February 20, 2025 • 26 mins
After a brief hiatus, Locales Only is back! This week we are going for a drive with Angela & Mariam El Haj — sisters who went from being first-generation American immigrants to owning Anaheim’s Calaca Mamas Cantina. You’ll get to hear directly from the pair how they have been raised in the restaurant scene, how their parents made the difficult journey from Palestine to Spain to the United States, and how it’s not as easy as it looks to compete with Disneyland! So buckle up and let’s hit the road with Locales Only.
Big thanks to Fletcher-Jones Motorcar of Newport Beach for sponsoring the show and building out the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQE as our rolling podcast studio!
Big thanks to Fletcher-Jones Motorcar of Newport Beach for sponsoring the show and building out the all-electric Mercedes-Benz EQE as our rolling podcast studio!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Col Hi, Angelia Derek with Locals Only.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Eric, how are you? I'm doing well? Thank you?
How are you good?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm gonna be pulling up in a white Mercedes. I'll
see in just a second.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Okay, bye bye, Hey, Welcome to Locals Only. I'm Eric Hale,
and if you don't know me, I'm the guy that
founded Local magazine fourteen years ago in my garage. It's
been my job for all those years to tell you
the coolest places to eat in all the southern California,
fun things to do. So you have date nights that
(00:34):
aren't boring, and we've talked to some really interesting people.
Now we have a podcast, and we're lucky enough to
call this Mercedes Benz EQE all electric Sedan courtesy of
Fletcher Jones Motor Cars in Newport Beach, our mobile podcast.
Do do so, sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the conversation.
Welcome to Locals Only. Today. On Locals Only, we're in Anahi,
(01:00):
and more specifically, right outside the gates of Disneyland. We're
going to be picking up sisters Angela and Mariam at
their restaurant to lock a Mama's. It is right outside
the main pedestrian gate of Disneyland. We're going to be
talking to them about what it was like being the
daughters of really hard immigrant workers that opened up I
hop restaurants and employed them to teach them their trade,
(01:24):
and also what it's like being women and a mostly
dominated male trade. So sit back, buckle up, and enjoy
this episode of Locales Only. That was easy. Hi. How
are you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Hi, I'm Angela. Hi Angela.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Let's good to know each other a little bit. I
guess so I've read about you, but I think the
thing that stuck with me was you come from a
family of restaurants tours, right, so we do this? Uh
you owning a restaurant now, which I'm sure we'll get into,
isn't probably a straight line right from from from from
(02:11):
where you were to where you are now. It's usually
not a straight line.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
For us, It's been pretty continuous. We grew up in
the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
And so my dad opened an ie hoop when I
was just a couple months old, and we've been around
the restaurants our entire lives. So our first job is everything.
We've always worked them, so we've always kept going with them,
We went to school, we did all the things, but.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So everything was the intention of being in the restaurant business.
That's my question because at least from hearing your background stories,
you were going into different fields and doing different things.
When I say, straight line, it started in the restaurant
business with your parents, and then it looks like you
took some other courses and then ended back there. That's
why I got the line.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, we didn't leave the restaurants. We still worked in
the restaurant. I was the GM. I then had a
kid and I stepped away in the full GM capacity,
but I stayed in the business. At that point is
when I continued going to school, and then that didn't
last very long and we came back. Our parents didn't
want us to go into the restaurant industry. It's a
(03:18):
hard industry. It's physically intense, it's challenging, it's a lot
of ups and downs, and it wasn't something that they
wanted for us. They wanted something everybody's parents just want
something bigger or better for their child, and that's what
our parents envisioned for us.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
At the same time, they were grooming us.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Absolutely, we talked about labor, We talked about operations.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
When we went out to dinner.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It was very much analyzing what everybody's doing around.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And they're doing or if you wanted something, drawing up
a business plan really to show why you wanted this
thing or why you should be allowed to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Go to this whatever it was that we wanted to
go to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
There was always negotiating and having to approve your case.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Now I read something that they were immigrant. Did they
immigrate here? They immigrants when.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Our first generation America first generation?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Right? Congratulations, that's amazing. And I read that it was
Palestinian or Palestine and also also Spanish Spain, right, Yeah,
what a great combination. Thanks, thanks, So who was from
Spain and who was from.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
U father was Palestinian, Okay, and he grew up in Lebanon. Wow,
And they my dad left Lebanon when he was eighteen
years old onto a boat and.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Went to Spain and met my our mom at the
University of Madrid.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh wow, how romantic. And then did they both decided
to come here?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yeah, they got married and actually the day after they
got married, they took a plane to Chicago because our
dad's best friend, childhood friend, would first moved to Chicago,
so they had somebody that they knew.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So America, let's move. That's it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
They had been.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Together a few years, but yeah, two years I think
at that point. But yeah, and they our dad was
very ambitious. Our mom wouldn't have left Spain. Really, her family,
her family business. Yeah, we love Spain, and so she
loved him. Yeah, she loved him. They they that was
that was their person. And he wanted to be more
(05:29):
and do more. And as a refugee child, you know,
he believed in the land of milk and honey, and
so that's where we wanted to right.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely. He is the story of the American dream that
there is.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And I love those stories. I love these guys because
you see people that are born here that can't see
the opportunity because it's like it's all around you. But
they're like, oh, one day, I'd like to open a business.
And then you see a guy move here and he
always has like five dollars in his pocket and he's
nineteen and he's like, you can open a business here.
