Chef's Table isn't your average Q&A. We scrapped the tired interview routine and went for something a little tastier: dinner. Here we are, wining and dining with some of Shanghia's best chefs, no scripts, no fluff – just food, drink, and whatever else comes up. It's raw, like a good sashimi, but polished up so you can enjoy it too. Got a chef we should dine with? Let us know in the comments.

Copy Editor's Note:

It's hard to overstate what Cantina Agave has meant to the expat community over the years. They've anchored that Fumin Rd/ Xinle Rd corner making it synonymous with cold margaritas and a damn good patio hang. They brought us Taco Tuesdays and introduced Shanghai to the all-you-can-eat salsa concept. We're delighted to publish this interview with Raffe, whom many of you know, the man, the myth, the margarita legend right in time for Cantina Agave's 16th anniversary. Next time you swing by, wish them a happy sweet sixteen.

One thing you need to know about Cantina Agave owner Raffe Ibrahamian: He doesn't do interviews; he holds court. We asked him one question and he supplied us with enough copy to produce a small novel. Another more important thing you need to know about Raffe Ibrahamian: You have him to thank for being able to find a decent taco and margarita in this city. Here he talks about 16 years of tacos and tequila, hauling 50 kilos of dried chilies in with his checked luggage, and that brief interlude when Cantina Agave disappeared (how did we ever survive?).

Take us back to the beginning.

I started in the garment business in LA. My partners and I started out designing T-shirts in a garage. As things started picking up, we knew we couldn't keep manufacturing in LA, so we decided to go to Mexico.

We had a friend down in Laredo, Texas, right on the border, who had some factories across the line. So we set up a warehouse on the US side and a manufacturing plant in Mexico. It was great for about 11 years. Then the corruption just got to be too much. Officials were constantly coming around asking for handouts. One day, we had this big buyer come visit, and when we were leaving the factory we got pelted with rocks. That was it for us. We shut the whole Mexico operation down.

So then we started looking at other places overseas. Eventually, we came to China. That was around 1995, and that was my first time here. The business just grew and grew from there. We became one of the biggest players in the US, supplying hunting, military, and sportswear products.

So, I used to come out here every six to seven weeks and stay three weeks. And being from LA, you know, Mexican food was a comfort for me. There was none of that here. You couldn't find a taco. A burrito? Forget about it. Nothing. Nowhere. When I would fly back to LA, the first thing I would do after landing was go through the drive-through at Taco Bell. That was how bad it was. I needed my fix! And then this crazy thought came into my head: "How hard can it be? It's a tortilla with meat inside."

And that thought came into my head for years and years. Sometimes I'd mention it to people I knew in the F&B industry here. I'd also started noticing that I was always kind of depressed when I left Shanghai for LA. I was beginning to think maybe it was time to live here.

And then one day, my friend who worked as the F&B director at the Portman, introduced me to Kelley Lee (Ibrahamian's former partner, who also was behind several SH ventures including iiiiit!, Sproutworks, Boxing Cat Brewery, City Diner, Liquid Laundry, and more). That was 2006. I told her my idea, but, you know, I didn't know anything about restaurants. I was never even a waiter. I told her, "You help me open it. You become my partner." That kind of talk went on for a while. In the meantime, I got to know her family pretty well. It got to the point where I even started calling her mother "Mom."

Then, I remember one day I was in LA. I was driving to my office. I pulled over on the freeway, and I said to myself, "It stops now. I turned around, went back home, and called Kelley up. I told her, "I'll be there in a month, and we're gonna do what we talked about."

What triggered that?

A bad breakup and, you know, I just was not happy. I've always been the type to move around. I'd been in LA a long time. And it was just time for me to do something else. I talked to my partners. I said, "Guys, draw up the paperwork. Sign it. I'm signing my shares to you guys." They thought I was crazy. My mom thought I was crazy. My brother thought I was crazy. Kelley's mom and dad called me. They go, "Are you okay?"

You were okay. Right?

Yeah. Kelley and I started looking for locations and all that. We found this building in February 2008. It was brand new with zero tenants. And it was right in the middle of that massive snowstorm. I saw the space outside, and I told the landlord, "I want to use this for outside seating." But back then, Shanghai didn't understand outside seating. The landlord kept saying it was dirty out there. But I wouldn't sign a contract until it said we could put seating outside. We still looked at other places. But I kept on saying, "No. I want that one." I would talk to the real estate agent daily. She would talk to the landlord and then it took four months for him to finally agree. So I signed and I told the real estate agent, "Great! I wanna take you to dinner to celebrate."

