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Mexican restaurant in corona queens11/7/2023 ![]() “Even in this time, it’s still hard to be Mexican. A lot of other places, you do,” Alvarez says. “You don’t have to be ashamed to speak Spanish here. He’s also infinitely passionate about the cultural fabric of his chosen home turf (he was born in a small town of 9,000 people in Arizona), in which not only Mexican immigrants, but people from all over Latin America brush shoulders with residents from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and their own enclaves.īut what makes this rather large chunk of Queens especially dear to him is the sense of community and Mexican pride that’s been embedded since immigrants from Oaxaca, Guerrero, the indigenous region of Mixtec, and mostly Puebla started flocking to New York in the mid-90’s. “Selena, represent!” he booms whenever someone comments on his attire. Joining Alvarez on this self-dubbed “taco tour” are his friends Irwin Sánchez, a chef at Puebla sensation Under the Volcano in Manhattan, and Joe DiStefano, Queens’ resident food expert.Īs we meet up in Corona and dive into Jackson Heights, it’s heartening to see that what was once the epicenter of the pandemic back in early 2020 is now a neighborhood in rebirth: Every piece of sidewalk becoming precious real estate for a multitude of street vendors selling nieves, birria tacos, and flowers on the fly, to the tune of the 7 train rumbling high above.Īlvarez is a decade-long Jackson Heights resident himself and a Mexican American who wears his heritage proudly, and literally - showing up in a T-shirt featuring the queen of Tejano music. “And the argument of the class is: You can’t love the food unless you love us, too.”Īlvarez’s guest lecturers include Queens restaurant owners, and the homework involves visiting a few of their establishments, which we’re about to hit ourselves. “In this country, folks don’t really like Mexican people but they love our food,” Alvarez explains. He quickly realized that food was the uniter. It all started when Alvarez was teaching in Lexington, Ky., and trying to get his primarily white student body to interact with the neighboring off-campus Mexican community. John’s University in Queens where he teaches Taco Literacy, a class that explores Mexican foodways as a means to understand Mexico’s culture, history, and its people.
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