{"id":6379,"date":"2021-07-08T10:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-08T16:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/borderlessmag.org\/?p=6379"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T14:29:36","slug":"en-la-reapertura-de-chicago-los-restauradores-inmigrantes-reflexionan-sobre-un-ano-sin-precedentes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/borderlessmag.org\/es\/2021\/07\/08\/as-chicago-reopens-immigrant-restaurateurs-reflect-on-an-unprecedented-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Con la reapertura de Chicago, los restauradores inmigrantes reflexionan sobre un a\u00f1o sin precedentes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Never miss a story. Sign up for our Thursday newsletter to learn the latest about Chicago’s immigrant communities.<\/em><\/p>\n

Update: On July 13, 2021, Allies for Community Business’ Jackie Blair sent additional information about the grant applicants in Little Village\u2019s 60623 zip code. Blair noted that the 10 applicants who did not receive the grant either did not complete their application or were ineligible. One applicant, for example, was not eligible because they had an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)<\/a> \u2014<\/span> commonly used by undocumented workers and other types of immigrants\u00a0\u2014<\/span> instead of a Social Security Number (SSN).<\/em><\/p>\n

Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In early May, Cesar Izquierdo sat down for dinner with his daughter Sara <\/span>Izquierdo<\/span> in his restaurant, Taste of Peru. Spread across the table in front of them were <\/span>dishes inspired by Izquierdo\u2019s mother and grandmother, including aj\u00ed de gallina (a spicy and creamy stew with chicken with rice) and papa a la Huanca\u00edna (a dish of potatoes and hard-boiled eggs originating from Peru\u2019s Huancayo area).<\/span><\/p>\n

For over two decades, Izquierdo\u2019s restaurant in Chicago\u2019s Rogers Park neighborhood has been a vibrant gathering place for Peruvians and locals alike. Tucked in between a nail salon and coin laundromat, Taste of Peru hosted live music performances every Tuesday and Wednesday night before the pandemic. A packed wall of pictures in the restaurant captures Izquierdo\u2019s involvement in Rogers Park over the years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But Taste of Peru, which opened for dining-in on May 14 after a long, pandemic-induced hiatus, remained vastly empty this spring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A

A wall inside Taste of Peru in Chicago Ill.\u2019s Rogers Park neighborhood is decorated with an array of family portraits, with a spot of honor reserved for an image commemorating Guy Fieri\u2019s visit to the restaurant. Photo by Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cPeople are not as comfortable to be in a small place and dine in,\u201d Izquierdo said. \u201cI don\u2019t blame them. So many people haven’t taken their vaccine yet. In Peru people are dying to get a vaccine, but over here, my daughter, who works in public health, has to beg people to get vaccinated.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Izquierdo, who moved from Peru to the United States in<\/span> March 1974, counts among the <\/span>18 percent<\/span><\/a> of Chicago\u2019s population who are immigrants. Coming from all corners of the world, they are an integral part of the city\u2019s food scene, shaping culinary traditions and trends alike. Their cultures are on full view and widely celebrated in annual food festivals, including Mole de Mayo, Taste of Little Village: Flavors of Mexico, Little Italy Festa, Taste of Polonia, Ginza Holiday Festival and Greek Fest. But less visible is their daily grind of operating a business, which has only been more grueling in a year upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/span>Essential workers in the restaurant industry face high risks of contracting the virus, and enormous revenue shortfalls have forced many owners to close their business. <\/span>According to the <\/span>National Restaurant Association<\/span><\/a>, restaurant industry sales across the country went down <\/span>$240 billion in 2020.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nationwide, immigrants own <\/span>37 percent <\/span><\/a>of small restaurants and make up <\/span>22 percent<\/span><\/a> of the workers in the food service industry. A 2016 study found that cooking is the profession with the highest concentration of immigrants in Chicago \u2014 with <\/span>4.6 percent<\/span> of immigrants working as cooks.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Taste

Taste of Peru staff serves customers at the start of the dinner rush on June 30, 2021. Photo by Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

To better understand the impact of the pandemic on Chicago\u2019s dining landscape, Borderless Magazine spoke to 20 immigrant-owned restaurants in the city about how they were recovering from the pandemic. About 26 percent of the restaurant owners we spoke to said they are struggling to pay the bills. Over half said they think they would have closed without government support. Confusion about how to find and apply for grants and other benefits were commonly cited as challenges for the owners.<\/span><\/p>\n

