Isabella Romo is the owner of her namesake restaurant, Issi, in Mexico City and is currently in the process of opening a second place next door, Crisis (how she arrived at that name is one of my favorite parts of the interview). She designed the menus for both places but doesn't refer to herself as a chef, as a former philosophy student. Her perspective on doing something truly from the heart, without tripping over other people's projections and expectations, really hit home for me. What she shared, I think, is some of the best advice when it comes to fighting imposter syndrome. An alt title for this post could be: How to Go For It and Not Get In Your Own Way.
**Isabella and I chatted in Spanish, the original text has been transcribed and translated by me. God help me.
Isabella, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. I know doing interviews is a little "QUE HUEVA!" because they can be so time consuming and we are all so busy, so truly thank you.
Isabella: Por nada Olivia! I am walking around very fried these days but I'm so happy to chat.
Let's start at the beginning, where are you from originally? Where were you born?
What are your earliest memories of preparing food? How did your love of food begin?
What was the first dish you ever learned to make?
I could tell you that I remember my aunt teaching me how to make red salsa. Wow—I want to make that red salsa and serve it with eggs with some meat. A lot of the foundation of what ISSI is lives inside that salsa. It brings you back to a very simple kind of cooking. Cooking happens to us as something that inspires us. I think it comes from what you see, where you travel, the canvas where I reflect a bit of how Isabella sees the world. I studied philosophy and literature. The way I reinterpret things comes from a place of a lot of creativity, not training. I can experiment. Not long ago, I read a quote by Frida Escobedo that said something like: “I think the less you start defining yourself as something very specific, the more interesting you become and the better the work is.” Even though I didn’t study cooking, I feel like the world is infinite. This is not what my teacher would do—I think it’s more authentic and with less desire to please. When I started ISSI, people said the location was bad, people wouldn't come. I didn’t know if people in Las Lomas would like it. My first audience was me. It was an expression of something I had to express.
Gosh this speaks to me so much. I also did not study fashion design, I do not have a business degree, but I find that NOT having those things has helped me so much in many ways. I never put rules on myself, I follow my gut, I create clothes I want to wear. It can be frustrating, I feel confronted with all my limitations, but I also feel I am nimble and fluid and I rarely have someone else's voice in my ear.
Tell me about your new restaurant: what is the concept?
It's called Crisis, because everything is a crisis. A lot of it is how I see my work. The food industry in Mexico is a very male-dominated industry. People expect that someone put you there, that you had an “in.” Yes, I had the opportunity to work in restaurants, but people diminish you. This—I’m doing it for myself. It’s me against my own crisis. I do things because, chemically and emotionally, I have to do them. I don’t look at someone and think, “I need to do this for someone or for something.” I’m doing it for me. At the same time, I’m generating community, employing people—and on that side, I feel really good. I feel happy doing what I want to do.
But to distinguish between the two: ISSI is dinner food. CRISIS is breakfast, late food, a wine bar. What we identify is this: it’s my story. I didn’t study cooking. We live in a world where people want to define you. I believe what’s beautiful about life is that everyone makes their own recipe. For me, that is ISSI. It’s a place that speaks about community. Make your crisis physical.
Thank you so much, Isabella!
