Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Zaragoza.
Jonathan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2002, my dad (John-Juan Zaragoza) learned how to make birria from Miguel Segura in his hometown La Barca, Jalisco. He then brought back what he had learned and my mom and I helped nail down the recipe into something that resembled Miguel’s birria. But we were missing an element to tie it all together…an oven. It was then my grandfather, my dad and I built a wood burning oven in the backyard of our then home on the Southside of Chicago to be able to cook the goat exactly the way our predecessor cooked his.
Once the oven was built, we had the flavor just right. It was my job as a 12 year old to feed the oven wood for 6 hours until the bricks were hot enough to residually cook the meat for another 6 hours. At that point I would remove the meat from the oven, slather it in our red mole, and my dad would then roast the meat in a conventional oven in lard until it was crispy yet tender. At that point he’d remove it from the fat, chop it up and pour our tomato-based consommé over it and serve it. But there was one problem…we were left with so much leftover goat that we were giving it to family members or inviting friends over to eat our goat.
Word spread that we were cooking birria out of our house and we had complete strangers knocking on our door asking if they could take some home, some even asked to stay and eat at our house. My dad then decided to open a clandestine restaurant in our basement on weekends, and we would pack the house with people just wanting to eat out goat. People would come from all over the city to eat our birria.
We did this for a few years until we sold that house and moved to the suburbs. And then it stopped for a few years.
Then in September 2007, my dad grew tired of his corporate job and decide to rent a small storefront in Archer Heights and start Birrieria Zaragoza with me running it while he and my mom still worked their regular 9-5 jobs. And the rest as they say, is history.
We turned 10 years old on October 12th, 2017. I have returned from opening restaurants and consulting to work at Birrieria Zaragoza full time and it’s the most rewarding professional decision I’ve ever made.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Being a “mom & pop shop” the journey has been filled with rough patches and challenges. In June 2008, we were already thinking about closing our doors for good, less than a year into opening. The restaurant would make around $50/day at that time and the stress was crippling at some points for the whole family. We were a self-funded and sustaining operation in the middle of a huge recession that nobody was immune to but the affects were definitely more apparent with no outside investors or funding.
We stayed the course and stuck to what we knew: making great food and treating people well. That formula (as simple as it sounds) is the reason we are here today.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Birrieria Zaragoza story. Tell us more about the business.
I think the biggest difference between us and a traditional restaurant, is that we have one thing on the menu. It has been that way since day one and it hasn’t changed.
In a way we kept it this way because we could only afford to buy products for one dish at the beginning, but that has been a blessing because it made us stick to our bread and butter.
I’m proud of the fact that I get to do what I love day in and day out, and I’m accomplishing professional goals with my family at my side. Not many chefs get a chance to do that, and I’m so thankful for this. It makes me push more knowing that my success is their success and vice versa.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck is a funny thing.
Some believe in it, and others don’t. Growing up playing baseball, you become a little superstitious but as an adult I realized that luck isn’t this celestial mystery some chalk it up as being.
I believe that luck is when hard work meets opportunity. That’s why I apply what I was taught as a kid, you work hard, you treat people nicely and everything else takes care of itself.
You make your own luck.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4852 S. Pulaski
Chicago, Illinois
60632 - Website: http://www.birrieriazaragoza.com
- Phone: 773-523-3700
- Email: zaragozarestaurant@gmail.com
- Instagram: @birrieriazaragoza
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/birrieriazaragoza/
- Twitter: @birrieriazaragoza
- Yelp: Yelp.com/BirrieriaZaragoza
Image Credit:
Carolina Rodriguez for my personal photo
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