Fidel Caballero and Sofia Ostos Want You to Respect the Tortilla Like You Respect the Baguette
Observer ·
The Corima founders talk about the dish that tastes like home, going into business with childhood friends and who gets to be the “bad guy.”
Fidel Caballero and Sofia Ostos opened Corima on the Lower East Side in January 2024. Eleven months later, the Northern Mexican restaurant had a Michelin star. Caballero grew up in Northern Mexico, and the dish that put Corima on the map came with him: the flour tortilla.
They didn’t wait long to open again. Within five months they launched Vato, a tortilleria, burreria and bakery in Park Slope, with Caballero’s childhood friends Paco and Erica Alonso. They also opened Bar Chucho, a Northern Mexican cocktail bar a few blocks from Corima.
Caballero and Ostos, both 2026 Nightlife & Dining Power List honorees, talked to Observer about the night they learned about the star, why tortillas deserve a baguette’s respect and how they split the work.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
Caballero: The flour tortilla, without a doubt. It’s such an important part of Northern Mexican cuisine, and it really speaks to the landscape and culture of where I grew up. When we opened Corima, flour tortillas weren’t getting the same recognition they do today, and we wanted to change that. We’ve made a name for ourselves with them, but for me, it’s much more personal. They taste like home, and having them on the menu is a statement about where we come from.
Caballero: I actually think it’s the easiest way to do business. These are people who have known me at my best and at my worst, long before any of this existed. There’s a level of trust that you can’t really build overnight, and we all share the same goal. Of course, it’s a business, but it’s also about sharing the experience, building something together and having fun along the way.
Caballero: I was at the Michelin ceremony. That year, I believe they weren’t making phone calls, so we received an invitation without knowing what to expect. We were hoping for the best, of course, but hearing Corima’s name announced after just 11 months was surreal. It sounds cliché to say that all the hard work paid off, but in that moment, it really felt like a confirmation of everything we had been working toward and believing in since the beginning.
Caballero: I think tortillas deserve the same recognition and respect as a French baguette or a really good sourdough loaf. For a long time, there was a huge gap between a great tortilla and what most people had access to, and we wanted to change that. Vato is about bringing the real flavor and quality of a tortilla to more people and changing the way people think about something that’s so fundamental to Mexican food. We know what a great tortilla should taste like, and we want to represent that properly.
Ostos: I handle the numbers, making sure this dream and passion of ours, which we want to share with our guests and team, remains financially sustainable. Sometimes that means being the “bad guy” who says no when the numbers don’t make sense. We both recognize that Corima’s experience depends on what each of us brings. It’s a healthy and fun balance.
Caballero: What I can say is that we’re focused on making Corima the restaurant we’ve always dreamed it could be, while getting our tortillas onto more tables and into more homes. That’s what excites me right now.
See all of Observer’s 2026 Nightlife & Dining Power List honorees.