“Macheen (in Mexico it’s spelled ‘machÃn’) is the real deal, el chingón. And that’s what we try to do, ser los más chingones.” – Jonathan Perez
By Reynaldo Mena
He bursts into laughter.
Contagious.
I comment in the middle of the interview that it seems like I’m talking to Anthony Robbins, the famous self-help figure who captivates so many people.
And it’s because Jonathan Pérez, one of the new great chefs in Los Angeles, radiates positivity, good vibes, and a positive energy through his words.
“I have a very calm personality. I don’t get angry or shout at people. I believe it’s all about organization, planning, and execution of the things we do,” Jonathan tells me.
I ask him if all that image that Hollywood sells us of the great chefs yelling and throwing things in the restaurant kitchen has anything to do with reality.
“It’s all show,” he says, laughing.
Jonathan is a young chef who has made his way onto the culinary scene in Los Angeles through determination, by proving to himself that he can cook and not only that but be one of the best in this profession.
It was during his adolescence, after having worked at a Japanese restaurant called Yoshinoya, that he went to apply for a job at a café in Torrance. They laughed at him and jokingly told him that it wasn’t the place for him, that he should go back to working at fast-food joints.
“I was so angry that I set out to become an excellent chef. I enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu culinary school. After getting my diploma, I cooked with classic French techniques at the L’Ermitage hotel in Beverly Hills and L’Epicerie Market in Culver City,” he says.
“He had graduated from fast food and chain restaurants, but then he decided to do something that really manifested his future as L.A.’s breakfast-burrito sensation. He got a job at IHOP because he wanted to learn how to cook eggs perfectly,” mentioned on the FoodandWine.com website.
“I was just doing eggs, building speed, and falling in love with eggs and the whole breakfast,” he said.
In 2016, he decided to try his luck with his own place. That’s how Macheen was born, specializing in what can be described as the New Mexican Cuisine.
“I started experimenting with combinations between European style and traditional Mexican food. I followed my intuition,” he says. Pérez, of Guatemalan origins, learned his love for Mexican cuisine at home, from his mother.
“We’re Guatemalan, I was born in Compton, but she migrated from Guatemala at a very young age and settled in Tj (referring to Tijuana). She learned what she needed to know about Mexican dishes there,” Pérez adds.
He says that one of the things he enjoyed most as a child was sitting at the table with his family and enjoying birria. Beans and rice were always present.
“My mother always made sure we never lacked anything. We didn’t have much money; she cooked with parts of the cow that others didn’t want, but she made delicious dishes,” he says nostalgically. “Many of my childhood friends loved coming to our house to eat; they said the food was delicious.”
Those memories have accompanied him throughout his life.
“Even today, I joke with my mom. For example, I cook birria in my business based on her recipe; I just adapted it to our clientele. My mom tells me, ‘Son, my birria was tastier; you’ll always be my son’,” he says, laughing.
Pérez worships food; he says it’s something that makes us all happy.
“With food, you can tell a story, share it with people, show them a part of yourself,” he says.
His decision to innovate Mexican cuisine came when it was said in culinary circles that this cuisine was cheap.
Jonathan has tried to elevate it, aided by his knowledge of French cuisine, his studies, and his desire to make it the best in the world.
“We have to innovate, modernize, use different ingredients, take risks,” are the pillars of his cuisine.
To stay up to date and discover new things, he frequently visits Farmers Markets, different restaurants, and street food vendors.
“It’s very important to value all of this. As I mentioned, there are stories we find in every dish. They give you their love, their story,” he says.
He adds that he’s happy with what he has achieved so far. He always seeks to help and give something back to the community that has supported him. Recently, he traveled to cook and spend time with the children at an orphanage in Tijuana, Colina de la Luz , because he knows how difficult it is to be in that situation.
“Many times, we don’t realize how grateful we should be. Here, we have problems, but we also have a way to solve them. My trip to Tijuana is to give something of myself, to help in any way I can,” he adds.
One of his goals is to start serving Guatemalan food to reconnect with his home country.
“I haven’t dared because I haven’t been to Guatemala. I need to travel there first, explore, and experience their traditional cuisine,” he says.
“We have to help ourselves first and then help others. That’s the key.”
I ask him where the name of his restaurant, Macheen, came from.”It’s like they say in Tijuana, Macheen (in Mexico it’s spelled ‘machÃn’) means ‘the real deal,’ el más chingón. And that’s what we try to do, ser los más chingones.”