I'm opening a business, and they figure it out how
to make it work. Now, you said your dad wanted
(06:03):
you to be or even your mom wanted you guys
to do more than them, But do you ever find
that because of all that hard work and dedication, it's
hard to even live up to being what your parents did.
Like all, but it's like, man, if I could, just
if I ever had your work out and your drive
and your desire with the opportunities I have now starting
(06:24):
off with a good base, I mean, you could disguise
the limit, right, And that's what you're that's where we're
talking about today, is I think it.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Gives us a lot different perspective though, because with some.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Of the things, like our father was incredibly ridiculously successful
in but in others he had to compromise because of
that success, right, And I think that's something Angela and
I really understood from a really young age that in
order to do.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That, it was a sacrifice for time for him. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
That was I think a constant and so Angela and
I have very much so made an effort to make
sure that our kids aren't like restaurant orphans basically because.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
It happens all too often in the restaurant industry.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I bet, I mean you can just you're you're working
there all the time, and I think that there's like
a parable. I grew up very religious, even though I'm
not very religious now, but I remember the parable where
like the dad gave like one he gave his sons
the same thing, and like one of them went and
like like burnt, like threw it all away, just like
partied it all away, and what the other kid went
(07:25):
and buried it like in the yard. So at the end,
one kid was like, I don't have anything left, and
the other kid was like, Dad, I have it all.
And he's like he was really happy with the kid
that went out and like experienced the world and did stuff.
So I just think it's kind of that, it's that story.
I think what's nice is you's I guess the way
I'm trying to pull that back is you see a
lot of people that might have this first generation parents
(07:46):
or this I mean immigrant parents that worked really hard
and built something and then they give it to the kids,
and the kids they go thanks and they just sit there.
So let's talk about you guys. So are kind of
the history of it, and we haven't gotten into it
that much, but so your parents were restaurant on International
House of Pancakes, Right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I hops, I hop Yeah, He opened the first one
in eighty five and when the original Disneyland main gate
was on Catella, so he was right across the street
for it. It was huge, It was amazing. That was everything.
And he was still working making furniture at night at
that point to be able to afford this, because you know,
(08:24):
you don't really make it an evening when you're trying
to build out a store. And he built it out
of his own hands. And then nine months later he
opened his second I hop and I was, yeah, it
was insane.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It wasn't a good landlord.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Oh okay, and yeah, he found another location in Anaheim,
and it was right when Disneyland changed their main gate
to on Harper.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He just got the timing right, He got the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
He was very lucky.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
He worked very hard, but he also he was very lucky,
and he was very social and he networked well and
it fell. It all worked out for him and he
acquired this ur an I hop, and then a third
one came a couple of years later in Irvine, across
the street from John Wayne Airport, and he was very
(09:10):
ambitious as it continued, and he acquired the least next
door to the I hop on Harbor and he opened
the Anaheim Pizza and Spaghetti Company and had an arcade
in a jukebox.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It was really cool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I love that these.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
This is all just a front for him to be
able to make enough money to be a musician, as
my dad's lifelong ambition, goal dream. It was literally just
to make money to be able to do music. Yeah,
and that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Everything every musician I've ever talked to. Yeah, so let's
take this, let's take this story. Yeah, so now we
have some context of like, you know, where your family
came from and how you got to hear and you know,
I think it's nice to say you've probably had a
little bit of a head start because of that. So
we thank your mom and dad for all that. Absolutely,
I think if you know, I don't really want to
go into this, I don't think it's necessary, but I
(10:01):
think your mom and dad aren't with us anymore. Is
that also true?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, it's also true.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Unfortunately we lost them basically ten part years apart from
each other, and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So some more inspiration and you know, hopefully we're blessing
and honoring them today by having you guys on here
to talk about them.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So I like that thought, Yeah, that's sweet, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Okay, so let's let's take from that. So you had
this great foundation, you had this this work ethic, you
had this you know, entrepreneurial background, and it was it
was bred into you from early lunches and dinners and
you kind of learned this. So you've taken this and
instead of just running the restaurants, you've decided to not
(10:38):
only open up your own business, but also to invest
in some franchises. So why don't we start with the
business you've opened. And it's I think geographically almost right
where your dad opened. It's very near Disneyland. You can
throw a rock over the fence.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
That's actually a really funny story how we even got
to our location where klawkas sits today and.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
The restaurant is just tell everybody clock.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
A Mama's Cantina. And in California, right by Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
It's right off Harbor, right.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
Right across the street from Disneyland on their pedestrian main
gate entrance.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Okay, so we're keeping the trend alive to continue.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
We understand high volume tourist locations, and you know, we
love that kind of crazy amped up environment. But when
her father acquired then this I Hop was is separate
from the one that he had before those other ones closed.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
That's and they stood where California Adventure actually stands. Now,
Oh really, that's who acquired.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And so we moved then across the street from Disneyland,
and he opened that I Hop And at the time
that he acquired that lease, he acquired the least the
spot next door, and he had to choose which location because.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
He could not afford to open both. We still couldn't.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Afford to do everything undertaking absolutely two new restaurants. And
it's also a finance. He never took on partners really
like that or anything. And he got that lease next
door and the I Hop and he went with the
ihop location because it was cheaper to remodel.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Great It's worked out wonderful for us. It's a great spot.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And then a friend of his ran and operated the restaurant.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
He signed over the lease to his other one if
he had a partner for real estate that was in
the restaurant space before, and he said he had wanted
it for himself, that he wanted to get into the
restaurant space again, and so he signed the lease over
to him, and then you flashed forward to twenty sixteen.
