CM
interview JORGE PEREZCHICA
Chúla Eatery is locally sourced, made from scratch, delicious food, organic espresso, delightful pastries, a mimosa in the sunshine, farm to table and Oh So Bueno! It’s no wonder Katherine Gonzalez, chef/owner of Chúla Eatery is voted as one of the top ten restaurants in the Coachella Valley — good food brings everyone together. Katherine’s love for heritage-inspired dishes began at a young age while learning to cook with her mama. Over time, she created her own recipes, sharing her handmade salsas and tamales at the local farmers market. From that, Chúla began.
Growing up and earliest food memories.
I was raised in Southern Arizona, a city called Tucson. I am one of 3 children. My mother’s family migrated from Chihuahua, Mexico and my father’s family from Spain, both of my parents are from large families! My dad had 11 siblings and my mom had 13. With so many children in a house the cooking had to be creative, inexpensive and feed so many everyday. There was always the best hot food at both of my nanas’ homes; fresh tortillas de mano, fresh charred chiles, sopas, caldos, carnitas, pappas, salsitas and my mom starting cooking the same way for us once she became a mom at 18.
At our house there was always a pot of beans cooking, fresh made flour tortillas, salsa and sopas fideo. It was warm and delicious comfort food at every celebration, mom would always make chips and salsas and tamales and my friends would sit and eat it all. They always said ‘you guys should sell this!’ I remember asking my mom to show me how to make tamales one holiday, then the chips, then the salsas. Over time, I began to change up the ingredients and create different flavor profiles. Then my mom started taking jars of salsa with her after visiting me!
Important lessons and influence from mom.
How good food brings everyone together…it’s love, it’s the glue. My mom would always invite everyone for the holidays and birthdays and she loves gathering and cooking for the family, and I see the love and feel that when I make her red chile sauce from scratch at Chula, that’s something I will never change. We have the best customers. I see the same people 2, 3, 4 times a week at Chula. They always say they can taste the love in our food, and that starts with my mom‘s influence, my creativity, shared through our staff and received by our guests.
How Chúla began.
Chúla began as an inspiration from farmers markets. For 15 summers I lived in Truckee and sold my chips, salsas and tamales at three farmers markets a week in the Tahoe area. I loved walking through all the stalls at the farmers markets and seeing all the fresh grown produce, fruit, eggs, baked bread, local yogurt etc. that was being produced in the area and sold to customers in the freshest way. I kept saying to myself how can I take a little piece of this and bring it back to the La Quinta area where I lived in the winter.
I knew that people would want a restaurant that offered fresh, organic, real food that was also culturally creative and handmade. We were sold out of chips, salsas and tamales every farmers market three times a week. So, I thought ‘we are on to something!’
Popular items on the menu.
Chula is known for so much more than chips, salsas and tamales today. Our customers top 5 favorite dishes are:
• The Huevos Rancheros
Cactus corn tortillas, black beans, turkey chorizo, salsa verde, avocado, queso fresco, scallion, poached eggs
• Pulled Pork Red Chile Chilaquiles
Sauteed sweet onion, fried corn chips, red chile sauce, pulled pork, avocado, poached egg, onion jam, queso fresco.
• Chicken Enchiladas Verde
Cactus corn tortillas, all white meat chicken, tomatillo verde sauce, double cheeses, chile oil
• The Vegan Bowl
Hummus, cucumber, toasted quinoa, black beans, roasted seasonal vegetables, sweet potato, avocado
• The Chula Breakfast Burrito
Sweet potato hash, turkey chorizo, cage free eggs, black beans, spinach
Favorite dish to cook.
I like making all the dishes, but when I bake the gluten-free bread pudding and it’s just coming out of the oven, the kitchen smells amazing! So delicious…warm cinnamon, maple, blueberries and our BOMB Tres Leches. There is no substitute. It’s deep dish, we add berries and soak it with tres leches. OH SO BUENO!
Inspiration for Chúla decor.
It’s Funny, the interior of the restaurant initially…it was pretty gross when we took it over, so depressing! It had yellow floral wall paper that was peeling, the floor had 8 different colors of paint. There was a black buffet railing in the front and I thought “oh geez,” I can’t put Chúla in here…but then I realized, we could do whatever we wanted to the space. We needed to strip it all off, the paint, the wall paper, remove the railing. So we did.
I had all the walls painted white so it could be clean and smart. I put in a bright blue bench seat to create fun and life. We hung beautiful lighted baskets and had tables made from repurposed wood. The floors were stripped of all paint down to the bare concrete then buffed with a natural soy wax. I had natural cotton drapes hung from the high ceilings for a theatrical look and to soften up all the hard edges in the dining room. In the end, eating inside Chúla felt like being in a modern museum. I love it. And now, our outdoor patio is coming to life.
Overcoming challenges in the age of Covid.
In 2020 when the pandemic hit in March, we never closed our doors. The minute the health department told us no more seating we brought out all the to go boxes and kept on taking to-go orders. We went to 7 days a week for about a month and it was a killer. People wanted good takeout, they would be calling even after we closed and asking for dinner items. Lots of places closed and then re-opened with a to-go menu and I felt that if we did that to our customers we would lose the momentum that we had built. Our to-go business was getting stronger. We added online ordering, Doordash and UberEats and added more meals to the menu that were easy for takeout. People were isolating in family pods and would ask for larger servings. So, we started making catering portions, large disposable trays of enchiladas, mac & cheese, cobb salads, taco trays, etc. And it’s been good. I wasn’t giving up…I could not let the pandemic take from me and my family what I had worked so hard for the last 4 years.
Running a restaurant in the age of COVID has been a test of instinct and creativity, trying different things and seeing what works is key. And if you listen to your customers they will tell you what they want…it’s just up to you to wrap it all up with a pretty bow and give it to them.
Five words to describe yourself and your work ethic.
People that know me will tell you I’m a pretty no nonsense business owner…I’m dedicated, serious, focused, wishful, driven, and I intend to keep growing the Chúla brand while supporting staff and my family.
Collaboration with Cafe La Jefa in Palm Springs.
We have been so fortunate this last year! Having been called upon by the creators and owners of La Jefe Cafe has been so exciting! We look forward to the collaboration and the Chula Brand awareness in the west part of the Coachella Valley…Super excited! La Jefa Cafe and Chúla Artisan Eatery share the common thread of providing a superior product: Quality, Local, Fresh, Delicious, Real food.
Changing with the times.
The most exciting part of what we get to do in the Food Industry is to keep reinventing ourselves, a menu change, a new ingredient, a new local ingredient, a local farm, a local producer….this valley has so much to offer and we are right in the middle of it!
web: Chula Eatery