Twenty-five years ago, Ismael Miramontes’ family sold food right outside of their driveway in Guadalajara, Mexico.
It wasn’t a restaurant, far from it. Just two small tables and a simmering pot of pozole in front of the family’s home.
At 8 years old, Miramontes remembers running food for the family. He loved the prep work, the customer service and leaving people happy. Food was always in the back of Miramontes’ mind. Today, that’s where it happily remains.
Living in his grandma’s house in Mexico, Miramontes recalls the delicious home-cooked meals made by his grandma and mother. He remembers his mom bringing people over to cook for them, making sure the family was together and always having food at home in case someone showed up.
“When you grow up, the first meals that you have are your mom’s. It’s hard to replace that feeling or comfort that it gives you. Nothing can replace a home-cooked meal or a mom’s meal,” he said. “I guess for me, food is just a bridge to connect a family. It’s not the dish itself, it’s the kitchen. The food is the glue that brings the family together.”
Miramontes moved to the United States at 12 years old, graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in management operations in 2013 and worked various corporate jobs.
In 2018, he took a leap of faith and became the first in his family to formally venture into the restaurant business.
“I did the traditional path you’re supposed to follow; go to school, university, graduate, start working for a company. I tried it. Good benefits, good money, good learning, a lot of learning. The only issue was I felt like a little screw in a big machine,” he said. “I felt like I wanted to be in a place where I could have a bigger impact and I always wanted to start up a food business.”
That leap of faith resulted in La Chancla Mexican Grill: a family-owned restaurant that showcases traditional Guadalajaran flavors in a cozy and colorful setting. La Chancla officially opened its doors on Feb. 6, 2020.
When La Chancla originated, Miramontes saw a void within the local Mexican eatery scene. There was the quick filling cuisine of food carts and trucks — elote, tamales and street tacos — as well as refined dining restaurants, but nothing in between. He decided to focus on fast-casual, homie-food, with guisado-style tacos and homemade tortillas.
La Chancla offers 14 different tacos, including mole, tinga and queso birria variations. What makes them unique is their slow, carefully stewed meats, which become braised and saucy inside cazuelas (pots).
Inside the restaurant, the eye is drawn to a huge chalkboard with all the menu items, brightly-colored banners hanging in the air (papel picado), clay pots (cazuelas), wood-finished tables and a huge La Chancla painting.
To spice things up, Miramontes placed 2,000 red and brown bricks adorning the interior walls of the restaurant. Miramontes said he wanted La Chancla to have a warm and cozy vibe, like a little casita (house) in Mexico. He also added wooden pallets he found outside his shop to add to the rustic ambience.
“When you build something with your hands, you fall in love with it a little more,” he said. “I felt like if it was gonna be my first baby, I had to physically build it, so I can feel it and make it mine.”
When Miramontes was conceptualizing the menu, he kept coming back to Mexican mothers — he fondly remembers his mom making tortillas at home.
In both name and flavors, Miramontes wanted his restaurant to remind people of their Mexican mother. He was thinking of calling the business “Tacos Madres” or “Mama’s Tacos,” but it wasn’t catchy enough. That’s when La Chancla popped into his head.
Miramontes asked his friends on Instagram what La Chancla reminded them of and they unanimously responded with “my mom.”
While La Chancla has a negative connotation, referring to the sandal Mexican mothers use to punish misbehaving children, Miramontes wants to flip that connotation on its head.
“I want the name to remind [people] of the love the moms have, the sternness … the passion they have when it comes to their food, the kitchen and raising their family,” he said.
The business started with just Miramontes and his mother, Rosalía Gutiérrez. Working in a family-owned restaurant is a tall task in itself — have you ever tried ordering your mom around the kitchen?
Miramontes and his mother split the jobs at La Chancla: she runs the catering side while he runs the restaurant.
“Every day is different, man. Some days we love each other and some days we don’t want to see each other for Thanksgiving,” he said.
When La Chancla first opened, Miramontes said a man came in by himself and ordered a three-taco combo with rice and beans. It was a slow day, but he noticed the man taking a bite of his food and pausing. The man began crying.
Miramontes asked if everything was alright and the man responded, “These beans taste just like my grandma’s.”
“The fact that it’s beans, nothing out of this world, nothing crazy, nothing fancy, just beans. The fact we’re able to make someone bring those memories, it reminded me of why we do what we do and why we keep doing it,” he said. “We live in a world with Instagram and crazy pictures and crazy foods. That’s not my family. We’re a simple, hardworking family that just wants to share where we come from.”
Initially, Miramontes wanted the business to just last through COVID. Then, he wanted to get to the second year … and then at the five-year mark — after all, restaurants usually don’t make it past five years — the business still survived. Making it to the present day was inconceivable.
With La Chancla now in its seventh year, its lasting success leaves Miramontes proud. Proud of his team, of his family and the dream that made it past his family’s driveway.
“It’s hard to do it alone, you can’t do it [alone], so I’ve been lucky enough to have a good team. People that have been struggling with us, good times and bad, the help of family as well. They’re still there, [I’m] just proud that this little hole in the wall still has the love in Long Beach,” he said.
La Chancla Mexican Grill is one of many restaurants across the city to partner with Latino Restaurant Week, happening Oct. 5 to Oct. 11. The restaurant is located at 990 Cherry Ave. Unit 102. They are open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Check out lachanclamexicangrill.com for more information about their story and menu.