(12:45):
Was a twenty sixteen or twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I was looking for an office building to purchase, and
that came across a listing that said that all it
showed was a picture of the main entrance to Disneyland
with a great, great ad caption that said restaurant space
for sale. And we've stared at that view our entire
(13:08):
lives out very familiar with the I HOB window. So
we called right away and it was actually my dad's
old friend.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Negotiate that he was retiring. Yeah, I mean he was.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
He's very still wasn't is an extremely keen business man,
very smart man, very kind man, very generous, very smart
and keen in his business, especially when it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Comes to real estate. That was his serious genius.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
And so the least actually went from our father to
them then back to us. Okay, so we ran it
as and bought it as a Captain Kids Buffet and
was as Dian themed.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So at first the restaurant that you're in now was
Captain Cook's Buffet, Captain Kids, Captain Kids.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
So if you've seen the instauant now, you should definitely
google this because the transformation alone is ridiculous. It was
full on pirate themed buffet, I mean with like hanging chains.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
And like at a whole nine yards Treasure Island in
Las Vegas did a big remodel in the nineties. Yes,
there was an auction and you could buy them for
pennies and so restaurants you make pennies on the dollar.
We all know you chase it. And so he to
redecorate and remodel. He went out to Vegas and a
(14:31):
bunch of it. We're like real swords with like screws
into the walls, you know, fake parents hanging.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So this is a big remodel. So what did you
guys do with all that stuff?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
And we had we have some of it, We have
quite a bit of it. So the nicer pieces of
that we want to keep, the memory and stuff. So
we took it over and we really had no idea
what we were going to do with it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We were like, oh, there was no concept.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
It was.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
We were, like I said to me so quickly, just
the right because always been Yeah, now this is did
you consider making it a Spanish or Palestinian style restaurant because.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Of your heritage? Now that those things might be more
we thought.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
About it, but they're kind of really like niche.
Speaker 7 (15:17):
And especially for tourists coming from fly that's not really
a cuisine that's easily accessible and execution is right some
of those dishes, or teaching others how to be able
to you're looking.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean, it's a business mindset first, which is probably
what your dad. What do you make for the masses
that is going to connect with the thousands and thousands
of people at first?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Angel and I, since we're so like franchise mentality, angel
and I always thought when we were acquiring the least,
we'll just stick a franchise in there, not a big deal.
Well yeah, not so easy when literally it's Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So franchise is already taken.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, they own the rights already, right, although they haven't developed.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right, So somethings impossible to do a franchise all.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Of course, or you could people are willing to buy
our lease, you know, take it over, But that's not
what we wanted.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We wanted to be operators.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
We wanted our hands in it because that's what we enjoy,
not just a paycheck.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
So now you're you have a big responsibility. I would say,
because I think the population of Anaheim is well over
fifty percent Hispanic, correct, right, Yeah, and there's a lot
of Mexican. There's hundreds, I think over five or six
hundred Mexican food restaurants. Oh yeah, I anaheu. But if
a lot of your customers, I'm guessing are coming as
(16:39):
visitors to Disney, this might be their taste of Mexican food.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah. Correct, So talk about pressure.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
What do you do to make sure that that's right?
How do you make sure that that's right? I mean,
how do you get the recipes right? How do you
get the menu items right? So when they go home
to Ohio, they said they had a you know, California
taco and we got it right. Well.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
See, the beautiful thing about Mexican cuisine and Mexican culture
is there is so many different variations, absolutely that it
is such a beautiful thing to be able to incorporate
a bunch of different flavors from a bunch of all
over yeah Mexico and oh yeah, anywhere you go.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
I've traveled all over Mexico at least twenty trips I
think by now, say fifteen to twenty. But the cuisine
people always say that's not authentic Mexican food. And I'm
not an expert in the subject, but I have eaten
Mexican food all over Mexico and wherever you go, it's
completely different.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Because there's such a beautiful culture.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
They take inspiration from their land also, so all the
flavors are depending on what grows specifically there. That's why
a tequila from Hellesco is not the.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Same foeteen years ago, we did a series when I
first started my magazine called Versus Okay, and I thought
of it's like, if I'm going to report on these things,
they I have to try it. So we would go
do like we tried twelve different hamburgers, and then you know,
on a next issue, we tried twelve ramens, and we
tried twelve. Like everything we tried had to be in
(18:04):
groups of like twelve, so it was like six a
day for two days in a row. And I remember
coming home and googling, like, can you die from MSG poison?
Because I had so much ramen in two days and
I had was like like my sodium levels were so high,
So I get the tasting thing now. But what I
took out of what you were saying was two things,
(18:25):
lessons you learned as a business owner without your parents
there to maybe guide you so much, and also doing
that as sisters, which I've worked with my brother before.
God bless you guys for being able to work together.
I love my brother, but I mean we almost choked
each other on a weekly basis. So there's something to
be for the sisters for being women and also for
(18:47):
being business owners as women and how some of those challenges.
So maybe talk to us about the challenges of not
having parents to lean on being sisters in this restaurant
world and also be women in industry.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
How obviously you've been in restaurants, the majority of a
restaurant is primarily most of the time the upper management
or ownership is probably it's men dominant.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
We see this very.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Much, so yeah, in all of the corporations and ceo.
