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Rio Rancho chef is gaining national acclaim
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Paula Marie Escudero’s culinary dreams are so close she can taste it.
Escudero, a chef from Rio Rancho, opened Smokin’ Good Bistro and Deli in Las Vegas, Nevada, with her son, Sean Wilson, in 2019.
Five years later, Escudero is a quarterfinalist in a national contest: the James Beard Foundation’s Favorite Chef contest. The winner will receive $25,000 to put toward their culinary dreams, a feature on the cover of Taste of Home magazine and a chance to cook with celebrity chef Carla Hall.
Escudero already has some experience cooking for Hall.
The bistro was built on dedication and hard work, which paid off when Smokin’ Good was selected by the PepsiCo Foundation earlier this year for a 12-week makeover, culminating in a $10,000 grant. This grant has been instrumental in their growth and success.
“The program that PepsiCo put out, that program was dynamite,” Escudero said. “It wasn’t just receiving money; money was the icing on the cake, but what we learned about our business helped us to tackle things that we didn’t know how to solve.”
“We have learned a lot about menu optimization, which we didn’t know about. We learned about online ordering, digital presentation and marketing; they really gave us, in a nutshell, knowledge that we really, really desperately needed for our business,” Escudero said. “So it wasn’t because we were extremely successful that we were in this program. It’s because we needed help.”
One of the highlights of their journey was being chosen out of more than 100 other Hispanic-owned businesses by the PepsiCo Foundation to represent them at “A Taste of the NFL” on Feb. 10, the night before the Super Bowl.
Alongside 20 other chefs, including celebrities like Hall, Escudero and Wilson showcased their culinary skills and their signature New Mexico Frito pies and The Smokin’ Cherry Pepsi BBQ Sandwich. A fundraiser to support GenYouth, an organization addressing hunger in schools, A Taste of the NFL was a platform for Escudero and Wilson to shine and share their passion for food with a wider audience.
“That was the whole phenomenal thing, meeting the chefs and all that,” Escudero said. “I heard (Hall) came to our booth. She tried the Frito Pie. She tried the barbecue pork, and she said, ‘You guys were phenomenal, great dishes.’ So we did get a good compliment from Carla Hall.”
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Escudero’s path to becoming a chef receiving compliments from Hall was not conventional. She had a lengthy career in financial planning before starting over when her health declined. Returning to her love for catering, which she had been doing for friends and family for years, she and her son decided to attend culinary school together. They embarked on their culinary journey, ultimately leading them to the opening of Smokin’ Good Bistro and Deli.
Escudero lives in Rio Rancho, where she is a private chef and teaches cooking classes for family. She also runs a test kitchen for the bistro in her home and travels to Vegas for big events.
The biggest event for Escudero right now is the Favorite Chef contest.
Escudero, a 12th-generation New Mexican, is working to put New Mexico cuisine on the national map.
“My inspiration is rooted in tradition and fueled by passion. My culinary journey began with the simple goal of crafting food that brings people together the way it brings our family together,” Escudero said. “In the heart of New Mexico, back in the 1600s, a tapestry of cultural heritage began to unfold with my family, the Ortiz family. We were part of a robust caravan of 15 Spanish families, all seeking new beginnings. Now, I am representing New Mexico with all my favorite dishes.”
Those favorite dishes include homemade New Mexican pork, chicken and vegetarian tamales with red and green chile sauce, which is Escudero’s favorite to cook and has helped her reach this point of the Favorite Chef competition.
Escudero has been voted through five rounds to reach the quarterfinals, which features the top 1% of all chefs in the competition vying for a spot in the semifinals.
Quarterfinals voting is open until 8 p.m. July 11 and can be done online.
If she wins, Escudero plans to invest her prize money in her restaurant operation in Las Vegas.
“I want to invest in the opportunity to run a restaurant/deli operation in Las Vegas, Nevada, where we can operate our full deli walk-in shop, catering and food production restaurant,” Escudero said. “We will offer a lunch and dinner menu with delivery available for a 20-mile radius, we offer corporate catering through EzCater, and will offer our house-made deli products in the restaurant to take home.”
Even if Escudero doesn’t win, what she has overcome to keep Smokin’ Good open has been a triumph.
The journey to opening Smokin’ Good in Las Vegas wasn’t without its challenges. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Escudero and Wilson received funding from Sandoval County to help sustain their business. In 2020, unable to locate a commercial kitchen in their area or in Albuquerque, they made the strategic decision to expand to Las Vegas.
“So basically, we got off to a boom; it went fantastic. We started at the breweries and we were at the county and we were already off the ground, and then COVID hit and just completely shut everything down,” Escudero said. “We had already had trouble finding commercial kitchen space. There’s nothing here in Rio Rancho. So there wasn’t really an opportunity because there weren't any spaces. So just before COVID, my son ended up moving to Las Vegas, Nevada. He’s my chef, so during COVID I would go visit him in Las Vegas. He talked me into moving the business there. He brought a child into the world, so I thought, ‘OK, well he’s probably gonna be here a while.’ So I jumped ship and I opened up a sister company there.”
Escudero said it was more than challenging to open the business in Vegas.
She has a GoFundMe set up to help move Smokin’ Good out of the commissary and into a restaurant to open its services to the public.
“It’s been rough; Las Vegas is very competitive, very big, very expensive to set up. The cost of everything is just astronomical,” Escudero said. “So it really took us about the last three years just to survive. I’m not gonna say we made a big success. We survived.”
Despite facing challenges and having to shut down a few times over the years due to funding issues, Escudero and Wilson remain resilient, driven by their shared passion for food and their determination to succeed.
“I think I’m destined,” Escudero said. “I guess because it’s my family, it’s my son. It’s our future. I can’t give up.”
Semifinals voting runs from July 12-18 with the winner being determined through voting from July 19-25.
The winner will be announced on Aug. 2.
