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Real people cooking.
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These are our win in the laugh like your finger is good because
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we're about to see what's good in.
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People with good in your hood is what happens when you combine
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ridiculously good food with the bonds that build a community
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and no one is doing it better in Highland Park than this family
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And a later we'll link with Honduran homegirl, Roxy Diaz and
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Highland Park rapper Reverie as they share their love for
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I'm in Highland Park L A at Hugo Azteca and its mother restaurant
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A it's a 12 punch of Mexican snacks, Hugo.
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And of course, I'm excited.
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I like coming here for the, for the nachos.
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Everything in this place is really good.
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This brings me back to my childhood.
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This is an without the chip on top is one of the best restaurants
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Very authentic food.
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Las Highland Park is set on the northeast part of L A called
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by the locals, the first town to be annexed by Los Angeles in
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This is one of las oldest neighborhoods at the center of Highland
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Park on York Boulevard.
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Are these two small but powerhouse institutions serving
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Just paces from one another.
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It's not just about the Hugos and the Del and Veronica are also
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serving Mexican street food favorites.
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It was kind of hard handle in the two places I took over around
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Me and my husband talking about the menu here.
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Oh, yeah, we do sell juices to and burritos, but mainly the
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And that was, how about your mom's restaurant?
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We get to let more people know about our culture, about our
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food, about our uh taste.
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I used to have him like on the car seat.
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I put him like on the side and then we cooking and now we're lucky
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that we have uh a lot of people who can help us.
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Your mom said that she remember sometimes she has to take you
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out of school to help at the, she, she went to work.
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So it wasn't not an option.
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We were like trying to help her out.
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And she always work like from five in the morning until 11 o'clock
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The only day that she has off is like half of the day on Sundays
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When I first uh got to elementary school.
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It was like really, really hard.
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Nobody speaks Spanish.
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So it was a lot of bullying.
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It was really hard English.
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It, it was difficult subject to me.
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I think like, everybody will judge me because the way that
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I speak, it was so hard.
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We first got here and I have to just commend both of you.
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So I'm really, really proud of my mom because if it wasn't for
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her, we will not be on the place that we are right now.
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This is obviously a family owned business.
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So my, my two kids were here and you have, isn't he like a social
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He's the one and my husband loves.
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So he's like really, really good with people.
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We'll talk to him later.
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Go a has a not so secret weapon.
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It's Efrain and his social media game is strong sometimes
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posting up to 10 videos a day but Homi has a loyal following
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peace and don't go anywhere because when we come back, we're
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going to learn how to make a bomb.
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And what are those things you're about to find out?
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Mm Shrimp and the shrimp is perfectly flavored.
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If is gonna show us how he does his Instagram to treat the were
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And also what put you guys on the map.
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What is a named after the Mexican sandal because of its shape
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The popular Mexico City street food is made from masa stuffed
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with a thin layer of beans then smashed into its peculiar oblong
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It's thrown in the pan then topped with protein salsa and totally
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makes sense why this is their most popular dish.
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Guys, I'm in the kitchen of and I'm with, and we're gonna learn
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how to make the, it's so much fun to say I can't wait ready.
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The first step is uh to grab some potatoes, the bread and then
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um, we start, we put the, the special bread, OK?
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And then after this, we put a little bit of butter on top of the
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So it will be fried.
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And then we put the salsa.
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So the bread is absorbing all of the flavors of this sauce.
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And then we put it like on top of it.
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Some lettuce a cheese and it's ready for you to enjoy OK?
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People the before you even get to the Torito and the potato
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the flavor just hits you from the bread, I think you need something
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So we're making you.
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That sounds hot but it's cold too.
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First of all, we need to put some into it some and then we're
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also be adding some cucumber.
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So it's a shaved ice.
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And then we're also putting in some.
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This is gonna be spicy, sour, spicy, but it's sourly spicy
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So turtle be refreshing you would like.
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And then um and as I said, another 12 punch the and the mm my tongue
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Like the just took me to the Mexican heaven once a sleepy enclave
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for immigrants and Latinos Highland Park has been going through
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some changes since the early two thousands when new businesses
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and residents moved in to capitalize on the cheap rent and
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a walkable neighborhood feel for more insight on her neighborhood
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I caught up with rapper Highland Park native and Hugo Vet Reverie
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Come here a lot that's been here for a few years and I actually
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shot one of my music videos here and it's called while I'm still
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This is York Avenue, York Boulevard.
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It's basically the most famous street in Highland Park besides
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Figueroa, Figueroa Street and York Boulevard are the main
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streets in Highland Park.
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It wasn't always like this.
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Like when I was growing up here on New York, it was a lot scarier
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and now it's really cool.
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It's been a lot of improvement.
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There's a lot of new businesses.
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There's a lot more money.
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There's a lot more opportunity.
