Med Deli chef’s dream is to cook authentic dishes in new Chapel Hill restaurant

Edgar Ordoñez didn’t plan to stay — much less open a restaurant — when he undertook a solo journey to the United States from his native Guatemala over 15 years ago.

His family was poor, like many in the Central American nation, farming vegetables to sustain themselves in the mountains along the border with El Salvador, he said. His parents, with the help of four brothers, a sister and him, raised corn and beans to buy what they couldn’t produce.

“Our house had a big field where my mom used to plant the cilantro, radish, cucumbers,” Ordoñez said. They farmed “to live, to feed the family, and to sell, because that was the only way you can survive.”

He had planned to return home once he made enough money to give his family a better life, he said, “but I met a wonderful woman, who is my wife, and she’s been the greatest wife and mother and friend.”

Ordoñez, 31, and his wife Beatriz Santillano have been married for almost eight years, living in Carrboro with their sons, ages 2 1/2 and 6, he said. Ordoñez is now a permanent U.S. resident, working at Mediterranean Deli on West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.

Next year, the family will embark on a culinary journey together, with the help of a few friends.

El Fogon, at 111 N. Roberson St., will have “some tacos, authentic Mexican dishes ... because I want our customers, when they come, to feel like they are eating at home,” Ordoñez said. “We’re going to be making fresh food, fresh tortillas ... everything fresh.”

Chef rises from busboy to boss

It’s scary to take the leap from working for someone else to cooking in your own restaurant, Ordoñez said, but it’s the dream that he had after meeting his wife. His sons now inspire him to keep going, he said.

His first job in North Carolina was as a busboy at Southern Season. He didn’t speak English, but worked his way up to dishwasher, then cook, until that job ended. He started washing dishes for Mediterranean Deli owner Jamil Kadoura, but he wanted to do more, Ordoñez said, so he talked to Kadoura about moving to prep cook, then to baker and market employee, and finally to line cook.

Kadoura approached him about opening El Fogon after buying the house at the corner of North Roberson and West Rosemary streets in 2021.

Med Deli is “a perfect school to learn if you want to open a business,” Ordoñez said. “Every time when I talk to Jamil, he encourages me to (open a restaurant). He says, I’m going to help you any way that I can.”

New life for an old house

The 728-square-foot house at 111 N. Roberson St., built in 1942, has been vacant for several years and needs major renovations. They will replace the roof and floor, which could not be salvaged, and rebuild the front porch with an accessible ramp. A patio is planned for the front yard.

In December, the family will travel to Mexico — he’s never been there before, Ordoñez said — where his wife plans to shop for decorative touches.

They hope to open the restaurant by spring, with seating inside and out for about 40 people, Ordoñez said. The patio tables will have large umbrellas for shade, and a gazebo bar is possible in the future.

“I put all my savings in there … so it will be scary, because you don’t know what is going to happen,” Ordoñez said, “but like my boss tells me, you have to do it. I keep saying that to myself, too. It’s not just for me. It’s for my kids and to help the community, too, if I can.”

That’s “one of the good things” he learned working for Kadoura, Ordoñez said.

“He tells us every single day that we are his family, not just his employees. I remember when COVID came, you saw most of the places, they let their employees go. He said, no, you guys are staying with me,” he said.

Kadoura told them the same thing after a July fire gutted Med Deli. “He’s carrying all of us,” Ordoñez said.

It’s a mutual effort, said Kadoura, who called El Fogon a good concept that he wants to inspire. It will complement Brandwein’s Bagels next door, he said, and is also a nice fit with other small, local businesses that have transformed downtown’s west end.

El Fogon “is going to be an amazing place — I guarantee this — because I had that food many times when Edgar tried in the deli what they are going to serve and all this stuff,” Kadoura said.

Family flavors El Fogon menu

El Fogon, or “the flame,” is named for the fire that springs from the wood when ignited to cook and flavor the food, Ordoñez said.

It will be an “upscale taco restaurant,” offering other authentic Mexican specialties and maybe a few from his native Guatemala, he said.

His wife, who was born in California, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, will work there, along with her father Ismael Santillano-Carrillo, who is a chef at the Rizzo Center in Chapel Hill and the source of many of El Fogon’s recipes.

Santillano-Carrillo and his wife, Norma Lazaro-Gutierrez, operated a food truck years ago at the former Johnny’s Sporting Goods on West Main Street in Carrboro.

“What makes a good taco is the sauce, and how you marinate the meat. How fresh you keep the meat,” Ordoñez said. “My father in law, he makes good salsas.”

Other recipes were handed down by his wife’s 77-year-old grandmother.

“When I met my wife, I started to eat real Mexican food. Her grandma, she cooked the best Mexican dishes,” he said.

He hopes Ordoñez will also showcase Guatemalan food in his restaurant, Kadoura said. El Chapin — operated by Rony Ordoñez, another former Med Deli chef with three locations — is one of just a handful of Guatemalan restaurants in North Carolina.

The ingredients in Mexican and Guatemalan food are basically the same, Ordoñez said, but, “in my opinion, I love my country, but I think Mexico has better food.”

“I don’t want to say that and get in trouble,” he said and laughed.

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