Meet Ivan Aguilar | Chef & Owner, Luke’s Southern Diner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ivan Aguilar and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ivan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Of course there are business questions that needed to be thought through- is this a viable business; does the location work for the concept; how realistic are my forecasts; etc.

But, the most important thought behind Luke’s was: what legacy am I leaving behind? And, more importantly in some ways, why is legacy such an important part of the Luke’s story?

I think the answer is that I am obsessed with my grandma’s cooking. She only visited from Mexico once a year when I was young, but I remember being excited about dinner every time she came. And, don’t get me wrong, my mom is a much better cook than I will ever be (in fact, she’s grandmas house now, so I still get to experience grandma’s cooking often), but there is something so nostalgic about my grandma’s cooking. That’s the legacy she has left me- my love for food.

That same nostalgia is something that was so important for me to try to replicate with my first experience as a restaurant owner: how can I replicate that feeling in each and every one of my guests? How can I make them- for an hour, or even for a single bite, remember old family suppers? The answer is in the Legacy that has been left behind through generations of Southern grandmas- they didn’t use seed oils, they used lard; they didn’t use dyed corn syrup on pancakes, they used sorghum syrup; they didn’t make pancakes with water, they used buttermilk; they canned and preserved and pickled in house. A cast iron used to be a priced possession and family heirloom. And I think using that mentality and using those ingredients is what will allow Luke’s to be part of my legacy.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Luke’s is my first restaurant as an owner- it is my fourth baby in a way. We proudly cook Southern food- and by “south” we mean the whole south from Texas to South Carolina, from New Mexico to Louisiana. And yes, we do make everything in house- no pre-packaged jams waiting at our tables. we prefer to use the ingredients that our grandmas cooked with- lard, buttermilk, butter, and whole animals.

But I think what sets us apart is that we opened in a small town not in Downtown Dallas- which means that I had to rethink my approach to labor. There are more cooks coming from chain restaurants than from chef driven concepts here, so how would do we approach it? Well, Greenville has an amazing culinary department at the high school AND I want to grow our brand to more than just Luke’s. So why not build our own roster from within? We have opened Luke’s with almost 50% of our staff being high school culinary students! And, not only are they keeping up, but they are helping us improve! I can see all of these students being the future managers and Chefs at my future restaurants and I can see them helping grow Greenville into a culinary destination. I have been lucky enough to find them and I think the school district should be immensely proud of their culinary program.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I think that this is a great time to give a shout out to some of my closest friends- I would have them stay at Lofts on Lee, a small airbnb style hotel; wake up and go straight downstairs into Prairie Coffee for a latte or two; and then head over to Luke’s for lunch. I would, of course, ask them to drive into Dallas right after lunch so that they can make it into two other locations- Goldie’s in Lake Highland for a relaxing dinner followed by Double D’s bar in the design district for a not so relaxing, but incredibly fun night of dancing and a drink- or three.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have been a Chef for a few years now, and I have been lucky enough to cook all over the country and to have worked with some amazing Chef’s. But, I think my biggest shoutout would have to be to my kitchen crews- past and present. Chef’s get all of the recognition, but we are only ever as good as our team. We aren’t the dishwasher breaking his back on a Saturday night rush; we aren’t the AM Chef that has to taste a sauce hundreds of times a year to ensure consistency; we aren’t the PM Chef that is leaving the restaurant at 2am and sacrificing a healthier work life balance. So thank you to all of them- Andre, Amanda, Enrique, Cristina, Chase, Ashley, Elizabeth, my current team, and all of my past crews. The little I have achieved and the bits of recognition I have received have been because you have made me look good: thank you.

Website: https://lukesonlee.com

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