Mario Torres wasn’t sure about Memphis when he moved here almost 20 years ago.
“It was a shocker,” he says. “From food to culture to everything.”
And, he says, “It took some time for me to adjust.”
Now, he’s about as “Memphis” as you can get. Torres, 41, is senior food and beverage director at The Guest House at Graceland.
He loves the culinary scene. “I think Memphis has a Southern influence when it comes down to dishes. But a lot of chefs came here and brought an attitude of their own and made those dishes unique.”
Like Torres. He makes chicken and waffles, but they’re “marinated with chipotle sauce, and the gravy is made with ancho peppers.”
A native of Mexico City, Torres moved to Dallas when he was 8 years old. “When I first got to America, my parents used to own a small taqueria, just a small family business.”
Torres did prep work, but he also cooked. He grew up with “traditional Mexican cooking. I love food. I was always in the kitchen eating whatever my mom was cooking or in the restaurant trying something new. Food was always my passion.”
After the restaurant closed, Torres got a job as a dishwasher at The Adolphus hotel in Dallas. The hotel helped him enroll at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts – Dallas. He then moved up the ranks to become sous-chef.
He was a chef with Royal Caribbean Cruises before he moved to Memphis after his mother remarried. He took a job at Paulette’s. “I loved it. To me, it was going back to the French cuisine I was used to.”
But he wanted to cook for larger numbers of people. “I was going from the Royal Caribbean feeding 2,000 people daily. I found Paulette’s very small. I was looking for big challenges.”
He was at Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar before taking a job as executive chef at Hilton Memphis. “I used to drive by 240 and see the beautiful round building. I said, ‘I want to be a chef there one day.’ The building says ‘Memphis’ to me. I love it.”
He later moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was executive chef at the Little Rock Marriott. He was executive chef at The Don CeSar hotel in St. Pete Beach, Florida, until he opened his own restaurant consulting business in Memphis. He was the consultant for several Marriott and Hilton properties in Chicago, but, he says, “Memphis has always been my home. I’ve always had a house here.”
He spent time with his family during the pandemic. And then when things began opening up again, he finally thought, “I think my traveling days are over. I want to be a part of the community. I want to give back.”
He took the job at The Guest House at Graceland 11 months ago. “It’s funny. I’d been in Memphis all this time and I never went to Graceland.”
But, he says, “Elvis is a Memphis icon.” While at the Hilton, Torres created the King Sandwich, which was “Texas toast with banana flambé. Elvis has always been present in my culinary side.”
Torres is in charge of the food at all of Graceland’s restaurants, including Vernon’s Smokehouse, where barbecue is served; Gladys’ Diner, which is designed to look like an old-school 1950s diner, where cheeseburgers, hot dogs, and pizzas are among the fare; Delta’s Kitchen, a fine-dining restaurant where the 28-ounce ruby tomahawk steak with its bourbon glaze is very popular; and EP’s Bar & Grill, where diners can get the Delta Burger with its tangy “Elvis” sauce. “All the menus are mine,” Torres says.
He doesn’t serve any strictly Mexican dishes, but his dishes have a Mexican influence.
“I implement different flavor profiles through Hispanic spices. Achiote, one of my favorite spices, is a two-dimensional spice. It’s not only savory, but it balances out the acidity.”
As for his preferred food item, Torres says, “I love tacos.”
His favorite food truck is on Summer Avenue. “Tacos are my favorite food of all time. I’m from Mexico. Everyone in Mexico knows a good taco.”