José Hadad, founder of Mad Mexican Restaurant and handmade salsas, started his business in 2005 with only $120, making guacamole out of his one bedroom apartment.
He’d moved to Canada from Mexico only four years previous to pursue his love of cooking and attend culinary school at George Brown College, after which he began working under Canadian chefs Mark McEwan and Michael Stadtländer. His dream was to introduce the authentic Mexican cuisine he’d grown up with to Toronto’s restaurant scene.
“I worked with the best chefs that I could find, sometimes even without a wage, just to get the experience,” says Hadad proudly of the memory.
So when he had the opportunity to secure a Saturday table outside of St. Lawrence Market, he enthusiastically began waking up at 4 a.m. to chop onions, squeeze lemon juice and whip up fresh guacamole to sell at the market. The guacamole was so well received that he quickly expanded his product line to include Salsa verde, Salsa roja–now known as Mad Mexican’s Morita sauce, and Pico de gallo.
To draw in market-goers, he handed out Tostitos with salsa samples — until it proved cheaper to make his own chips. Turns out, people loved them. “All of a sudden I couldn’t make enough of them,” he says. Once he began selling his products in local stores, he and his wife moved his one bedroom operation into what he calls “a kitchen and one bedroom apartment,” (aka a two bedroom). He knew he was headed in the right direction.
“I love food, and being able to share the food of Mexico became my calling and purpose. I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” he says. In 2007, he met an investor who owned a property on Eglinton West near Bathurst, who wished to open up a high-end Mexican restaurant.
“Back then, tacos were not cool. Mexican food was considered okay across the whole of Toronto. I went to some Mexican restaurants and thought ‘wow, I cannot believe they’re selling this as Mexican food,” Hadad recalls. “So when the investor presented the opportunity, I said ‘I can do this, as long as you let me cook my own product line’.” He continued to spend early mornings making homemade salsas in his home kitchen, before bringing them to the restaurant to incorporate into dishes.
The following year they opened Frida Restaurant & Bar, a fine-dining establishment that fused high-end service with local Ontario produce and classic Mexico-city inspired dishes. The reception was incredibly positive, and in 2010, he was finally able to move Mad Mexican operations into a commercial kitchen.
“A couple of years after that, we opened a Taqueria in the front of the kitchen and in 2014 we moved to 405 Jane Street, where we’ve now been for 11 years,” he says, noting that the anniversary is this month. “In restaurant years, we’re like 150!”
As for what’s next, the restaurant’s future is uncertain. “I feel like I already accomplished the dream that I looked on,” Hadad says. “So I don’t know if I’m going to have news for you guys soon in terms of what the fate of the restaurant is.”
His priority is to expand the product line (the company now owns a production plant in Scarborough) and encourage more people to try Mad Mexican– “So that we can bring them those five or 10 minutes of happiness that occurs when you’re eating fresh guacamole or a natural chip,” he says warmly. “We like to reminisce and get nostalgic about our food. It’s like the grandmothers’ cooking, something that really satisfied us, because they were not only feeding us food, they were feeding us love, they were feeding us care, attention and preparation.”
Reiterating that he doesn’t know how long the restaurant will be open, Hadad encourages Toronotonians to try Mad Mexican at least once. You can visit at 405 Jane Street, from 4-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday (10 pm on Friday), and starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
