There’s a misconception that New York City has no authentic Mexican food. But its first ever Mexican Restaurant Week, organized by an arts collective called Migo Events for Hispanic Heritage Month, raises visibility for the wide range of flavors and cuisines that unite the Mexican-American diaspora.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Mexican food is becoming more popular across the U.S. According to reports from the Pew Research Center and the firm, Datassential, it accounts for more than 10% of all American restaurants, and its Gen Z’s top cuisine.
SHAPIRO: Mexican food is becoming more popular across the U.S. According to reports from the Pew Research Center and the firm, Datassential, it accounts for more than 10% of all American restaurants, and its Gen Z’s top cuisine.
ANDRES BALBUENA: Now everybody’s talking carnitas. Now tacos are everywhere. Everybody wants to open a taqueria.
SHAPIRO: That’s Andres Balbuena, co-owner of several restaurants. In New York City, young community organizers are highlighting the range of flavors and people behind their favorite dishes, as NPR’s Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports.
SHAPIRO: That’s Andres Balbuena, co-owner of several restaurants. In New York City, young community organizers are highlighting the range of flavors and people behind their favorite dishes, as NPR’s Isabella Gomez Sarmiento reports.
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ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: In a small, colorful restaurant called Ollin, in East Harlem, the chef is prepping a cemita.
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JONATHAN PEREZ: A lot of people don’t even know what a cemita is.
SARMIENTO: That’s Jonathan Perez. His family started Ollin in 1997.
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SARMIENTO: They serve tacos, tortas, enchiladas, but their specialty is the cemita.
PEREZ: It’s a sesame bun bread with breaded beef or breaded chicken, and it’s got our homemade chipotle sauce from actual peppers.
SARMIENTO: Cemitas are popular in the state of Puebla, where Perez’s family is from. A lot of Mexican food in New York, he says, has Pueblano roots. But that taste of home did not used to be so prevalent across the city. Noe Zepeda agrees. He’s part of a grassroots arts collective called Migo Events that celebrates Mexican culture.
NOE ZEPEDA: I used to tell my friends growing up, I can’t find a good Mexican spot.
SARMIENTO: But Zepeda says that’s changed a lot. Mexican food has become trendy. Birria tostadas and mezcal are all the rage now. That’s why for Hispanic Heritage Month, Migo Events pulled together a Mexican restaurant week that mapped out 20 must-try spots across New York City.
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PAULINA MONTIEL: We never have a good reputation in New York of having good Mexican food.
SARMIENTO: That’s Migo co-founder, Paulina Montiel.
MONTIEL: It’s always LA has good Mexican food. Texas has good Mexican food.
SARMIENTO: But she says New York does too. And the people creating those dishes deserve their flowers.
MONTIEL: A lot of us grow up and our families have worked in the restaurant industry.
SARMIENTO: A quarter of all food service employees in the U.S. are Hispanic, according to the National Restaurant Association. Most of them are from Mexico. That’s why Migo collaborator, Joaly Silva, aka Lil Joe Momma, has blown up making TikToks about mom-and-pop shops, taquerias and street vendors like her grandmother.
JOALY SILVA: I like to create a bond with the restaurants every time I go, so I could just sit down with the owners and just not only highlight the business but highlight the people behind it.
SARMIENTO: That’s exactly what she recently did at Mexi, an upscale spot in Brooklyn.
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SILVA: (Speaking Spanish).
BALBUENA: (Speaking Spanish).
SILVA: (Speaking Spanish).
SARMIENTO: She bonded with Mexi’s co-owner Andres Balbuena, about a shared love for pipian, a green mole sauce with pumpkin seeds, chile poblano and chile serrano. Balbuena came to New York in the late ’90s. He worked every restaurant role from bus boy to server to manager before opening up his own kitchen.
BALBUENA: Probably in the last, like, 10, 15 years, there’s been, like, such a resurgence of not just Mexican restaurants, but Mexican identity altogether.
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SARMIENTO: Noe Zepeda of Migo Events says he’s proud to be reclaiming his roots, and he hopes more Mexican Americans feel empowered to pursue their passions too.
ZEPEDA: ‘Cause I know there’s, like, Mexicans everywhere. You know what I mean?
SARMIENTO: Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News, New York.
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