How James Beard semifinalist Julio Hernandez got his start in Nashville

Maiz De La Vida food truck. Photo: Courtesy of Maiz De La Vida.

With stints at fine dining restaurants in New York and country club kitchens in Nashville, Julio Hernandez was already accomplished in the food world when he brokered the deal in 2020 that ultimately put him in the running for a prestigious James Beard Award.

Details: Hernandez convinced his wife Emma to pool together their pandemic stimulus checks so he could buy 200 pounds of dry corn and a new stone grain mill to make tortillas.

What's happening: Hernandez has been on a rocket ship in the culinary world ever since. He was highlighted in the pages of Bon Appetit magazine, named a rising star in the food industry magazine StarChefs and featured in the Nashville episode of the hit Netflix show "Somebody Feed Phil."

Flashback: Hernandez moved to Nashville 12 years ago, working in country club kitchens where the first question he was asked was whether he knew how to make casseroles.

Hernandez used that first bag of corn and the new mill to make tortillas, which he first sold out of his garage. Then he delivered them around Nashville before building up enough cash to buy his own food truck.

State of play: Hernandez took the truck to farmers markets all over the city and then parked at the newly launched cocktail bar Chopper Tiki on Sundays.

What's next: He broke the family's home oven in the early days, staying up until morning making hundreds of tortillas himself. But now Hernandez, 32, has upgraded his production capacity, thanks to space he found in the Bordeaux area that can crank out 3,000 tortillas per hour.

What he's saying: "It's been a perfect rollercoaster, and it's just exploding, but it's not out of hand," Hernandez tells Axios. "We don't have a PR team. Our PR is people taking pictures of their tacos under the purple light at Chopper and posting it to Instagram. We just appreciate the love, man."

👋 Adam here. I stopped by Maiz De La Vida this week to see what all the fuss was about.

The intrigue: The first remarkable thing about my visit was how unremarkable it all seemed as I walked up. There wasn't a line around the block like you might expect after James Beard recognition.

What I ate: The friendly cashier helped me navigate the menu.

State of play: Rather than taking my tacos to-go, I opted to wait at the gorgeous, neon-soaked Chopper Tiki.

The verdict: The sumptuous shredded beef made my eyes water with joy.

The bottom line: Maiz De La Vida is an accessible gem that foodies and normies alike would love.

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