The Amazing Story Of Chef Jorge Guzmán

Restaurant alert, Minnesotans! Opened October 2020, the restaurant, “Petite León” has since won many awards, including being mentioned recently in The New York Times, as one of the 50 restaurants in America that they're “most excited about right now”.

Jorge Guzmán owns the 4.7-star restaurant. He was born and raised in Yucatan but later moved to Minneapolis. He started working for Surly Brewing, a restaurant that got named one of the top ten in the country. In 2018, the owners suddenly decided to shut the restaurant down, leaving Guzmán jobless and alone. Soon thereafter, he met Jill, his wife, and took a job offer in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He later realized it was the worst decision of his life. His boss was a man with big dreams, but absolutely NO way of making them happen. In June 2019, he had finally had enough. He got himself fired. Luckily, he had a backup plan. One of his chef friends texted him, asking if he wanted to move back to Minneapolis and open a restaurant of their own. They found a lot for their restaurant, made a menu, and were on their way. Unfortunately, there was one more challenge they did not expect: COVID-19. It was the year that absolutely no one wanted to be in a restaurant, but despite this, Petite León was so good that it succeeded.

One last thing: Jorge Guzmán recently started a new pop-up restaurant, Pollo Pollo al carbon, that serves Mexican food. It is located right next to Petite León in Kingfield Minneapolis. Go try one of the restaurants today!