Enchiladas and Potatoes a La Perla

A little while back, we had the thread asking us to remember about cooking with our family members, and it gave me reason to recall the restaurant La Perla, a "Mexican" restaurant, that for all of my life, existed in one of the worst neighborhoods in our area. It was also, for many years, my dad's one and only Mexican restaurant we would eat at.

The food was not what most of us know as authentic, it was a greasy spoon of a Mexican place, founded by a man who mustered out of the Navy from his home in Mexico by way of Texas. The food was his interpretation, and it lasted from 1947 until 2014. It was an institution in Richmond, California. And why did we only go there? The family has several daughters, too many to support with the one restaurant. So, the man, his wife, mother and eldest daughter worked there, and his two middle daughters found work, with us. From 1954 to 1967, they worked for my dad, and loved him. They hated my uncle, but, loved my dad, and when they left, he would bring us to their place to eat. Stuff like this.



Ground beef enchiladas and fried potatoes. There are people all over Richmond, who wish they knew hot to make these, my dad learned how and at least I can have this to eat. The secret turns out to be very simple, they are seasoned with Mexican chorizo. Very simple good, that built an entire families good fortune.

another La Perla story...on the origin of potatoes...

I must have been around 6 or 7, as that is when I became incredibly opinionated and arrogantly stupid. We had gone to La Perla as a family, I can remember this, as I can recall the utter horror on my mom's face when I noted with surprise "wow, they really cook potatoes well, where do you suppose Mexicans learned to cook potatoes this well?" The owner came out of the back, he looked at his daughter, who muttered something, I assume it meant "he is the slow child", then my dad said something, which I can only assume meant "yes, that is my assh*** child, he is slow in the head". The man leaned over and smiled and said "Roberto, you saying that is like my walking into a Japanese home and saying 'wow, you know how to cook rice!' for you see, my ancestors discovered the potato and have been cooking it for far longer than there has been a Mexico" then he laughed and said "you will learn, potatoes, tomatoes and chiles, they are our foods".