Mi Zacatecas Cousine LLC
Mexican restaurant · Havensourt ·
Authentic Zacatecan cuisine, handmade tortillas, and delicious gorditas
Authentic Zacatecan cuisine, handmade tortillas, and delicious gorditas
"After a year away, gordita specialist Cecilia Chairez is returning with a new spot at 6633 Bancroft Avenue offering Zacatecas-style stews and gorditas, with plans for eventual breakfast service and a sideline in house-made cheeses." - Eve Batey
"After being closed for almost a year, the East Bay’s only restaurant specializing in Zacatecan cuisine is finally set to reopen for takeout at 6633 Bancroft Avenue after passing its final health inspection, with chef-owner Cecilia Chairez aiming to open in late December or early January. I describe it as a cult favorite for its slow-cooked stews and freshly griddled gorditas — notably a Zacatecas-style pork skin braised in red salsa, a pork-and-nopales stew from Chairez’s hometown of Valparaiso, and gigantic handmade corn tortillas — dishes that set it apart from other Mexican spots in the Bay Area. During the pandemic Chairez kept busy sewing face masks, and now she’s hopeful the new, more established location (a couple blocks from a high school and close to Mills College) will reach a larger audience; it has a cozy patio that can seat about 10 socially distanced diners and an open kitchen separated by plexiglass so customers can watch gorditas and tortillas being made. For now she’ll start with the old menu for takeout, including menudo and barbacoa on weekends, while putting plans for breakfast service, a “meal of the day,” and a casual cenaduría on hold; she’s also found a fresh milk supplier and plans to buy a metate to make her own Zacatecan cheese, and is raising money for equipment upgrades and a new website. Chairez acknowledges uncertainty because of her yearlong absence and a spike in coronavirus cases, but she emphasizes that the food is good and not crazily expensive, and she hopes the restaurant will help meet East Oakland’s needs." - Luke Tsai
"A tiny Mexican restaurant run by Cecilia Chairez was one of Oakland’s dining scene’s great success stories before the COVID-19 crisis. It was the only spot in the Bay Area specializing in the cuisine of the north-central Mexican state of Zacatecas and had amassed a large, loyal following despite its remote deep East Oakland location thanks to Chairez’s homestyle cooking: slow-cooked stews, enormous handmade tortillas, and especially fat, freshly griddled gorditas widely hailed as the best in the city. Closed during shelter-in-place, Chairez pivoted to sewing reusable, 100-percent cotton face masks with her sister, setting up a workshop in the spare bedroom of her San Leandro home, and has made and sold about 900 masks at $10 apiece ($5 for kids), even filling a large hospital order in Mountain View; customers say the masks are comfortable and the income has helped her pay rent and bills. Mi Zacatecas had been slated to move into a larger new location in March, but hood installation and inspections were delayed by the shutdown; the new spot at 6633 Bancroft Avenue still needs finishing work and won’t open any earlier than three or four weeks from now, though Chairez is hopeful and glad the setback happened before opening so she can start with a clean slate." - Luke Tsai
"One of the enduring charms of Mi Zacatecas, apart from the restaurant’s destination-worthy handmade gorditas, is its out-of-the-way deep East Oakland location and the tininess of its tented side-patio dining area. The two-year-old restaurant never got much foot traffic and its current kitchen was too small for owner Cecilia Chairez to expand the menu, but about a month from now it will relocate a few miles north to a larger 800-square-foot spot at 6633 Bancroft Avenue. Chairez began looking after her landlord nearly doubled her rent when her lease expired; the new Bancroft space sits near Lena’s Soul Food in a busier neighborhood, so she plans to add breakfast service (fresh juices, atole, champurrado, chilaquiles, and egg dishes, including a family scramble with red or green salsa served with beans, queso fresco, and the restaurant’s huge handmade tortillas—“wow, it’s the bomb,” she says), extend hours later into the evening turning the space into an acenaduría with a short menu of crunchy tacos, enchiladas, and tostadas, and continue serving Zacatecan specialties such as weekend barbacoa and menudo and, of course, the griddled (not deep-fried) gorditas that are the restaurant’s biggest selling point. At roughly 800 square feet the new space will provide indoor seating for about 20 diners for the first time, requires a full kitchen build-out (the building owner is covering most of the cost while Chairez is fundraising for the rest), and Mi Zacatecas remains open at its original MacArthur Boulevard location until the move, probably in January." - Luke Tsai
"Mi Zacatecas, a small taqueria operated by Cecilia Chairez, offers unique Zacatecan gorditas and other regional specialties. Located in Deep East Oakland, it draws customers from afar, particularly Zacatecan immigrants seeking the flavors of home. The restaurant features a variety of Zacatecan dishes, including chicharrón en salsa roja, pork and nopales stew, beef barbacoa, and Zacatecan-style chiles relleno. Despite some compromises due to local ingredient availability, Chairez aims to familiarize customers with Zacatecan cuisine and make it popular." - Luke Tsai
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