The Queso Connection

I feel a little like I've watched this one grow up. When COVID shut Nashville down, Julio Hernandez started betting on corn. I was editor of Eater Nashville then, watching restaurants disappear and people in the industry scramble to figure out what came next. Julio started making tortillas. Amazing tortillas. The year my mama died he hand delivered tamales, queso, and his chips on Christmas and If that isn't just a picture of a guy who deserves every bit of his recognition in the years since. I love it when the good guys who also are outstandingly talented get a win. Then came the pop-ups. The farmers markets. The truck. The lines. Eventually a restaurant. Somewhere along the way, my friend showed up excited to tell me about cheese. Not merely queso fundido, but the farmer behind his quesillo, made in Indiana from local Amish whole milk and flown into Nashville through BNA every week. Of course Julio knew exactly where his cheese came from. That's Julio. Years later, we both wound up on the Nashville episode of Somebody Feed Phil. The Queso Trail didn't exist yet when I first wrote about Julio, but the notes did. the chic Gulch brick and mortar restaurant was just a glimmer then. But apparently the trail was already leaving breadcrumbs.