[Photo via @jaha7236]
Puebla Mexican Food, which features huge portions at small prices, is closing for good at 47 First Ave. between East Second Street and East Third Street...
[EVG photo]
The family run restaurant closes after business this
[Image via Yelp]
Back in February 2007, The Villager published a feature on Marin, who "was born into poverty in the town of Santana, in the central Mexican state of Puebla that their restaurant is named after."
She was one of 12 children. In 1979, at age 15, she left her parents and the world she knew behind to cross illegally into the United States. It was a last-minute decision. An older sister had backed out after the family had paid $550 per person to a coyote (an expert — or profiteer — at smuggling people across the border). The money could not be refunded and Marin took her sister’s spot, traveling with another sister, that sister’s husband and his brother.
The coyote led them on a five-hour hike over a Tijuana mountain into Southern California, using his familiarity with the route to avoid authorities. Marin and her small party eventually made it to Los Angeles, where they boarded a cross-country bus to New York City. Her sister and brother-in-law rented a tenement apartment in the East Village, and Marin lived with them. Her childhood and her formal education were over.
Over the next decade, she worked various factory jobs, becoming a legal resident in 1987 through a government amnesty program, per The Villager.
Marin’s sister and brother-in-law launched the restaurant in 1990… with Marin taking over in 2000. (Marin’s sister and brother-in-law run Downtown Bakery II at 69 First Ave.)
Meanwhile, we'll likely have a Puebla-heavy diet the next few days…
[EVG photo]