So it's one, it's extremely difficult to be a female
in that space because one you're usually not really listened
to as much as.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Your male counterpart would be.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
But two, it's also challenging because Angela and I aren't
the oldest, so we can't go into the space and
be like, look, I know what I'm talking about. I
have fifty years experience. Because we don't have the fifty
years experience, I can tell you why we think what
we think because probably based on our age and our
previous thoughts. But we can't do that. So a lot
of the men in that culture won't listen to us
(19:51):
simply based on that. So that's really kind of challenging
on its own. But obviously Angel and I are sisters,
and our parents did a real the excellent job of
really drilling into us that we had nobody else. So
when push comes to shop and there is nobody else
because here in the United States, it was only the
four of us, so we didn't have anybody else. We
(20:13):
didn't have aunts here, cousins, AMSL and I didn't have
anybody here.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So when.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
We were younger, like you fought you had to figure
this out, there was nobody else. There was nobody else
to play with.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
She made it even worse. If you thought she wanted,
she would make it so bad.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So let's let's let's kind of put a bow on this,
because we're getting right towards the end of our conversation here.
What I would love to know is that information there.
It feels like you've had learned so many lessons that
lessons have been passed down from your mom and your
dad immigrants, lessons from being women business owners. So let's
(20:52):
pretend that you are sitting down in front of a
group of one hundred impressionable first generation immigrant women that
want to get into business and don't know what to
do to get started. What's the advice that you guys
would both give to them, specifically to go out and
(21:12):
start chasing their dreams.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
I would say, don't stay quiet. Don't stay quiet. If
you know and you feel what you're saying, don't stay quiet.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Absolutely, don't stay quiet. That's a great one. Actually, I
love that phrasing too. I think believing in yourself is
a huge one. But it's the people relationship. This everything
comes down to people who're in the people business and
make your relationship help each other and actually become a community.
I think that that's a huge part of it, creating
(21:42):
a culture.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
So, like, get involved with other people doing it. Be
active one percent.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Be active, but at the end of the day, don't
like take advice from other people. Absolutely, but you don't
have to go the same route as everybody else goes.
That many people get to the same destination by taking
different routes, and it's okay to be different. It's okay
to speak up, and it's okay to battle that and
know that.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
They just don't get you right now, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It sounds like those words why they come out of
your dad's mouth at some point that I could just
feel like that immigrant mentality right there of coming over
here and saying, don't listen to everybody else. Do it's
something different, go your own way. That would your mom
that somebody's words echoing out of you. I could telled, yeah, correct.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
But a lot of times you're made to feel small, right,
don't like, especially as a woman, don't laugh too loud
in a room.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Don't be too loud.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And it's okay, it's okay, it's okay to laugh. What's that?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Quiet?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Women hardly make history, so well behaved women hardly make history.
It's something like, don't listen to their standards of what
well behaved is.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, go be yourself as long as you're.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
A good person and you're not hurting anybody, get it done,
you know, and leave with integrity.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I would say that's a really huge thing, especially in
the business world. If you want to be successful.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
There's plenty of people who are successful being horrible human beings,
But I don't think that that's the trajectory for most people.
I think it comes around. What goes around comes around.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
So you should lead with integrity always because at the
end of the day you can hold that up and
know that you did the right thing. Whether you failed
at the end of the day or you did it.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
It's that always the test.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Right Can you seek with yourself at night when you
put your head down on your pillow, you only have
yourself to answer to Can you just fall asleep?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Are you good with what has gone on to the day?
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Are you good with the reputation that you've made for
yourself and the name that's out there? And so that's
integrity is huge. That definitely, don't put profit over people.
Never put people over.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Profit because those are the same people that will help
you to get to the profit. So without other people,
you really are nothing in the business world. So everyone
is you're all. There's a role for everybody, and I
think that's it's important to be able to realize people's
(24:11):
strengths that add to yours, not really diminish.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Okay, awesome. Okay. So now the last thing I want
to go over with you people. We want them to
go check out Colockabama's right, this is your venture. We
really wanted to get them over here. They want to
try it out. So, whether you're coming to visit Disneyland
or you live in the Anaheim area the Orange County area,
when they get there, what do they need to try?
What food item? Give me a food item and a
(24:35):
drink item that they definitely need to try when they
come in.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Okay, So I'll tell you my two favorites.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
One is a chilli rey know.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It is a stuffed pepper and we beer battery it
with our own klocka Mamma's blogger in it and fry it.
We stuff it with a slow roasted braised beef and
cheese so it's not just cheese and it is absolutely
delicious and it is by far my favorite menu item.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
And my favorite drink is a churo on ice. It
is a fig infused Repoisodo tequila that is absolutely delicious
and very surprising, and I love that about it.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Awesome. What about you? What do they need to try
when they come in?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I love the tay you that it's the og Mexican pizza.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
The flavor is delicious, It's nice and crispy and chewy,
and Tudor on ice is one of my favorites. And
my second or right there battling it constantly, is the
Mora Mora. So the BlackBerry whiskey smash with Clackamama's twist,
and it's delicious. I was not a whiskey drinker, and
this is definitely the whiskey Gateway because it does not
(25:49):
like smack you like some of those you know, alcohol
spirits do get you well awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So I just want to say thank you Angela Mariam
for coming on to our show today. I really enjoyed
having you, learning about your family and your business. And
you're welcome back anytime. So thank you for being on
having you're welcome, thank you for being on Locales only.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I want to thank everyone on the straw Hut Media team,
including executive producer Ryan Tillotson and our editor and producer
Parker Jay Hicks, And as always, a big thank you
to Fletcher Jones Motor Cars in Newport Beach for providing
this beautiful Mercedes benz Eqe to be our rolling podcast studio.
(26:39):
Join us next time on locals only, where you can
buckle up and go for a ride in our mobile
podcast studio with some of the coolest people in Southern California.
