2022 James Beard America's Classics Winner: Casa Vega

crossover was opened in 1956 by my father ray vega and it all started in 1930s my grandparents came over with the dream to open a mexican restaurant in los angeles casa vega has its own heartbeat and pulse it's relaxing it's cozy it's festive it's really old but really hip all at the same time when you come to casa vega you step out of los angeles and into an entirely different world it's dark it's friendly it's magical this is where hollywood comes to unwind the first customers to walk through

the door where jane fonda and an actor named gig young and then came in carrie grant and marlon brando and it was a wild success and we've been here ever since [Music] the recipes have been here forever one of them is this baked burrito that we have and it's baked in our enchilada sauce and our enchilada sauce i say is the taste of our family it's definitely a fork and knife burrito with a big margarita to drink with it if you have lunch here and you have a couple margaritas and you step outside

it is like getting slapped with reality the margaritas are super famous here we have it in big wells in the back that we make every week and it pumps to the bars to make sure that they taste the same every single time so what can i do for you today margaritaville everything in there i think my dad wanted to open the restaurant to share hospitality he was just taught that you you cook for people you bring them drinks you entertain them you tell jokes and he loved it casa vega is an american clas

sic because they make you feel like you're a special guest at a really really really good party my reaction when i found out about the ward was shock to have it happen right after my father passed away right after such a hard two years it means everything because it means not only did i save the restaurant but i'm gonna make sure it goes on for generations and generations you feel so humbled by it [Music] you