MEMORABLE Episode 1, Foundation
Before you know what you are doing.
Let’s go back to the beginning of 2022.
I was about a month removed from a trip that changed me.
France. Spain. Italy. Greece. Cities I had studied. Kitchens I had imagined. Up until then, the only place I really knew in Europe was Paris. I had never given myself permission to fall in love with the rest of the world.
And then I did.
I came home different.
When I landed back in Portland, we were just over a year into República. By every measurable standard, we had won.
Restaurant of the Year. Best New Restaurant. National press. Packed dining rooms.
Every accolade you’re supposed to want.
And yet.
February arrived, and instead of protecting the momentum — instead of doubling down on service — I decided to do the thing I had always quietly promised myself I would do.
I decided to shoot my own series.
No one asked for it. No network was waiting. No investor was pushing.
I knew what I wanted from it. I just had no idea what I was doing.
At that point, we had experimented a little. It was me and my friend Braulio Díaz — my creative director, my partner in ideas. He shot and edited the way some people cook: instinctively. He visualized things on the fly, and you could see it in the footage.
Five of us total. Five, including me.
No producer. An assistant who doubled as note-taker and scheduler. No seasoned crew. No infrastructure.
Just belief.
I had written much of it out. I would tell them, “This is what I’m going to say here — let’s try to capture that.”
Zero industry experience.
But we had cameras we invested in ourselves. We paid for flights. Rented a van. Did the things we thought big production crews were supposed to do.
So we went.
We arrived in Oaxaca as a team. Five of us in an Airbnb — not the best one, but that wasn’t the point.
Every morning we’d sit around a table and hold what we called pre-production meetings. We’d talk about who we were supposed to meet, what story we were chasing, what moment we hoped would happen.
Then we’d go try to find it.
We would just show up and shoot. Very little idea of what we were doing. But like anything else — you learn on the fly. It gets expensive, but you learn.
In 2022, Oaxaca looked different than it does now. I’ve been fortunate to return since, to stay in contact with the people who appeared in it. They didn’t know at the time — but neither did we.
We didn’t have a distribution plan. No buyer. No roadmap.
We just believed. We figured; this is going to hit. Why wouldn’t anyone want to watch this?
You learn quickly the world doesn’t work that way.
When we came back home — between running restaurants, expanding concepts, navigating chaos — it became harder to see where this project lived.
It sat.
Between service and staffing. Between growth and exhaustion. Between everything this industry has given me and everything it has taken.
I didn’t have anywhere to sell it. No one knew who I was in that world. No one knew why this mattered.
So instead of forcing it, I did what I knew how to do.
I kept building. The restaurants. Our credibility. Our voice.
I told myself: when the time comes, it will come.
TODOS Media launched in 2024.
We worked hard — really hard — to make it feel real. Not like a hobby. Not like a vanity project.
And here we are. A little over a year into it.
I handed the footage to my editor, Mauricio; a young former bartender I met through the coffee world. And I watched him grow.
He took something that had been sitting in a digital box for over two years and began to give it structure. He wasn’t just cutting scenes. He was finding the spine. He began believing in his own work.
That was magical to watch.
Because he wasn’t just carrying my narration. He was honoring everyone involved in that first chaotic leap.
And he did it justice.
When we finally had it ready, we submitted to our first festival. No expectations.
It won.
Open World Toronto Film Festival — Best Screenplay.
We submitted to more. More wins.
Then the Georgia Latino International Film Festival: Best Director. Best Feature Film. Best Cinematography.
After sitting dormant for years, this thing started speaking back to us.
It gave us credibility. But more importantly, it confirmed something.
We weren’t that far off. Maybe we were early. Maybe we were naive.
But we weren’t wrong.
And maybe that’s Oaxaca.
Oaxaca is magical that way. It doesn’t need to be repaid. It just needs to be honored.
We kept asking ourselves, what are we going to do with this thing?
We shot Oaxaca. Then something else. Then Hidalgo. The Hidalgo footage sat in a closet until two months ago.
Four years of material. Four years of growth. Four years of waiting.
At one point, I joked we’d release it on February 29th. A leap year release. We said — why not wait?
But waiting is just fear dressed up as strategy.
So instead of waiting, I figured — let’s release it now.
Here’s what I’m doing.
I’m giving you one of our prized possessions. The foundation. Episode One of Three.
Keep in mind, we were young creatively. We were improvising. We were learning.
And somehow, it still holds up.
Not because I’m in it.
But because of the people who believed in it. The people in Oaxaca. The team that shot it. The editor who brought it back to life.
This is Memorable.
Watch the first episode. If it resonates — subscribe. Become a paid subscriber and watch the full series.
If not…
You can wait until February 29th.
But I wouldn’t.
Let me know what you think.