Chef Alejandro Barrientos is used to a busy life.
From running his own restaurant, Curb Side Bistro, with the help of his family to being involved with the community including the annual Thanksgiving free meals, Barrientos has remained pretty active.
These last 12 months, Curb Side Bistro has been recognized on television and will soon be back in the spotlight.
This month, the restaurant will be featured on the television show The Texas Bucket List.
The show, which is in its 18th season, is hosted by Shane McAuliffe who tours across the state of Texas, going to unique places, interviewing different people and sharing their stories.
Everything is highlighted on the show from the old west to modern marvels and different restaurants have been featured as well.
“It’s amazing,” Barrientos said. “The show’s been around forever so I’ve always seen it and some of the food that’s on there and I would always be amazed by the other chefs. It’s just an amazing accomplishment.”
Last April, Barrientos and Curb Side Bistro were in the spotlight when the restaurant owner was featured on an episode of the Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay, a show where chefs from around the world compete against each other for a chance to go up against Iron Chef Bobby Flay.
“The main difference is that we have two different audiences,” Barrientos said. “A lot of people may not watch bobby flay or the food network but the Texas Bucket List is so focused on a region, it’s an honor to be on that show and highlight this region. There are so many good restaurants in the Midland and Odessa area that are mom and pop shops and they chose us so we’re extremely humbled and honored. That’s probably one of the main differences.”
Curb Side Bistro will be featured on The Texas Bucket List on Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. on CBS and at 12:30 p.m. Sundays on MyTV.
Unsurprisingly, Barrientos says the exposure has been great for business for Curb Side Bistro but he also added that people have drawn inspiration from his business.
“It’s been amazing,” Barrientos said. “Every time we get featured on TV or in an article, we do see an uptake in business. But we also see people that come and say ‘hey, you inspired me to open up my own food restaurant.’ That’s the biggest thing. People might be on the edge of opening a restaurant but need more reassurances and they talk to me and think ‘if this guy can do it, I can do it.’”
Filming for the Texas Bucket List for Curb Side Bistro took place last May, just one month after Barrientos was featured on Beat Bobby Flay.
“It’s great because me and my wife are the ones that handle all the marketing on Facebook and so you get scam calls and all that,” Barrientos said. “The actual host of the show called the restaurant and asked to speak to (me) and asked if we’d like to be on the Texas Bucket List because he was going to be in town and then asked if we’d do an interview. I couldn’t believe it when I heard about it. I thought there was no way he called the restaurant. But they gave me his number and called him back. He was very nice.”
Barrientos said the filming crew was around the Permian Basin area for about a week.
“What’s crazy is that we asked him if we could post on Facebook that he would be here because he came during the hours when we weren’t busy and it was on a Saturday so you can have customers talk to him and we did that. Barrientos said. “Some people couldn’t believe. They didn’t think he would be here but we had a packed restaurant when he showed up. What was cool was that we had some of our regulars that came in that day and they interviewed him and it was really cool.”
Not only does being in the spotlight help his business, but Barrientos also hopes that it puts other small restaurants in the area in the limelight.
When some people talk about Odessa, they don’t really talk much about the food but we want to showcase that we have some good restaurants,” Barrientos said. “We have some really cool spots. We don’t necessarily have to go to the bigger cities to have a nice restaurant.”
That’s not the only thing Barrientos will be featured in.
This month, he will also be taking part in Dancing with the West Texas Stars which is put on by the Crisis Center of West Texas.
Each year, 11 local stars are partnered with professional dancers from the community in an event that raises money for the Crisis Center and has been going on for seven years now.
“I like to dance,” Barrientos said. “We’ve always been a big supporter of the Crisis Center and helped out with their drives. They reached out to me and asked if I could be there for this opportunity and I couldn’t say no so here we are.”
He will be partnered up with Kelsey Tanner.
“It’s been crazy,” Barrientos said. “I’m one of those guys that’s always picking up side projects. I’m always taking an interest and learning other things so it’s been amazing and cool to learn. My dance partner is really serious about her craft. She runs her own studio so it’s great to see someone that’s passionate about what they do and learn a little from that. It’s been amazing.”
The event will take place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center.
If you go
- What: Dancing with the West Texas Stars.
- When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
- Where: Odessa Marriott Hotel and Conference Center (305 E. 5th Street).
- Where to get tickets and donate: tinyurl.com/3ckseymr
