While some chefs and restauranteurs may not work during the holidays, it doesn’t mean they’re not in the kitchen.
The holidays are a perfect time for them to roll up their sleeves and prepare their own signature dishes to enjoy with family and friends.
We asked three chefs in Boyle Heights how they celebrate the holidays and what they love to cook this time of year. Their answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Jonathan Perez, 34, chef at Macheen and Distrito Catorce
Jonathan Perez’s love for cooking started when he began working in the fast food industry at age 16. That passion for food took him to Le Cordon Bleu where earned a degree in culinary arts. For the last four years, Perez has been serving up a mean Macheen breakfast burrito at Milpa Grille in Boyle Heights and he’s also gone to create a brunch menu for nearby Distrito Catorce.
What do you cook for the holidays at home?
My mom, tía and other family relatives we all get together and bring in our own dishes. We do tamales de Guatemala, which they call paches – it’s like a potato and lard tamal on a banana leaf. We are trying to get creative with our siblings so this year I’ll probably just do a tamal de lengua. Since we all kind of tend to like to cook we share our recipes and what we have going on.
How do you celebrate the holidays? Is there a specific family tradition you follow?
Just making tamales. We all bring our own different fillings and do our take on a tamal and we steam them together. After that, we cut them open and we all share and criticize the different tamales. In the past my mom has made an oxtail birria tamal, my sister a shrimp one and my tía a camote one. We just kind of play with it and showcase our cooking.
Sharing a meal is like telling your own story – it allows you to create memories. We’re so used to living a fast-paced life and especially as making tamales could be labor [intensive] and time consuming, it slows down time for you to actually have a nice conversation with family members.
What are your top 5 favorite holiday foods:
- Oxtail birria
- Tamales
- Rompope flan with mezcal Caramel
- Pozole
- Buñuelos
Stephen Sotelo, 56, owner of Los Cinco Puntos
Stephen Sotelo, the second-generation owner of Los Cinco Puntos, remembers his father waking him up early on the weekends to work at the family business when he was just 12 years old. The store and restaurant – known as an Eastside institution – has been serving the community since 1967. While busy year-round, it’s during the holidays that lines form out the door with customers eager to purchase tamales by the dozen or pounds of masa to make their own.
What do you cook for the holidays at home?
I usually do a prime roast because proteins are my go-to. My mom will make a ham, my aunt and my cousin make the tamales with masa they always get from [Los Cinco Puntos].
We used to make a special [masa] mix for my grandmother and now we do that for my cousin, because she’s the one that’s continuing that Christmas [tradition].
How do you celebrate the holidays? Is there a specific family tradition you follow?
For me, the holidays are about feeding people – the masses that come to the store. Yes, it’s family, of course, but most of my family is here during the holidays, because it’s all hands on deck. We all work – my wife, sister, cousins, friends – they’re all coming to help out.
On the 24th [my family] always does the posada. That’s always a tradition, the banging, the singing (the off key singing). On the 25th we do nothing, just have good food.
What are your top 5 favorite holiday foods:
- Tamales (grandma’s recipe)
- Spiral ham
- Buñuelos with sugar cinnamon
- Homemade chocolate chip cookies
- Mac and cheese
Yesenia Castro, owner of Pink & Boujee
The name of Yesenia Castro’s restaurant says it all- but the color is not limited to the storefront, walls and decor. The food, including the tortillas and the pancakes, is also pink.
The concept first went viral on TikTok when it was still a pop-up food truck in the fashion district in 2022. Now with a brick and mortar at 1908 1st Street, supporters looking for a little pink and a little boujee are showing up to the family-owned Mexican eatery.
What do you cook for the holidays at home?
Green chicken or red pork tamales are a must, as well as birria and mole. These dishes are our family’s traditional dishes for the holidays.
How do you celebrate the holidays? Is there a specific family tradition you follow?
It’s a special tradition to make tamales with my mom. Her cooking is a huge part of not only Pink & Boujee, but our family and a special way to bond over the holidays. This year and last year we made pink tamales, so I’m looking forward to that!
What are your top 5 favorite holiday foods:
- Tamales
- Birria
- Mole
- Pozole
- Ponche