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I love being here and this is my hometown no matter who's here
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Like all the new people here are cool, like all the hipsters
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like I haven't had any problems.
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You know, I've just gone through so many changes here because
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my first project I recorded with my brother and my dad bought
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us like an inbox and we recorded my first mix tape in his closet
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with the microphone it was a $10 karaoke mic and it was hanging
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You in Highland Park are doing the same thing.
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Started rough around the edges and now you're just blossoming
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Thank you for showing us Highland Park, giving us your insight
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and of course, talking to us about the future of not only Highland
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Park but you, you're very welcome.
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Thank you for having me.
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It was really fun being from here.
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It's your little piece of paradise that nobody else knows
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It's one of the oldest neighborhoods.
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I mean, it's really part of route 66.
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Got me thinking, how can I come up with my own dream and what's
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the best way to dive in?
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OK, guys, I'm in the kitchen of, with the queen of herself and
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we're about to have a, I am very nervous.
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I've never made a before.
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So I'm doing a dessert today.
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So because I'm Cuban, I'm gonna use guava paste that I've smushed
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So I'm gonna put the mush up guava paste, throw it in here just
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like it's actually really similar to making up a the home grown
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makes about 400 a day.
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I'm gonna try to not have a full blown anxiety attack, making
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This is how you do it.
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People PV C pipe and roll it out.
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So it's in the shape which is a Mexican shoe if you didn't know
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It's gonna be a fat.
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You looks so disappointed in my right now.
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Now we're going to There it is.
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Hash stress may also have some guava jelly that I'm gonna heat
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up so that I can drizzle it on top.
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So there's still some Mexican ness to it.
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I'm gonna grab some of the cheese and then for a little bit of
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citrus and bite some fresh cut mango.
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I'm gonna use this technique again except for this time.
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I'm gonna use Maria cookies.
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I'm gonna crunch them up a little bit just so there's a little
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Let's see what the judge thinks since Highland Park has a dense
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central American population, our challenge is being judged
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by none other than Honduran home girl, Roxy Diaz.
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And this is a Cuban inspired dessert with little bit of cheese
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crushed Maria cookies and some fresh mango.
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I come to back room.
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This is bomb delicious.
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There are a lot to live up to.
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Well, all right, you ready is made with love.
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Mine was made with anxiety.
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So I'm Cuban and Cubans love guava and cheese.
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So I figured you figured I would like it.
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Hondurans like guava and cheese too.
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So who would you say is the winner of the?
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So if I pick all in all winner of the child, that be enough?
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When I think of my grandmother, I think of every morning was
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you know, they would give us uh and waking up to that sound
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of this, like the lady making the tortillas, which is like
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something that you grew up in the house knowing what that sound
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So would make the from, from scratch.
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I think about all of that.
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We were, we were kids.
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It was a different way of growing up food.
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It brings people together, you know, it brings friends together
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We bring, it brings experiences together.
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I feel like people from Honduras are very humble, very hard
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And I think all, I think Latinos in general, we're just hard
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We know where we come from.
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We know our background, we know what the struggle is.
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We know what the segregation of people.
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It's either you got it or you don't.
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That's just the way we are raised.
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If we're in the third world country, you know, you know how
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And I think that that's why it was so important for my mom to
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send us back to Honduras every summer because we understood
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No, my mom worked hard.
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My mom and dad separated when I was young.
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I was like 12, 13 years old when my mom and dad separated my mom
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held it down, you know, three kids, single mom, two jobs at
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We never won it for anything.
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I, if we were poor, I never, you that we're hard working people
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We just, we don't give up.
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You see it on, you see it here in the streets of L A.
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You see Latinos all the time.
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Whether we're standing outside of a Home Depot, we're just
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waiting for a chance just to have of whether we're selling
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fruit on the corner, whether we're selling mangoes or, or
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or, or whatever, we figure the, we figure this shit out.
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The Spanish, I speak.
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It got really messed up in New York because all I do was hang
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out with Dominicans and Puerto Ricans so I speak like I, they
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call me at the foot of Puerto Rican parade.
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I'm like, you know, I'm not one of you, right?
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I wanna make sure that, you know, I mean, I'll fly the flag for
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you guys, but I'm not, you know, all of a sudden and I'm Dominican
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and Puerto Rican all of a sudden, I don't know where it came
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from, but I know that my family is like, who is this girl?
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It's fitting that Azteca is just steps away from a, it's a safe
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place to have the support of a powerful woman just feet away
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the mothers that sacrifice for us the countless hours for
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a better opportunity, the powerful markers made where we're
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formed and the embrace of change and welcoming of new neighbors
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Thank you so much to and the queen herself, Delfi for the amazing
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food and juices and of course to my girl Reverie for showing
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us all the Super Dough in Highland Park and that was good in
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Next time on what's good in your hood, we're heading to Houston
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where we'll explore Lango food and culture with H town's own
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