At 20 years old, Esvin Gramajo Barrios Jr. wears many (chef) hats.
Since age 15, the Arlington native has worked hard to hone his culinary skills and launch his own bakeshop, Sweets by Esvin, out of the home he owns in Oxon Hill, Md. One day, he dreams of co-owning a bakery with his father, local chef Esvin Gramajo Hernandez.
“I decided one day to start baking at home, and my parents were the people that were tasting my stuff, and they told me to try to open a business,” Barrios told ARLnow. “That’s how my business was developed … a lot of encouragement by my parents who helped me out, and my friends as well, that told me to do it.”
The home bakery offers chocolate molds and all kinds of pastries, including cakes, fruit tarts, eclairs and pies. Barrios also enjoys making desserts like Mexican sweet bread and flan, inspired by his family ties to Guatemala.
Alongside these confectionary pursuits, Barrios is a junior sous chef in the cafeteria of a Freddie Mac location in Tysons — a role he began after graduating in January from a training program at Kitchen of Purpose on Columbia Pike. But it wasn’t his original plan.
The Yorktown High School and Arlington Career Center graduate had been attending Stratford University’s culinary program in Alexandria for a couple months when the university unexpectedly closed its operations in 2022.
“One of my classmates texted me, he was like, hey, they closed down Stratford, and then I was shocked,” Barrios recalled. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
Faced with uncertainty and disappointment, Barrios discovered a new path by chance. While scrolling on social media one day, he came across information about Kitchen of Purpose’s culinary classes.
“I said to myself, well, at least I can go there and have at least a diploma, a recognition of something,” he said.
Through the program, he mastered the basics of his field and was able to secure his current Freddie Mac position. And — after years of working and saving up — Barrios became a homeowner at the age of 20, in Oxon Hill, with some familial support.
“I just saved up money, as well as my dad … I remember at 17, almost 18 … I started building my credit and making sure I was on top of my stuff,” Barrios said.
Culinary arts were always something that appealed to Barrios, who started working at Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe in Arlington when he was 15. He takes after his father, a longtime local chef and a manager at zBurger, a D.C.-area burger chain.
“Ever since in elementary school, I remember they used to ask us, ‘what would you like to be when you’re older?’ and I always said, ‘chef,'” Barrios said.
In coming months, Barrios hopes to register Sweets by Esvin as an LLC and increase the business’s visibility.
Further down the line, he holds onto the dream of a full-fledged bakery and cafe, where he’d like to make cakes, sweet bread, pastries, cookies, loaf breads, sourdough and croissants — all alongside one of his biggest supporters.
“[My father] is the reason why I’m here, and he never said ‘no’ to me in picking this career,” Barrios said. “He’s never said, ‘do something better.’ He always said, if you like it, just do it. Just learn.”
