Infusion of Spirit

How Houston's celebrated bar pro keeps her 10-year- old cocktail program future oriented

- ALBA HUERTA

I was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and we moved to Houston when I was young, around 4. We were raised in a predominantly Latino community and there were a lot of family gatherings, a lot of festivities around the holidays, and always delicious food. I feel like, as a child, your community shapes you, wherever you land, right? We were a Latino family in a city that was very welcoming to new immigrants and where we could find other people who spoke the same language. And so that community shaped me.

My dad worked in a restaurant as a busboy for a time and I found that those are very intriguing places of work for many Latinos. Today, you open the back door to a kitchen and it's full of brown people and so it's a place where a lot of us start. And for me, kitchens and restaurants have always been busy places, like a good busy. I've always loved the energy of working in a place that was constantly moving. I was also attracted to the fact that we were kind of throwing a party every day. Restaurants and bars are full of people having fun. That, plus we're always celebrating something. I've always thought it was super cool that I get to be present for all these life celebrations.

It's been 10 years since I opened Julep, and of course, that anniversary was its own party. Running this business, I realized, has really made us part of a community. We're on year eight of our oyster shucking contest, and we have other tenured events. They become so important for people. We're building those traditions for everyone else.