first person
KARLA GARCIA,
Tecalitlan Restaurant,Chicago EDITOR’S NOTE: Karla Garcia and her brother, Juan Carlos Garcia, recently moved their family’s restaurant, Tecalitlan, from its original location in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood after 48 years to a new location in trendy Lincoln Park. Ed Avis, el Restaurante’s publisher, interviewed Karla about the restaurant and the move. This first-person account is an edited version of that interview.
My dad, Carlos, grew up in a rural town in Mexico named El Josefino. He ran away from that small town twice, at the age of 14, to Mexico City. He wanted to work, and he did odd jobs there and the first time my
grandfather went to bring him back because one of our relatives saw him and they told my grandpa, “We found him, we see where he’s at.” So, my grandpa went to Mexico City and dragged my dad back. A few months
later he ran away again, and his older brother José was in Mexico City so he joined José and they were working at a taco stand. That’s where he learned to make tacos, and that’s where he learned to make salsa, and the odds and ends of street style tacos, I guess you could say. After that, my dad and José came to the States and started working here in Chicago. My dad’s first job was at a Greek restaurant as a dishwasher at the age of 15. He worked up the ladder, he got up to server. But he wanted more, and he remem-
bered how to make tacos and the sauces and everything they learned in Mexico City. And his brother and himself decided hey, let’s try to make a restaurant and see if it goes well. That was in 1973 when he was 21. And 48 years later, I think it went pretty well. There are pictures floating out there of me in a little apron cleaning a table at five or six. On Saturday morning my dad would say, “Okay, I’ll see you guys later,” and I’d be like, “Well, where are you going?” and he’s like, “To the restaurant. I got to go.” “Well, I want to go” and he’s
JULY/AUGUST 2021
| el restaurante
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