Help Nina of the Famous Quesadillas!

Written by

DROP BY FOR A BITE ON FATHER’S DAYDO GOOD WHILE EATING WELL

Recently I was a judge at The Vendy Awards, a competition among food trucks.  The overwhelming winner was Nina Garcia, she of the original Breed St. Scene in East LA.  Why did she win?  The first bite of her Pambazo was like being hit in the face with a big punch of flavor followed by an incredibly comforting and satisfying textural surprise.  The torta, soaked in enchillada sauce then griddled became a sort of savory, spicy bread pudding filled with potato, cheese and chorizo.  Her Quesidillas are justly famous, a pile of cheese on the griddle turning into Queso Fundido that’s scraped into a corn tortilla made to oder and garnished with your choice of chicharron, zucchini flowers, huitlacoche etc. Then as a bonus there’s her Salsa de Semilla or Ajonjoli.  A dry spicy mix of sesame seeds, peanuts, chiles de arbol, each sauteed separately then mixed together.  If you’ve ever had the middle-eastern dry dip Dukkah, then imagine that made Mexican.  It was fabulous and unique.

So it turns out that like many things in life the win for Nina has been sweet and sour.  All the added attention  just made life as a vendor on the streets of LA more difficult.  She’s being rousted by the police several times a day.

Nina’s never worked out of a truck.  For the last 10+ years she’s worked as many street vendors do, off a couple of tables set up next to a griddle.

I started thinking that we get so much pleasure from these vendors who struggle everyday to give us a taste of their culture that’s now become a part of our culture.  What if we did a benefit, not only to solve her problem but to take the excess we raise and create a revolving micro-finance fund to help resolve vendor issues that just need a little more money to break through a barrier.

So it’s time to help Nina get into a truck.  A group of us including  Erin Glenn
Chief Executive Officer, Asociación de Loncheros L.A. Familia Unida de
California are sheparding Nina through the process.

Erin from the Lonchera Association will be holding the money for us.  So please join us to get out the word!  Come by and do good by eating something good.

WHEN:  SUNDAY, JUNE 20 from 11am – 3pm – yes Father’s Day
WHERE:  Angeli Caffe – 7274 Melrose Ave (at Poinsettia)
WHY:  Made a difference and eat delicious food

If you can’t make it and want to make any size donation please make your check out to Nina Garcia and send it to:

Nina’s Food
c/o Carl Berquist
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
2533 West 3rd Street, Suite 101 | Los Angeles, California 90057