Col Hi, Angelia Derek with Locals Only.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hey, Eric, how are you? I'm doing well? Thank you?
How are you good?
Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm gonna be pulling up in a white Mercedes. I'll
see in just a second.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Look forward to it.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Okay, bye bye, Hey, Welcome to Locals Only. I'm Eric Hale,
and if you don't know me, I'm the guy that
founded Local magazine fourteen years ago in my garage. It's
been my job for all those years to tell you
the coolest places to eat in all the southern California,
fun things to do. So you have date nights that
(00:34):
aren't boring, and we've talked to some really interesting people.
Now we have a podcast, and we're lucky enough to
call this Mercedes Benz EQE all electric Sedan courtesy of
Fletcher Jones Motor Cars in Newport Beach, our mobile podcast.
Do do so, sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the conversation.
Welcome to Locals Only. Today. On Locals Only, we're in Anahi,
(01:00):
and more specifically, right outside the gates of Disneyland. We're
going to be picking up sisters Angela and Mariam at
their restaurant to lock a Mama's. It is right outside
the main pedestrian gate of Disneyland. We're going to be
talking to them about what it was like being the
daughters of really hard immigrant workers that opened up I
hop restaurants and employed them to teach them their trade,
(01:24):
and also what it's like being women and a mostly
dominated male trade. So sit back, buckle up, and enjoy
this episode of Locales Only. That was easy. Hi. How
are you guys?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Hi?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Hi, I'm Angela. Hi Angela.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Let's good to know each other a little bit. I
guess so I've read about you, but I think the
thing that stuck with me was you come from a
family of restaurants tours, right, so we do this? Uh
you owning a restaurant now, which I'm sure we'll get into,
isn't probably a straight line right from from from from
(02:11):
where you were to where you are now. It's usually
not a straight line.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
For us, It's been pretty continuous. We grew up in
the restaurant.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
And so my dad opened an ie hoop when I
was just a couple months old, and we've been around
the restaurants our entire lives. So our first job is everything.
We've always worked them, so we've always kept going with them,
We went to school, we did all the things, but.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
So everything was the intention of being in the restaurant business.
That's my question because at least from hearing your background stories,
you were going into different fields and doing different things.
When I say, straight line, it started in the restaurant
business with your parents, and then it looks like you
took some other courses and then ended back there. That's
why I got the line.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Yeah, we didn't leave the restaurants. We still worked in
the restaurant. I was the GM. I then had a
kid and I stepped away in the full GM capacity,
but I stayed in the business. At that point is
when I continued going to school, and then that didn't
last very long and we came back. Our parents didn't
want us to go into the restaurant industry. It's a
(03:18):
hard industry. It's physically intense, it's challenging, it's a lot
of ups and downs, and it wasn't something that they
wanted for us. They wanted something everybody's parents just want
something bigger or better for their child, and that's what
our parents envisioned for us.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
At the same time, they were grooming us.
Speaker 5 (03:38):
Absolutely, we talked about labor, We talked about operations.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
When we went out to dinner.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
It was very much analyzing what everybody's doing around.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And they're doing or if you wanted something, drawing up
a business plan really to show why you wanted this
thing or why you should be allowed to.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Go to this whatever it was that we wanted to
go to.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
There was always negotiating and having to approve your case.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Now I read something that they were immigrant. Did they
immigrate here? They immigrants when.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Our first generation America first generation?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Right? Congratulations, that's amazing. And I read that it was
Palestinian or Palestine and also also Spanish Spain, right, Yeah,
what a great combination. Thanks, thanks, So who was from
Spain and who was from.
Speaker 4 (04:29):
U father was Palestinian, Okay, and he grew up in Lebanon. Wow,
And they my dad left Lebanon when he was eighteen
years old onto a boat and.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Went to Spain and met my our mom at the
University of Madrid.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh wow, how romantic. And then did they both decided
to come here?
Speaker 5 (04:50):
Yeah, they got married and actually the day after they
got married, they took a plane to Chicago because our
dad's best friend, childhood friend, would first moved to Chicago,
so they had somebody that they knew.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
So America, let's move. That's it.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
They had been.
Speaker 5 (05:05):
Together a few years, but yeah, two years I think
at that point. But yeah, and they our dad was
very ambitious. Our mom wouldn't have left Spain. Really, her family,
her family business. Yeah, we love Spain, and so she
loved him. Yeah, she loved him. They they that was
that was their person. And he wanted to be more
(05:29):
and do more. And as a refugee child, you know,
he believed in the land of milk and honey, and
so that's where we wanted to right.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely. He is the story of the American dream that
there is.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And I love those stories. I love these guys because
you see people that are born here that can't see
the opportunity because it's like it's all around you. But
they're like, oh, one day, I'd like to open a business.
And then you see a guy move here and he
always has like five dollars in his pocket and he's
nineteen and he's like, you can open a business here.
I'm opening a business, and they figure it out how
to make it work. Now, you said your dad wanted
(06:03):
you to be or even your mom wanted you guys
to do more than them, But do you ever find
that because of all that hard work and dedication, it's
hard to even live up to being what your parents did.
