Okay but still, why? Obviously whatever you're telling these employers isn't sufficient.

Have you ever had a physical labor job? A job where you literally do the exact same thing as quickly as possible for 2 hours with no stopping for coffee or anything? Do you speak Spanish? Have you ever actually worked second shift? Do you know how to mop a greasy floor? Have you ever had a job where people constantly fuck with you and search for every little way to bother you, shouting and cursing at you because that's how they cope? Can you juggle 6+ time sensitive tasks at once with new ones constantly popping up? Anybody can learn how to cook one fish or steak and how to make everything served with it. It takes a special kind of person to learn everything, manage the time, clean constantly, deal with the physical intensity and lack of outside social life, understand the (anti)social tendencies of other cooks, and still show up to every shift ready to go, for $12/hr and no benefits.

You have to convince a chef that your work or life experience somehow has you prepared to do this kind of job. I don't know your resume so I can't get much more specific. But look at your history and between saying how passionate you are, show your interviewer what you've done that makes you prepared for a kitchen.

Also: 1. get a food handler's card online. A lot of nice places require it. 2. Try applying online with nicer chains. Corporate places that do background checks and/or e-verify have a much smaller labor pool to choose from.