Kitchen heroes: Donald Pickney, Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant

Every thriving chef knows that while he or she may be the public face of an eatery, success rests on a team in the back willing to do the unglamorous. You can’t have a restaurant without dishwashers, line cooks and folks to carry out prep.

Finding that team isn’t easy. Despite many chefs around the country starting off in positions like these, there’s a notoriously high turnover rate in the back of the house. Seasoned workers move from job to job or simply burn out.

That’s what makes a guy like Donald Pickney so special.

Pickney, 56, has worked in the kitchen of Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant since it opened 18 years ago, washing dishes and completing the prep necessary for Mestizo’s lunch and dinner service.

Most days of the week, Pickney is chopping vegetables, grating cheese, assembling ingredients on the line and making Mestizo’s pico de gallo and guacamole.

“I don’t have to tell him what to do,” says Mestizo chef-owner Jim Urdiales. “He just knows.”

Pickney came to Mestizo with plenty of kitchen experience. For 20 years prior, he worked for Urdiales’s father, Carlos, founder of the beloved and quirky Carlos’ Mexican Restaurant on Airline Highway. He took the job while still in high school.

When Jim decided to open his own restaurant, Pickney joined him. Carlos was winding down, and Pickney offered a consistent pair of hands in Jim’s new venture. Now, nearly two decades later, Pickney says he’s enjoyed watching Mestizo evolve. The restaurant has in recent years added clean-eating dishes to the menu, for example—dishes that use lots of fresh vegetables.

“I do a lot of chopping,” Pickney jokes.

While Carlos’ Mexican Restaurant has closed, Pickney still helps Carlos make batches of the family’s signature pork and crawfish tamales. The crawfish tamales are made exclusively by hand and are served at Mestizo during Lent.

“It’s really hard to find good people who will stay with you over the long term, and I’ve been lucky to have that,” Jim says. “It allows me to get creative, because I know that I have someone like Donald in the kitchen who knows what needs to be done.” mestizorestaurant.com

This article was originally published in the April 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.