Like all, but it's like, man, if I could, just
if I ever had your work out and your drive
and your desire with the opportunities I have now starting
(06:24):
off with a good base, I mean, you could disguise
the limit, right, And that's what you're that's where we're
talking about today, is I think it.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
Gives us a lot different perspective though, because with some.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Of the things, like our father was incredibly ridiculously successful
in but in others he had to compromise because of
that success, right, And I think that's something Angela and
I really understood from a really young age that in
order to do.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That, it was a sacrifice for time for him. Unfortunately.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
That was I think a constant and so Angela and
I have very much so made an effort to make
sure that our kids aren't like restaurant orphans basically because.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
It happens all too often in the restaurant industry.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I bet, I mean you can just you're you're working
there all the time, and I think that there's like
a parable. I grew up very religious, even though I'm
not very religious now, but I remember the parable where
like the dad gave like one he gave his sons
the same thing, and like one of them went and
like like burnt, like threw it all away, just like
partied it all away, and what the other kid went
(07:25):
and buried it like in the yard. So at the end,
one kid was like, I don't have anything left, and
the other kid was like, Dad, I have it all.
And he's like he was really happy with the kid
that went out and like experienced the world and did stuff.
So I just think it's kind of that, it's that story.
I think what's nice is you's I guess the way
I'm trying to pull that back is you see a
lot of people that might have this first generation parents
(07:46):
or this I mean immigrant parents that worked really hard
and built something and then they give it to the kids,
and the kids they go thanks and they just sit there.
So let's talk about you guys. So are kind of
the history of it, and we haven't gotten into it
that much, but so your parents were restaurant on International
House of Pancakes, Right, Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
I hops, I hop Yeah, He opened the first one
in eighty five and when the original Disneyland main gate
was on Catella, so he was right across the street
for it. It was huge, It was amazing. That was everything.
And he was still working making furniture at night at
that point to be able to afford this, because you know,
(08:24):
you don't really make it an evening when you're trying
to build out a store. And he built it out
of his own hands. And then nine months later he
opened his second I hop and I was, yeah, it
was insane.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
It wasn't a good landlord.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Oh okay, and yeah, he found another location in Anaheim,
and it was right when Disneyland changed their main gate
to on Harper.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
He just got the timing right, He got the perfect time.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
He was very lucky.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
He worked very hard, but he also he was very lucky,
and he was very social and he networked well and
it fell. It all worked out for him and he
acquired this ur an I hop, and then a third
one came a couple of years later in Irvine, across
the street from John Wayne Airport, and he was very
(09:10):
ambitious as it continued, and he acquired the least next
door to the I hop on Harbor and he opened
the Anaheim Pizza and Spaghetti Company and had an arcade
in a jukebox.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
It was really cool.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I love that these.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
This is all just a front for him to be
able to make enough money to be a musician, as
my dad's lifelong ambition, goal dream. It was literally just
to make money to be able to do music. Yeah,
and that's exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Everything every musician I've ever talked to. Yeah, so let's
take this, let's take this story. Yeah, so now we
have some context of like, you know, where your family
came from and how you got to hear and you know,
I think it's nice to say you've probably had a
little bit of a head start because of that. So
we thank your mom and dad for all that. Absolutely,
I think if you know, I don't really want to
go into this, I don't think it's necessary, but I
(10:01):
think your mom and dad aren't with us anymore. Is
that also true?
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, it's also true.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
All right.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Unfortunately we lost them basically ten part years apart from
each other, and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So some more inspiration and you know, hopefully we're blessing
and honoring them today by having you guys on here
to talk about them.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
So I like that thought, Yeah, that's sweet, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Okay, so let's let's take from that. So you had
this great foundation, you had this this work ethic, you
had this you know, entrepreneurial background, and it was it
was bred into you from early lunches and dinners and
you kind of learned this. So you've taken this and
instead of just running the restaurants, you've decided to not
(10:38):
only open up your own business, but also to invest
in some franchises. So why don't we start with the
business you've opened. And it's I think geographically almost right
where your dad opened. It's very near Disneyland. You can
throw a rock over the fence.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
That's actually a really funny story how we even got
to our location where klawkas sits today and.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
The restaurant is just tell everybody clock.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
A Mama's Cantina. And in California, right by Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
It's right off Harbor, right.
Speaker 5 (11:03):
Right across the street from Disneyland on their pedestrian main
gate entrance.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Okay, so we're keeping the trend alive to continue.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
We understand high volume tourist locations, and you know, we
love that kind of crazy amped up environment. But when
her father acquired then this I Hop was is separate
from the one that he had before those other ones closed.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
That's and they stood where California Adventure actually stands. Now,
Oh really, that's who acquired.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
And so we moved then across the street from Disneyland,
and he opened that I Hop And at the time
that he acquired that lease, he acquired the least the
spot next door, and he had to choose which location because.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
He could not afford to open both. We still couldn't.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
Afford to do everything undertaking absolutely two new restaurants. And
it's also a finance. He never took on partners really
like that or anything. And he got that lease next
door and the I Hop and he went with the
ihop location because it was cheaper to remodel.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Great It's worked out wonderful for us. It's a great spot.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And then a friend of his ran and operated the restaurant.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
He signed over the lease to his other one if
he had a partner for real estate that was in
the restaurant space before, and he said he had wanted
it for himself, that he wanted to get into the
restaurant space again, and so he signed the lease over
to him, and then you flashed forward to twenty sixteen.
