The lunch hour at Minna’s Restaurant last week hummed with activity. Families packed into booths, men lining the long counter bolted down tacos while their impatient phones beeped at their sides. Stacks of to-go orders formed little towers on the back counter.
“At least I got some rest yesterday,” a server joked to a customer in Spanish. She ducked behind the counter for a sip of Coke before ringing up another order.
It was a heartening scene for this stretch of Armitage Avenue in the predominantly Latino Belmont Cragin neighborhood, whose independent restaurant owners have struggled to stay afloat in the two months since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol enforcement actions prompted foot traffic to dry up. Nearly eight out of 10 residents in this Northwest side neighborhood are Latino.
“Some restaurants are starting to recover, but aren’t at pre-raid business yet,” said Alonso Zaragoza, a community organizer and founder of Belmont Cragin United, an online resource center for residents. “Things are looking up for businesses in the area though, and hopefully they are able to get back on track.”
The recent departure of Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and his crew of federal agents signaled a slowdown in the feds’ deportation campaign in the city. Yet some in the community remain wary of leaving home, and already beleaguered restaurants feel the effects.
At Barca Birreria y Restaurant, on the edge of Belmont Cragin and Portage Park, business remains slow compared to before the raids began, with carryout and dine-in split about 50/50.
“We have our good days and our bad days,” said Alice Martinez, co-owner at Barca, which specializes in Jalisco-style goat birria in chili-stained consommé. “Some clients who are undocumented and haven’t come out since this started have come, but said they aren’t comfortable still with coming out, as they think I.C.E. is laying low.”
About 100 immigration enforcement agents stayed behind in Chicago, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Sources told the Chicago Sun-Times that as many as 1,000 agents could return in March.
Barca still posts signage barring I.C.E. and keeps its doors locked, which makes customers feel safer and sends a broader message of support, Martinez said. “We want whoever comes in and eats to feel comfortable and know that we stand with our people!”
Similar signage still covers the door to Mago’s Tamales & Taqueria 2 on Diversey Avenue, where a recent lunchtime mission to retrieve a dozen succulent tamales revealed a quiet dining room except for three customers.
This constituted a starkly different scene than that of late October, when some two dozen regulars, first-time diners and the six-member folk band, The Parsnip Factory, filled the tiny storefront as part of a series of Taste of Belmont Cragin events organized by BC United.
One blessed constant remained, however: the nostalgic aroma of cumin-scented stewed chicken mingling with sweet corn as Mago’s tender tamal was excavated from its corn husk wrapper and doused in salsa verde.
Zaragoza said that since he spearheaded the Taste of BC series to bolster struggling restaurants, more owners reported seeing new faces from outside the neighborhood, some of whom “are starting to come in regularly too.” BC United continues to host and platform Whistle Packing and Know Your Rights Workshops around the city.
Indeed, on a recent Saturday at Pozoleria El Mexicano, steaming crocks of menudo and pozole verde filled the tables, then bellies of a mix of Spanish- and English-speaking patrons in the half-full restaurant.
“Three or four weeks ago, it was empty,” a server said at checkout. “It’s been a lot better.”
It mirrored the cautious optimism that permeated Minna’s while this writer dispatched what’s become a weekly fix of huaraches (masa boats) piled with tangy strips of nopal, onions, crumbled queso fresco and Mexican crema atop a smear of refried beans.
Outside after lunch, coworkers in scrubs streamed out of nearby Taqueria La Paz, laden with carryout bags. La Paz was hiring a server. Two doors down, El Guerrerense Restaurant was also hiring a cashier, according to a handwritten sign taped up next to a Hands Off Chicago poster.