Email from Laura, daughter of Angelina and Jose

5.15.11

Hello Gary,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write a review on my mother's taqueria, La Chaparrita. I must say that she is very excited and she has been telling everyone that she knows about it. I also figured I'd share a few more things with you about her business since, from my understanding, there is a language barrier between you and her.

I guess I can start off by explaining what she meant about the inspectors and the trompo not being up. According to inspectors, the meat cannot be spinning around in a trompo like that for sanitary reasons and also because the meat is supposed to be cooking at a certain temperature. Having the meat on the trompo does not meet the regulations and if an inspector were to show up and see the meat cooking like that, the business can be issued a citation. If it were up to my mom, she would definitely have the al pastor cooking on the trompo; it does taste better and gives it the authenticity my mother always aims for. And do not worry, I will tell Cesar to hold back on the amount of pineapple he puts on the tacos.

I'm not sure if my mother told you or if it simply got lost in translation but everything that is sold in the taqueria is homemade; all of the meat is prepared in the back kitchen with my mother's own recipes. The two creamier looking salsas for the tacos are also made from my mother's own secret recipes. Only she, Cesar, and my grandmother know the recipes and I have seen a few other restaurants try and duplicate them but haven't been able to do so. Many people love the salsas and we've been told they are one of the things people enjoy the most about the taqueria.

The shrine my mother has at the store is more of an altar for La Santa Muerte. I know it seems a little freaky because it is dedicated to a skeleton but there is more behind that meets the eye. The best way I can explain this is like this: compare it to an altar of any other saint (e.i. San Judas Tadeo, San Martin, San Miguel, etc.). My mother does believe in God and she does not place La Santa Muerte before God in any way, shape, or form. On the contrary, she believes that La Santa Muerte was created by God in order to take the dead when it was their time to go only after God had said so. Although there are people out there that use La Santa Muerte for their black magic activities, my mother does not. On the contrary, she uses it for what is considered to be white magic (good luck, money, good health, protection, etc.). I am not very familiar with the mystical stuff and I do not consider myself to be a huge fan of it but I do know my mother's purpose of having this altar is far from being more than for positive things she feels she gets from it. The mystical stuff is a huge part of the Mexican culture; especially in Mexico City. If you were to visit Mexico, or simply walked down 26th street, I guarantee you that you would see a business selling all kinds of things that are used for white/black magic. It truly is its own culture and I am far from being an expert in it but I hope that I was able to explain it a little bit more to you.

I am currently away at college but I will be going home for part of the summer. If you happen to stop by while I am there I will be more than happy to help with the translation if you have any further questions for my mom.

Once again, thank you very much for your review and for informing others of the taqueria. It doesn't get the recognition it deserves and I don't just say that because my mom owns it; it's hard to get the name out there since we do have to compete with Los Comales, a chain of taquerias, located two blocks away on 26th street and that has also been around longer than we have. I know the amount of dedication my mom has put into this business and I am very, very happy to see that it is slowly beginning to get some recognition.

Sincerely,
Laura A