Armando de la Torre Sr

Coming Up

Armando de la Torre Sr began his career as a real estate broker, moving through the rhythms of an industry defined by deals, timing, and instinct before he ever stepped fully into food. That earlier chapter mattered: it gave him a working knowledge of risk, persistence, and the kind of patience that is often invisible until a leap is finally made. In 2010, he founded Guisados, the venture that remains at the center of his work today. The start was modest, but not without a certain quiet significance. The first location was a former tamale house his father offered rent-free for six months, a practical gesture that opened a door at exactly the right moment. There is something fitting about that beginning—part family support, part leap of faith, part resourceful improvisation. With little to lose and plenty to prove, de la Torre stepped into a world where hospitality would become not just business, but identity. Guisados was shaped from that spirit: grounded, personal, and alive with intention. His own words suggest the combination of resolve and humility behind the venture. “Honestly, I had nothing to lose by opening up.” It is the kind of sentence that can only come from someone who understands the difference between hesitation and momentum.

Where They Are Now

His current Los Angeles role is co-owner, a title that reflects both the practical reality of the business and the larger trajectory of what Guisados became. What began with one borrowed opportunity and a single location has grown into something far beyond the first decision to open the doors. Looking back on the scale of what followed, he said, “I never in a million years thought it would turn into what it has.” That sense of surprise lingers in the story, even now. The arc is not one of instant transformation so much as steady accumulation—of work, of trust, of a concept gaining resonance over time.

In Their Words “I never in a million years thought it would turn into what it has.” “We wanted to bring these recipes together with a little twist.”