(12:45):
Was a twenty sixteen or twenty sixteen.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
I was looking for an office building to purchase, and
that came across a listing that said that all it
showed was a picture of the main entrance to Disneyland
with a great, great ad caption that said restaurant space
for sale. And we've stared at that view our entire
(13:08):
lives out very familiar with the I HOB window. So
we called right away and it was actually my dad's
old friend.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Negotiate that he was retiring. Yeah, I mean he was.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
He's very still wasn't is an extremely keen business man,
very smart man, very kind man, very generous, very smart
and keen in his business, especially when it.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Comes to real estate. That was his serious genius.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
And so the least actually went from our father to
them then back to us. Okay, so we ran it
as and bought it as a Captain Kids Buffet and
was as Dian themed.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
So at first the restaurant that you're in now was
Captain Cook's Buffet, Captain Kids, Captain Kids.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
So if you've seen the instauant now, you should definitely
google this because the transformation alone is ridiculous. It was
full on pirate themed buffet, I mean with like hanging chains.
Speaker 5 (14:10):
And like at a whole nine yards Treasure Island in
Las Vegas did a big remodel in the nineties. Yes,
there was an auction and you could buy them for
pennies and so restaurants you make pennies on the dollar.
We all know you chase it. And so he to
redecorate and remodel. He went out to Vegas and a
(14:31):
bunch of it. We're like real swords with like screws
into the walls, you know, fake parents hanging.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So this is a big remodel. So what did you
guys do with all that stuff?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
And we had we have some of it, We have
quite a bit of it. So the nicer pieces of
that we want to keep, the memory and stuff. So
we took it over and we really had no idea
what we were going to do with it.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We were like, oh, there was no concept.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
It was.
Speaker 6 (14:56):
We were, like I said to me so quickly, just
the right because always been Yeah, now this is did
you consider making it a Spanish or Palestinian style restaurant because.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Of your heritage? Now that those things might be more
we thought.
Speaker 4 (15:11):
About it, but they're kind of really like niche.
Speaker 7 (15:17):
And especially for tourists coming from fly that's not really
a cuisine that's easily accessible and execution is right some
of those dishes, or teaching others how to be able
to you're looking.
Speaker 1 (15:31):
I mean, it's a business mindset first, which is probably
what your dad. What do you make for the masses
that is going to connect with the thousands and thousands
of people at first?
Speaker 4 (15:41):
Angel and I, since we're so like franchise mentality, angel
and I always thought when we were acquiring the least,
we'll just stick a franchise in there, not a big deal.
Well yeah, not so easy when literally it's Disneyland.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So franchise is already taken.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Well, they own the rights already, right, although they haven't developed.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Right, So somethings impossible to do a franchise all.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Of course, or you could people are willing to buy
our lease, you know, take it over, But that's not
what we wanted.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We wanted to be operators.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
We wanted our hands in it because that's what we enjoy,
not just a paycheck.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
So now you're you have a big responsibility. I would say,
because I think the population of Anaheim is well over
fifty percent Hispanic, correct, right, Yeah, and there's a lot
of Mexican. There's hundreds, I think over five or six
hundred Mexican food restaurants. Oh yeah, I anaheu. But if
a lot of your customers, I'm guessing are coming as
(16:39):
visitors to Disney, this might be their taste of Mexican food.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Yeah. Correct, So talk about pressure.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
What do you do to make sure that that's right?
How do you make sure that that's right? I mean,
how do you get the recipes right? How do you
get the menu items right? So when they go home
to Ohio, they said they had a you know, California
taco and we got it right. Well.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
See, the beautiful thing about Mexican cuisine and Mexican culture
is there is so many different variations, absolutely that it
is such a beautiful thing to be able to incorporate
a bunch of different flavors from a bunch of all
over yeah Mexico and oh yeah, anywhere you go.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
I've traveled all over Mexico at least twenty trips I
think by now, say fifteen to twenty. But the cuisine
people always say that's not authentic Mexican food. And I'm
not an expert in the subject, but I have eaten
Mexican food all over Mexico and wherever you go, it's
completely different.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Because there's such a beautiful culture.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
They take inspiration from their land also, so all the
flavors are depending on what grows specifically there. That's why
a tequila from Hellesco is not the.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Same foeteen years ago, we did a series when I
first started my magazine called Versus Okay, and I thought
of it's like, if I'm going to report on these things,
they I have to try it. So we would go
do like we tried twelve different hamburgers, and then you know,
on a next issue, we tried twelve ramens, and we
tried twelve. Like everything we tried had to be in
(18:04):
groups of like twelve, so it was like six a
day for two days in a row. And I remember
coming home and googling, like, can you die from MSG poison?
Because I had so much ramen in two days and
I had was like like my sodium levels were so high,
So I get the tasting thing now. But what I
took out of what you were saying was two things,
(18:25):
lessons you learned as a business owner without your parents
there to maybe guide you so much, and also doing
that as sisters, which I've worked with my brother before.
God bless you guys for being able to work together.
I love my brother, but I mean we almost choked
each other on a weekly basis. So there's something to
be for the sisters for being women and also for
(18:47):
being business owners as women and how some of those challenges.
So maybe talk to us about the challenges of not
having parents to lean on being sisters in this restaurant
world and also be women in industry.
Speaker 4 (19:01):
How obviously you've been in restaurants, the majority of a
restaurant is primarily most of the time the upper management
or ownership is probably it's men dominant.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
We see this very.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Much, so yeah, in all of the corporations and ceo.
