The smell of burgers sizzling on the grill fills the kitchen. He uses a burger press to smash the patties, making them thin and crispy before topping it off with seasoning and cheddar cheese.
Thousands of burgers are made.
This is what senior Brody Carrizal specializes in.
After Carrizal became the head chef at Wagyuru, a meat shop in Bellaire, he created the very recipe that they use to go from making 60 to 550 burgers a weekend. Carrizal has been working at Wagyuru for almost two years, starting as a salesperson in the summer of 2024 to now as head chef training other employees a year later. He runs the kitchen over the weekends when Wagyuru sells smashburgers, and every Tuesday to Friday he serves as the main salesperson.
But at first, the young chef had “zero passion” for cooking, until he started spending a lot of time with his grandparents at the beginning of his sophomore year. His grandma inspired the start of his cooking journey.
“My grandma cooked meals every night,” Carrizal said. “So that kind of inspired me to focus more on my cooking. One of the things we always made together is burgers, so it’s just kind of something that I always enjoyed from when I was younger to now.”
Through cooking, Carrizal took up his first job with Jamie’s Fine Foods catering company in the summer of 2023.
“I worked in a full kitchen where I’d make an entire menu,” Carrizal said. “I was the only cook in the kitchen, and I would do burgers, hot dogs, salads and sandwiches. My old job taught me how to cook.”
His job with Jamie’s Fine Foods required him to go to farmers markets during the weekends, which is how he met his current Wagyuru boss. They were stationed together, and after working together as friends, his future boss noticed Carrizal’s potential and offered him a job the summer of 2024.
“I’d go to farmers markets for my old job on the weekends, and I would be stationed next to my Wagyuru boss,” Carrizal said. “We’d be talking to each other and just built a friendship from there. He also saw that I had a good work ethic and drive to sell products even when I was making less than minimum wage.”
Initially, Carrizal got the job at Wagyuru as a salesperson and the very first physical employee, as Wagyuru only specialized in producing wagyu, a type of Japanese breed of beef cattle, at farmers markets. In 2017, the meat shop opened their first physical storefront in Bellaire, right at the end of Carrizal’s sophomore year.
“We specialize in wagyu beef, and we have a lot of different cuts,” Carrizal said. “It’s all Japanese genetics, which is what makes us unique. I learned almost everything there is to know about the different cuts and beef as a whole.”
After being a salesperson for a year, Carrizal began a new project for the business.
“Since we had a full commercial kitchen in the back of the shop, I had the idea of doing smash burgers.” Carrizal said.
Carrizal worked with his boss and other focus groups to come up with the recipe, leading to the creation of Wagyuru’s current burger that they launched on the weekend of March 1. The burgers are only sold during the weekends.
“I chose the buns, the cheese, the patty size and the addition of caramelized onions,” Carrizal said. “I used my experience of making smash burgers to come up with a recipe, and I was very appreciative that my boss actually listened to my opinion, and that’s kind of what shaped the way our burger looks today.”
Carrizal used his experience in smash burgers to spice up the recipe with his own personal touches.
“I chose Martin’s potato rolls because they’re absorbent and have good flavour/texture,” Carrizal said. “I think pickles add a nice contrast to the other flavors, and my boss made a secret sauce that acts as the cherry on top.”
(Ava Novak)
His boss was able to get influencers like Wayne Dang and Chris Robertson to try Wagyuru’s burgers, with the Houston Chronicle describing their burgers as “one of Houston’s best smashburgers.”
“It does definitely bring a sense of pride when I’m making a product that people are happy about because it’s my recipe.” Carrizal said.
Carrizal said cooking has “definitely” affected how he views his future. For now though, he has his sights set on local business plans.
“My biggest goal is probably just to go to the University of Houston,” Carrizal said. “I want to go to UH for business, help my boss eventually open up another location of Wagyuru and maybe be the head manager at that location.”
Carrizal is considering applying to a couple of culinary schools in Japan, as he is a part of the Japanese club and has been taking Japanese since his freshman year. He used the money he earned from his job on a six-week trip to Japan over the past summer.
“It was nice to try wagyu [in Japan] after basically learning about all the different things about it,” Carrizal said. “Our [beef] genetics are 100% Japanese, so it was honestly very comparable and similar. The only thing that was very different was A5, which is the fattiest beef of them all, and I liked it but it was extremely rich.”
Carrizal helped hire seniors and co-workers Quinn Cavanaugh and MikaellaKate Paez to cover for him in his absence. Carrizal trained Paez for the job before his trip to Japan and Cavanaugh after he came back.
“Basically the entire shift, even while we’re cooking [and] when we’re not doing anything, we’re talking, we’re messing around,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s a very friendly environment. It’s always nice to see [Carrizal] working hard. He’s basically the same guy he is outside of work. He’s a good dude.”
(Ava Novak)
Paez prepares the burger ingredients and condiments while Cavanaugh and Carrizal cook the burgers.
“I was actually really intrigued, because I thought it was just going to be like a meat shop and whatnot,” Paez said. “But then he told me about how on weekends, we were gonna sell burgers, and that’s where I would come in. It gave me the ability to be more collaborative with people because we have to communicate within our job, especially taking orders.”
Carrizal, Cavanaugh and Paez work together to run the kitchen on weekends, describing the work environment as “healthy and fun” even on busy days.
“I think the biggest thing that we try to strive for is good customer service,” Carrizal said. “We always work with a smile on our face. We’re all happy to be there because we all like each other. The entire kitchen staff are my friends.”
Carrizal said that balancing school and work is “the hardest part,” from waking up at 5:30 every morning in season for varsity wrestling to utilizing his off periods and Cardinal Hour to get work done.
“It’s a lot to think about,” Carrizal said. “I’m the kitchen manager and a lot of times I have a lot more responsibilities outside of that, like packing the coolers for farmers markets and stuff like that.”
But for him, the sense of accomplishment and reassurance he gets from working directly with his boss and the “wonderful” community at Wagyuru makes it all worth it.
“I’ve gained the leadership skills to be able to lead outside of being kitchen manager,” Carrizal said. “Cooking was never something I considered, but after being in the kitchen, I realized that if I just put work behind it and am diligent, I can succeed as a cook.”
