San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Puerto Rican cuisine rises in Oakland.
Family’s fouryear effort is realized with La Perla
When La Perla first started as a tiny operation inside a convenience store in Oakland’s Dimond District, chef and coowner Jose “Cheo” Ortiz struggled to get customers to visit. It wasn’t just because of the restaurant’s location, he believes, but because there weren’t many Puerto Rican restaurants in the Bay Area to begin with.
But he eventually built up a following for his homespun Puerto Rican cooking, and nearly four years later, on Feb. 14, he and his family opened their own brick and mortar location at 3409 Fruitvale Ave., just around the corner from the convenience store . Named after a small neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, La Perla’s new location was a former Subway restaurant where the Ortizes first gathered to discuss opening a restaurant.
“It feels incredible because it gives us the opportunity to excel and to showcase who we are as Puerto Ricans and what is Puerto Rican food,” said Ortiz, 61.
Yet Ortiz wasn’t able to open his new restaurant completely on the books. He hasn’t yet received the final building permits from the city of Oakland, as first reported in Oaklandside, after the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health informed him in December that he needs to install brandnew flooring that he said is beyond his budget. Ortiz opened the restaurant regardless and has since been in negotiations with the health department for an extension to replace the floors.
Ortiz is known for his arroz con gandules (seasoned rice with pigeon peas), empanadillas (fried turnovers), pernil (a roasted pork shoulder that Ortiz cooks for 12 hours) and mofongo (fried green plantains that are mashed and covered with toppings like shrimp, lobster or chicharrón de pollo).
Before opening La Perla in 2017, Ortiz was the chef at Borinquen Soul, then the East Bay’s only Puerto Rican restaurant, according to the East Bay Express. When it closed, he took over the location at the convenience store.
Some of the other Puerto Rican food options in the Bay Area include Boriqua Kitchen , a food truck in Oakland; Parada 22 in the HaightAshbury; Mission Boricua and El Nuevo Frutilandia (which serves both Puerto Rican and Cuban food) in the Mission; and Sol Food, with two locations in Marin County. But the number is low compared to other types of Latin American restaurants in the region. One reason is because the Puerto Rican population is concentrated in the East Coast.
Some of Ortiz’s customers drive from all over the Bay Area, including San Francisco, Sacramento, San Jose and Santa Rosa to name a few. Others include basketball players and staff from the Golden State Warriors and the Puerto Rican artist Elvis Crespo. Through fans’ support, the family raised nearly $17,000 to help open the restaurant via a Kickstarter campaign, more than their original goal.
Ortiz, his two sons and his daughterinlaw — Gabriel, Moises and Gabriel’s wife, Kimly Touch Ortiz — signed the lease for the new spot in March, the same month restaurants had to close when the Bay Area’s shelterinplace orders were announced.
Gabriel, 37, had previously quit his job as a park ranger for the East Bay Regional Park District to help build the family business. Kimly, 35, who helps manage the restaurant, is a former preschool teacher who was laid off due to budget cuts. Moises, 40, left a corporate position to help cook.
Like many restaurants, the pandemic impacted La Perla’s sales, which weren’t enough to cover food and staff, said Gabriel.
The Ortizes began to work with chef Jose Andrés’ World Central Kitchen and Steph and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play.
Foundation to cook meals for vulnerable families during the pandemic, which also helped them stay afloat.
“Being an Ortiz, you got to learn how to roll with the punches,” Gabriel said. “You can’t let something hold you back. That’s a trait that I think is very strong in our family.”
In November, the family teamed up with Oakland City Councilmember Sheng Thao to provide Thanksgiving meals with “Puerto Rican flavors” to the Oakland community.
Ortiz already had a background of helping those in need. In 2017, four days after Hurricane Maria hit, he flew to Puerto Rico with the American Red Cross to cook meals for families.
“I was able to do a lot for my people (in Puerto Rico),” Ortiz said. “Same thing over here.”
Ortiz wants his family to eventually expand the business with franchises throughout California. But for now, his goal is to continue feeding Oakland and other Bay Area communities.
On a recent Sunday, he waved to and greeted passersby along Fruitvale Avenue as he blared salsa music in the background from La Perla’s new location. Ortiz loves to talk about his family and his love for Oakland, Puerto Rico and cooking.
When he began to list the ingredients of one of the restaurant’s sauces, Gabriel and Kimly jumped in to stop him from sharing the secret recipe.
Ortiz “is like the chef artist,” Kimly said, explaining that her fatherinlaw is the face of the business, the one who creates recipes and cooks the food with the help from his nephews and other family members.
Ortiz said he hopes to leave a legacy for his family to continue cooking traditional Puerto Rican dishes, just as his mother taught him.
Ortiz was able to visit his mother in Puerto Rico just before she died a few weeks ago. He said she was proud that Ortiz was opening La Perla’s first standalone location.
The previous year, when he was competing with 40 other applicants for the lease, she had given him hope.
“She said, ‘Don’t worry, you’re gonna get it.’ And she was right,” he said tearfully. “I got it.”