For line cook Luis Hernandez, a career in the culinary arts isn’t just a job—it’s a calling.
LA, CA
Comoncy first opened in Beverly Hills in 2014 and now has five locations spread out across Los Angeles and Arizona. A quick scan of the restaurant quickly tells you why that’s the case. The ingredients? Sourced locally. The coffee? Unapologetically third wave. The vibes? Chill SoCal.
But the secret sauce behind Comoncy’s success? The people it hires, like Luis Hernandez, a line cook with nearly 20 years of experience in the restaurant industry who loves his job and takes the art of creating meals seriously. We shadowed Hernandez for a day to see what it takes to power one of LA’s hottest cafes.
Hernandez starts around 7am before the morning crush, before the produce is delivered and before any other Comoncy employees clock in. The quiet lets him focus on making sure the line is set up and the supplies are stocked. “I like the mornings by myself. It’s different. No one is bothering me.” As his co-workers begin to stream in, a friendly greeting is the first order of business before the ovens get fired.
“My oldest one? 11 years. I have a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old, and a 2-year-old,” Being a father is another full-time job— one that Hernandez adores. “Usually my wife makes them breakfast—eggs with ham or turkey—but I’m the better cook.” And what do his kids think of having a professional chef for a father? “They appreciate that.” He isn’t a traditionalist when it comes to gender-normative roles either: “Women often have to do everything. Laundry, cooking. I say no. It’s not the point when you get married. It’s two people. A partnership.”
The best quality in a chef? The ability to stay calm under intense pressure. At Comoncy, where the line can extend out the door starting at 8am and stay that way until 2pm, Hernandez relies on the advice and on-the-job training he received while coming up in LA’s culinary scene. “Just focus on the things you’re doing because you might get nervous when you see the line. You might get frustrated. Just keep going.”
Mastering certain dishes is an ongoing challenge for Hernandez: “Risotto. It’s not easy.” But there’s one dish that he loves that he aims to perfect. “That would be rack of lamb with vegetables and risotto rice.” Another dish he loves? Comoncy’s Green Goddess Egg Sandwich. For some of the more popular dishes, like Comoncy’s Thai Salad and healthy Beyond Burger, all it takes is Hernandez’s practiced hand to whip them up and get them out. With a small suggestion of pride, he beams, “the food is good here!”
Hernandez’s youngest daughter was born in March of 2020, just as the pandemic began raging through the United States and businesses across the country shut down. “I was in the hospital with my wife after our little baby was born and they started closing all the restaurants. I had asked for two months off.” As he loves his career, initially, it was excruciating, but eventually became a weird blessing of sorts. “That was good news for me because I got to take care of my wife and our other three kids for six months.”
Break time is a symphony of flavors and tunes for Hernandez. Tuning into Spanish language stations for music and talk shows helps rev him up for the rest of the workday. “It gives you direction during the day so you don’t get frustrated. It gets me happy and keeps me busy.”
Hernandez hails from the southern Mexico city of Oaxaca known for its architecture and cuisine. But it was his in-laws that gave him his first intro into the larger culinary world. “My wife’s family has their own restaurant in Mexico. Traditional food, like tortas, burritos, and… tlayuda.” Tlayuda is an Oaxacan regional dish that’s essentially a huge tortilla that’s seared, toasted, or fried to make it crunchy then covered with refried beans, lettuce, avocado, and three types of proteins (usually pork, beef, and chicken), then topped with Oaxaca cheese and salsa.
For Hernandez, working at Comoncy is like cooking for family. Next stop: opening his own place. “I’m always thinking about the future,” he divulges. “It will be Mexican food,” he says when we ask him what kind of cuisine he’ll serve. And he’s got something special in store for his future menu: Oaxaca tlayudas!