So it's one, it's extremely difficult to be a female
in that space because one you're usually not really listened
to as much as.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
Your male counterpart would be.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
But two, it's also challenging because Angela and I aren't
the oldest, so we can't go into the space and
be like, look, I know what I'm talking about. I
have fifty years experience. Because we don't have the fifty
years experience, I can tell you why we think what
we think because probably based on our age and our
previous thoughts. But we can't do that. So a lot
of the men in that culture won't listen to us
(19:51):
simply based on that. So that's really kind of challenging
on its own. But obviously Angel and I are sisters,
and our parents did a real the excellent job of
really drilling into us that we had nobody else. So
when push comes to shop and there is nobody else
because here in the United States, it was only the
four of us, so we didn't have anybody else. We
(20:13):
didn't have aunts here, cousins, AMSL and I didn't have
anybody here.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
So when.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
We were younger, like you fought you had to figure
this out, there was nobody else. There was nobody else
to play with.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
She made it even worse. If you thought she wanted,
she would make it so bad.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
So let's let's let's kind of put a bow on this,
because we're getting right towards the end of our conversation here.
What I would love to know is that information there.
It feels like you've had learned so many lessons that
lessons have been passed down from your mom and your
dad immigrants, lessons from being women business owners. So let's
(20:52):
pretend that you are sitting down in front of a
group of one hundred impressionable first generation immigrant women that
want to get into business and don't know what to
do to get started. What's the advice that you guys
would both give to them, specifically to go out and
(21:12):
start chasing their dreams.
Speaker 4 (21:13):
I would say, don't stay quiet. Don't stay quiet. If
you know and you feel what you're saying, don't stay quiet.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Absolutely, don't stay quiet. That's a great one. Actually, I
love that phrasing too. I think believing in yourself is
a huge one. But it's the people relationship. This everything
comes down to people who're in the people business and
make your relationship help each other and actually become a community.
I think that that's a huge part of it, creating
(21:42):
a culture.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
So, like, get involved with other people doing it. Be
active one percent.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
Be active, but at the end of the day, don't
like take advice from other people. Absolutely, but you don't
have to go the same route as everybody else goes.
That many people get to the same destination by taking
different routes, and it's okay to be different. It's okay
to speak up, and it's okay to battle that and
know that.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
They just don't get you right now, and that's okay.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
It sounds like those words why they come out of
your dad's mouth at some point that I could just
feel like that immigrant mentality right there of coming over
here and saying, don't listen to everybody else. Do it's
something different, go your own way. That would your mom
that somebody's words echoing out of you. I could telled, yeah, correct.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
But a lot of times you're made to feel small, right,
don't like, especially as a woman, don't laugh too loud
in a room.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Don't be too loud.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And it's okay, it's okay, it's okay to laugh. What's that?
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Quiet?
Speaker 5 (22:44):
Women hardly make history, so well behaved women hardly make history.
It's something like, don't listen to their standards of what
well behaved is.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, go be yourself as long as you're.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
A good person and you're not hurting anybody, get it done,
you know, and leave with integrity.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
I would say that's a really huge thing, especially in
the business world. If you want to be successful.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
There's plenty of people who are successful being horrible human beings,
But I don't think that that's the trajectory for most people.
I think it comes around. What goes around comes around.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
So you should lead with integrity always because at the
end of the day you can hold that up and
know that you did the right thing. Whether you failed
at the end of the day or you did it.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
It's that always the test.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Right Can you seek with yourself at night when you
put your head down on your pillow, you only have
yourself to answer to Can you just fall asleep?
Speaker 2 (23:37):
Are you good with what has gone on to the day?
Speaker 5 (23:40):
Are you good with the reputation that you've made for
yourself and the name that's out there? And so that's
integrity is huge. That definitely, don't put profit over people.
Never put people over.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
Profit because those are the same people that will help
you to get to the profit. So without other people,
you really are nothing in the business world. So everyone
is you're all. There's a role for everybody, and I
think that's it's important to be able to realize people's
(24:11):
strengths that add to yours, not really diminish.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Okay, awesome. Okay. So now the last thing I want
to go over with you people. We want them to
go check out Colockabama's right, this is your venture. We
really wanted to get them over here. They want to
try it out. So, whether you're coming to visit Disneyland
or you live in the Anaheim area the Orange County area,
when they get there, what do they need to try?
What food item? Give me a food item and a
(24:35):
drink item that they definitely need to try when they
come in.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
Okay, So I'll tell you my two favorites.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
One is a chilli rey know.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It is a stuffed pepper and we beer battery it
with our own klocka Mamma's blogger in it and fry it.
We stuff it with a slow roasted braised beef and
cheese so it's not just cheese and it is absolutely
delicious and it is by far my favorite menu item.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
And my favorite drink is a churo on ice. It
is a fig infused Repoisodo tequila that is absolutely delicious
and very surprising, and I love that about it.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Awesome. What about you? What do they need to try
when they come in?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
I love the tay you that it's the og Mexican pizza.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
The flavor is delicious, It's nice and crispy and chewy,
and Tudor on ice is one of my favorites. And
my second or right there battling it constantly, is the
Mora Mora. So the BlackBerry whiskey smash with Clackamama's twist,
and it's delicious. I was not a whiskey drinker, and
this is definitely the whiskey Gateway because it does not
(25:49):
like smack you like some of those you know, alcohol
spirits do get you well awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
So I just want to say thank you Angela Mariam
for coming on to our show today. I really enjoyed
having you, learning about your family and your business. And
you're welcome back anytime. So thank you for being on
having you're welcome, thank you for being on Locales only.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (26:19):
I want to thank everyone on the straw Hut Media team,
including executive producer Ryan Tillotson and our editor and producer
Parker Jay Hicks, And as always, a big thank you
to Fletcher Jones Motor Cars in Newport Beach for providing
this beautiful Mercedes benz Eqe to be our rolling podcast studio.
(26:39):
Join us next time on locals only, where you can
buckle up and go for a ride in our mobile
podcast studio with some of the coolest people in Southern California.
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