HuffPost. Oct 2022.

Angel Medina is a Mexican-American restaurateur who is passionate about showcasing a version of Mexican cuisine that existed before colonists came to the Americas. He started sourcing Mexican coffee to raise money and awareness for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients ― immigrants who came to the U.S. as children ― and founded an unconventional restaurant in Portland centered around education and conversation. 

Medina currently owns two coffee shops, La Perlita and Esperanza, as well as four restaurants: República, La Fondita, Los Ponchos and Lilia (which opened October 5). In this Voices in Food story, Medina shares some common misconceptions about Mexican cuisine and why we need to talk about them. 

I was born in Southern California and at the age of 4, I relocated with my family to Guadalajara, Mexico. From there, I was sent to live with my grandmother in Tijuana as my parents were struggling to make ends meet. That is where I got my first introduction to food. Instead of saving pocket money to buy baseball cards, I would use it to get on a minibus and go eat Chinese food. I was a kid who loved to eat everything!

My grandmother also believed that if I drank more strong black coffee, I would do better at school. Needless to say, I was a wired kid and got hooked to coffee for life, so much that I ended up traveling to coffee farms, writing about them and starting my own coffee company. 

In 2010, as an adult, I moved to Portland for work. During that time, I got involved with DACA (my brother was born in Mexico and wasn’t able to legalize in the U.S.). I knew about other kids who could not get a driver’s license or tuition assistance in the new administration. I started raising funds and awareness for an organization called United We Dream by roasting coffee at my apartment. My employer, Airbnb, asked me to roast 75-100 pounds a week for their office and that’s what led me to start my first venture. In July 2017, I opened a cafe featuring only Mexican-grown coffee with proceeds going toward DACA recipients.

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