More Than Places to Eat<\/b><\/h3>\n

On June 11, Illinois entered the latest phase of its reopening plan. Restaurant owners can now operate their businesses at full capacity, but many still face a complex recovery after more than a year of disruption and uncertainty. Some have received help in the form of grants like the <\/span>Chicago Hospitality Grant Program,<\/span><\/a> an emergency grant that received $10 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for distribution to local restaurants and bars. The grant was the only one targeting the restaurant industry that the city offered during the pandemic, and only small businesses with an annual revenue under $3 million who also experienced a loss of at least 25 percent annual net revenue during the pandemic qualified. City workers targeted immigrant restaurateurs in campaigns in Spanish, Polish and Mandarin in an effort to get them to apply for the grant.<\/span><\/p>\n

At Taste of Peru, business has been slow after a taxing year, but it is gradually picking up as Chicago reopens. The restaurant managed to pull through because it received grants to help pay employees and sustain operations. \u201cWe got a $2,000 grant from Heinz, [the Paycheck Protection Program], a $3,500 loan from a friend and the $10,000 Chicago Hospitality Grant in winter,\u201d said Izquierdo. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have survived without that.\u201d To help survive the pandemic, Izquierdo also opened a mini Peruvian gift shop in the restaurant to sell clothes, souvenirs and instruments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [Chicago Hospitality] grant sure has helped with the bills,\u201d he said. But as the cost of ingredients continues to rise, money is still tight. \u201cWe sell lomo saltado (stir-fried beef) for $14, and other places charge $20. And today, we buy ribeye, chicken or clams at twice the price.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Izquierdo found out about the Chicago Hospitality Grant Program through the Rogers Park Business Alliance, a nonprofit organization that helps to support business and economic development in the neighborhood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Taste

Taste of Peru, 6545 N. Clark St. Chicago, Ill., has been a staple of the Rogers Park neighborhood for over 20 years. Photo by Camilla Forte\/Borderless Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

The pandemic has endangered neighborhood businesses like Taste of Peru, which often serve as both a gathering space and restaurant. Izquierdo, a longtime Chicago resident, believes that being involved in the community is essential. Since he moved to Rogers Park in 1974 \u2014 when shootings were common in the area \u2014 he has been involved in Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy meetings. \u201cI started getting the Spanish-speaking community involved, and our first meeting was at Sullivan High School,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery Wednesday of the month we did more meetings and held parties in the community during holidays as well.\u201d He opened Taste of Peru in 1998, fulfilling his dream of bringing Peruvian food to Chicago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the pandemic, customers and neighbors have come for more than food, approaching Izquierdo\u2019s daughter Sara with questions about the vaccine. A frontline worker involved in logistics and community vaccination efforts, Sara has volunteered in Mexico, Guatemala and Peru. When the pandemic surged in Chicago, she had just graduated with a masters degree in medical physiology and in public health. She helped administer the first 400 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Chicago. Being fluent in Spanish, she was able to help many restaurant regulars who faced language barriers to important information elsewhere, providing guidance on how to register for appointments and addressing other concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJust before the pandemic I was on Mexico’s border working with immigrants coming through Mexico to the US, giving them a pathway to resources,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I came back to the U.S. I wanted to continue that work, but then the pandemic hit. Lots of people knew I worked in public health from my dad, so it made it easy for people to come over to our restaurant.\u201d She said she helped customers register for the vaccine and translate documents and information about COVID into Spanish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A City Effort to Help<\/b><\/h3>\n

Taste of Peru was one of the 1,000 restaurants that received $10,000 from the Chicago Hospitality Grant Program, the mechanism that the city used to distribute federal aid to restaurants during the pandemic. A Borderless Magazine analysis of city records found that 28.1 percent of the grant recipients serve Asian, Latin American, African or Middle Eastern food. But over 2,000 restaurants applied for the grant, meaning that countless businesses had to seek aid elsewhere. Many resorted to crowdfunding on their own.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jackie Blair, a representative for Allies for Community Business, the group that reviewed the grants, told Borderless Magazine that they distributed funds in a way that \u201cprioritizes areas of the city that have been historically underinvested.\u201d That meant prioritizing applications from \u201clow- and moderate-income community areas as well as applications submitted in Spanish.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n