That real estate agent now is my wife and the mother of my two kids.

So what happened after you finally opened?

We opened that November, and after about three weeks, things just blew up! Even Kelley, who had already lived here for three years, was like, "What the hell is going on?!" You couldn't get a table on a Monday night. For six months, we'd work 15-hour days, no days off!!

I think within the third month my body shut down. I couldn't get out of bed. We had to have a doctor come to my house to give me an IV.

But man it was just nuts. It just blew up and it stayed that way for years! We made this corner. 16 years later – to the month, in fact – we're still here.

And then you expanded…

Yeah. In 2010 we opened up a second location in Jinqiao. And then at the end of 2011, we opened up the third location in Sanlitun in Beijing. That was the big one. It had a 220-square-meter terrace. I was running around between all three of them. That was insane.

By 2014, my wife and I had our daughter. I was starting my family, and it was getting to be too much. Every two weeks I was in Beijing for a week. It was hard to have a brand new baby and do that.

Eventually, we sold the one in Jinqiao and then closed the one in Beijing. Six months later we got pregnant with our second kid. And then when he was born I was playing with him. I said to my wife, "I don't remember doing this with our daughter." She says, "That's because you were never around." And then that's when it hit home.

You went from manufacturing shirts to slinging tacos. What's been the biggest challenge?

Honestly, dealing with customers. We've got hundreds of customers, hundreds of different personalities every day. I'm a people person and it can be hard even for me. People used to come in and say, you know, this food's good, but I'm used to tacos in Texas. I always used to ask people, "Was it bad?" They always said "No. It's just not what I'm used to."

But it's never going to be what you're "used to." Especially back then when it was harder to get the right ingredients. For years, my wife and I would fly to LA, and we would bring back 50 kilos of dried Mexican chilies. Five different types. You just couldn't get that stuff here. So, that was about 10 full-size suitcases, and in one of them, we always squeezed in a bunch of bottles of tequila too.

This may be a sore subject, but there was an interim when this place was not Cantina Agave…

We don't talk about that. That was Tepito. That was Kelley's idea. We lost a ton of money on that. I had to put a lot of money back in.

I remember eating at Tepito and liking it…

Sure. It was good. It was pure Mexican. No tacos or burritos on the menu. Unfortunately, most Americans, most Europeans, and most Chinese don't know what pure Mexican food is. Unless you're Mexican… And let's face it. That is not a big demographic here.

At one point, I just said to myself, "We're are going to go out of business if we don't do something about this." So, on May 4, 2017, after we closed for the evening, I had some guys come and change the signage out front. I had already printed the menus and everything. I went to Frank, our chef, and I said, "We're bringing Cantina back." By 8am I started seeing people's WeChat moments lighting up with the pictures of the new signage with comments like, "Cantina's back!" Things blew up within days. We did more sales that month than the entire previous five or six months.

And how did Kelley react?

Yeah. That conversation was not pleasant. So, right after that, I bought Kelley out. She ended up doing well with her other business, as we all know. We resolved our differences. I still talk to her. We're still friends. She'll always be family to me, because if not for her this wouldn't have happened.

What's the most important lesson you've learned in 16 years?

Consistency. Consistency and don't get bogged down with doing the same thing over and over. You gotta keep reinventing. You gotta keep the menu fresh. Also, be good to your staff, and they'll be good to you. I follow this rule, and I have people who have worked for me since we first opened our doors 16 years ago.

Where do you eat when you aren't at work?

I go to Cuivre a lot. Chef Mike is awesome. We actually go to each other's places a lot. If I want some Italian food I'll go to Bottega. For sandwiches, I'll go to Totino or Substandard. Jason [Oakley, the owner] is making insane sandwiches there. (Copy Editor's Note: This is the second time Jason Oakley has been mentioned in a Chef's Table. Folks, be patient, we've got a great one with him almost ready to come out of the oven.)

What do you want to see less of in the dining scene?

I don't go to these big, fancy restaurants because I don't like big plates with small food. If I'm going to a restaurant, I want to eat.

What's next?

I'm doing my own tequila. It's been years in the making. It took a year to come up with a name and a bottle design. But that's all I'm going to say about that right now. I keep thinking about branching out to Middle Eastern food too, like kebabs. You can't find a decent kebab in this city, and I don't understand why.

If you go

Opening hours: 11am-11pm

Address: 291 Fumin Rd, near Changle Rd 富民路291号近长乐路

Tel: 6170-1310