Walking down the street of East Palo Alto, rows of houses and apartments fill the community. Standing at the corner, a shade of green, filled with circular tables and reminiscent of Dia de Los Muertos decoration gives a scent of spices and meat. La Cazuelas, a Mexican cuisine restaurant, located in East Palo Alto not only offers the most authentic Mexican food, but is also filled with deep culture. Mayrra Rivera, the owner, opened the restaurant in 2010 as a way to spread her love for cooking and has always envisioned opening one. “I loves the kitchen and my dream was to have my own place where I can share to the community.” Rivera said. Growing up, Rivera learned the craft of Mexican cuisine from her mom where she enjoyed serving and cooking her favorite food like the Chile Relleno “I learned with my mom in Mexico [to cook]” Rivera said. “My favorite is Flautas de Papa and Chile Relleno.” Junior Jose Pinto, long-time customer of La Cazuelas, grew up in East Palo Alto where he found a community within the restaurant and the food. “The community provides a bunch of culture and it is a very tradional place that represents where my family is from.” On the other hand, a couple blocks down another restaurant built with a drive-thru resides on the corner of University Avenue. El Jarocho, a family-owned business, has two locations: one in Hayward and East Palo Alto. The restaurant, managed by Alexis Guzman, offers a wide range of Mexican cuisine. One most notably, the Quesabirrias con tortillas hechas a mano. “This business is a family-owned business,” Guzman said. “So this restaurant is actually from Mexico.” Like many, Guzman loves serving the customers in East Palo and helping with cooking food.
“My favorite part working here is, you know, being the cashier and people are really nice here,” Guzman said. Additionally, Khrisar Magna Chavez, a long-time resident in East Palo Alto and diner at El Jaracho said that the food was excellent and delicious. “El Jarocho has very good food, my favorite day to go is Taco Tuesday because they give taco cheaper on that day,” Chavez said. “The
food is authentic and can easily be enjoyed by natives or anyone trying it out for the first time.” Many of these restaurants in East Palo Alto like La Cazuelas and El Jaracho offer the most authentic food providing customer satisfaction of the food. However, like many restaurants
in the area, they are unknown beyond the East Palo Alto community with a lack of representation. Although these restaurants provide
the most authentic food dating back to their cultural roots many people neglect these places. Furthermore, Guzman believes that the best way to promote businesses in EPA is through word of mouth.
“You can recommend our food,” Guzman said. “All of this that we have is Mexican tradition [food].” These restaurants like La Cazuelas and El Jarocho are just the many other authentic food places that are unknown to the Palo Alto community. Many would call this a hidden gem, however, it is deeply rooted in their culture with traditions and flavors just waiting to be explored.
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