then we'll talk about it, and I'll come out with a creation."
All in the family
Tinoco is not the only member of his family to pursue food as an occupation.
One of his older brothers, Jose Luis, 39, is a chef at his Warm Springs location, and has been cooking longer than Enrique; another older brother, Miguel, is running a Northern Italian restaurant in Belmont Shore in California; and younger sister Sylvia, 34, worked for him for two years before leaving for Utah, where she now works as a pantry cook in a restaurant.
Tinoco's wife of 10 years, Maria, takes care of the lunch crowds at the East Charleston location, and his oldest daughter, Jolanda, 17, is taking on some light responsibilities at the Warm Springs location.
"I'm trying to take just a little bit of her time, because I don't want to interrupt her studies," Tinoco said.
Tinoco has four other children -- Georgina, 13, Enrique Jr., 12, Albert, 9, and Eduardo, 1 -- and would like to see most of them do other things with their lives.
"This is very, very hard," he said. "Las Vegas is very difficult on the restaurant business because of the competition."
He would, however, like to see at least one of his children carry on his legacy. At the moment, it seems likely that will be Albert.
"He's so curious about food," Tinoco said proudly. "He asks so many questions at home."
Like father, like son.
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