Carlos Lemus Sr. didn’t exactly plan to become a baker. As a kid, he dreamed of being a professional soccer player. Or if that didn’t work out, a teacher. He studied elementary education in college, but struggled to find a permanent teaching job in his home country of Guatemala. So as a young twentysomething, he decided to move to the United States, where he felt sure he’d find new opportunities.
The year was 1985. Lemus barely spoke any English. He arrived in Los Angeles, signed up for an intensive language course, and found a job as a dishwasher at a restaurant called the Cheesecake Factory, back then a modest, family-owned regional chain with a handful of locations in Southern California.
Lemus was quickly promoted from washing dishes to decorating cakes. Donning a hairnet and apron each day took some getting used to—“In my country at that time, cooking was not for men”—but he was well suited to the work: creative, detail oriented, a perfectionist through and through. The founder and recipe developer at the Cheesecake Factory, Evelyn Overton, noticed and invited Lemus to become her assistant. Like Lemus, Overton was obsessed with ingredients, flavors, and presentation. He credits her with teaching him most of what he knows about baking, and business.
“She said, ‘Every slice needs to be perfect,’” Lemus recalls with a wide smile.
On a Sunday morning in July, Lemus is perched on an upholstered bench inside LaGana, the upscale Raleigh burger joint he cofounded last year with his son, Carlos Jr., and their friend, chef-owner Luis Zouain. The narrow, intimate space is drenched in deep-green hues and lit warmly by elegant pendant lamps. Although the restaurant is closed today, it’s still buzzing with activity as the staff preps for a week of lunch and dinner service.
Lemus, dressed in a pristine LaGana-branded work shirt and a two-tone LaGana baseball cap, recounts how Carlos Jr. met Zouain playing pickup soccer in Raleigh. The trio bonded over their shared love of good burgers and eventually decided to go into business together. Zouain handles the food, Carlos Jr. oversees the restaurant admin, and Lemus is in charge of the cakes.
The cakes! There are two on LaGana’s menu at any given time: a seasonal flavor (strawberries and cream, currently) and Lemus’s signature cacao cake, an impressive three-tier creation that he spent months fine-tuning. Every element—chocolate base, chocolate filling, velvety chocolate icing, espresso tres leches soak, delightfully crunchy cacao pebbles—went through many rounds of recipe testing to balance the flavors and textures. The result is a truly delicious cake that’s decadent and celebratory, but not cloying.
Lemus knows he struck gold: “I can tell you right now, the chocolate cacao has no room to improve anything,” he says proudly. For a relentless perfectionist who’s been known to throw out whole batches of cakes because they weren’t quite right, that’s saying something.
Patrons at LaGana seem to agree.
“People make comments like, ‘It’s incredible. It’s just amazing. Can you make my wedding cake? Can you make my birthday cake? Can you do my anniversary cake?’” Lemus says. “People come and want to take pictures with me …. I was not expecting the reaction.”
Lemus has been dubbed the #CakeJefe on social media, and LaGana’s pages share mouthwatering close-ups of his confections alongside snapshots of the boss himself, grinning beneficently in his chef’s whites.
The comments are adoring: “I fell in love with Carlos Sr. tonight.” “Best tres leches in Raleigh!!!” “DON CARLOS CAKE JEFEEEEEEE.”
Lemus still works full-time for the Cheesecake Factory on top of his duties at LaGana. He’s about to hit 40 years with the company and currently oversees its regional factory in Rocky Mount. Between the two jobs, he works six or seven days a week.
“I still love what I do, and I’ve been taught to work every day,” Lemus says. He especially loves working with his son: “I will never, never, never do a business without him. He’s so smart.”
But Lemus also sees retirement on the horizon. Someday, once LaGana has hit its stride and his team is so well trained they no longer need him, he’s excited to pass the Cake Jefe mantle to someone else and go on a long vacation.
Not today, though. Today there are cakes to bake, assemble, and decorate. Tomorrow, there will be hungry diners to feed. Every slice needs to be perfect.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Bluesky or reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].