7 minute read
A Look Into Restaurant Life
from Courtesy of Cuisine
by LASA Ezine
A Close Up Look Into Two Restaurants
How two local restaurants have become the popular places they are today
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By Emily Laux
Your stomach growls so you check the time only to realize it’s time for dinner and you forgot to go grocery shopping. The fridge is empty and you have nothing to eat. The only solution is to go to a restaurant, but where will you go? Two local restaurants, both of which have created a community of delicious cuisine and friendly faces are located just down the road. District Kitchen and Chi’lantro are both located in Austin, Texas. District Kitchen, opening in 2013 and Chi’lantro, opening in 2010 have both grown substantially in the last few years. Amidst the financial struggles and the problems that have arised due to the pandemic, these popular places have continued to thrive through their appetizing food and loyal customers. Amir Hajimaleki and his brother, Ali Hajimaleki, are the co-owners of District Kitchen. As well as being one of the co-owners of the restaurant, Hajimaleki is the executive chef. He knew he wanted to be a restaurateur since high school, as it combined his two favorite things: cooking and running a business. Hajimaleki said that opening a restaurant “can be overwhelming, but also humbling as well.” Opening a restaurant for the first time can be scary, but once you do it, it feels very rewarding as you have accomplished your goal. Hajimaleki had to face a lot of challenges when he first opened his restaurant, which only led him to learn new things on the way.
The co-owner and head chef of District
Kitchen, Amir Hajimaleki, cooks a delicious meal. Courtesy of Forbes. Courtesy of Cuisine | 20
A view of the outside patio at District Kitchen, a local restaurant in Austin, Texas. Courtesy of Total Happy Hour.
“I guess the biggest challenge for me was a lot of the things I wasn’t great at, such as marketing,” Hajimaleki said. “[I learned that] communicating with our team [is important] and making sure that if there are any challenges, we’re working on that to help the team.” On top of running the restaurant, Hajimaleki and his executive pastry chef, Dennis Van, competed in the Netflix baking competition television show Sugar Rush. “The experience was a lot of fun,” Hajimaleki said “And it was just a unique thing to do. Obviously, I was really excited and relieved at the same time, because it’s a lot of pressure. But it was really fun to do something at that [challenging] level.” Hajimaleki and Van were dubbed the “flavor brothers” by Colin Hanks, the guest judge on Sugar Rush, after winning the competition and the $10,000 prize. “I think that’s why we did so well, because we feel comfortable working together,” Hajimaleki said. “You know, we’ve done local TV stuff, like the news, and we’ve done events and all that stuff.” Amir Hajimaleki works closely with many of his employees, including Sarah Jones. She is the general manager of District Kitchen and oversees all of the necessities involving the front and back of the house. “Back of house is going to be your kitchen team,” which includes the chefs, and “front of house is going to be your service team,” which includes the waiters, Jones said. “I’m in charge of ensuring that everyone has what they need to do their jobs,” Jones said “I help out with paper goods order, things like boxes, to-go cups, because that’s [what the] front of house uses. I’m also in charge of making any beverages, which are non-alcoholic beverages for soda machines and coffee, tea and that sort of thing, as well as alcoholic beverages.” Similar to District Kitchen, Chi’lantro is also a well known restaurant in the Austin community. Chi’lantro is a clever word game that can be recognized by many, as it is a combination of the words “kimchi” and “cilantro.” This Korean/ Mexican/BBQ fusion restaurant is a popular pick in Austin, founded by owner and head chef Jae Kim. While it started as a small food truck on the streets of Austin, it quickly became the beloved restaurant it is today.
Chi’lantro is a Korean/Mexican/BBQ fusion restaurant with six locations in Austin, Texas. Photo by Emily Laux. The District Kitchen logo. Photo By Emily Laux.
Marisol Beltran is the newest General Manager of Chi’lantro at South Lamar, Austin, Texas. Photo By Emily Laux.
As the general manager of one of the six Austin Chi’Lantro locations, Marisol Beltran believes that it is important to be there for your coworkers. “For me, being a manager is when you need to take care of the people working for you in this company. The store runs because you have great co-workers here. The manager should support the [co-workers],” Beltran said. COVID-19 has affected countless businesses around the world. Luckily for District Kitchen and Chi’lantro, they were both able to keep most of their customers during lockdown, meaning business was almost as high as usual. “Thankfully, because we have been in Circle C for eight years and our guests are incredibly loyal and amazing, we were able to stay afloat throughout the pandemic. We did see an increase in orders, and then we were operating 25 to 50% for about almost a year,” Jones said. At District Kitchen, some problems did arise regarding the pandemic as COVID-19 took everyone by surprise. “Naturally, we didn’t have nearly as many guests. There were sometimes struggles with masks and wearing them. And then, guests thinking that even though we did every other table, it is still too close to certain things,” Jones said. Two Chi’lantro locations were temporarily closed due to the
pandemic, reducing the number of locations from eight to six. Even with six restaurants remaining open, Beltran has noticed many changes being made due to COVID-19. “It’s affecting us because now everything has to be to-go [orders]. It also really affects us with the masks. The kitchen is hot, so you have to be in the back [of the restaurant] cooking, having your mask on, because you need to protect yourself and the people around you,” Beltran said. “We also have to be apart, for example, you can’t be too close with friends.” While District Kitchen has around the same number of employees now compared to pre-pandemic times, Chi’lantro has seen a decreasing number of co-workers as COVID-19 cases worsened. “Nobody is applying for a job. I mean, I can’t say that they don’t want to work, I don’t know what happened, but no one is applying for a job, so that’s really affected us,” said Bletran. Precautions also had to be taken
to keep all of the customers and employees safe during the ongoing pandemic at District Kitchen.
“The majority of my team is vaccinated,” Jones said “I would say 95% of them are vaccinated. We have hand sanitizer stations set up around the restaurant for easy access for guests. We’re just regularly making sure that we’re up to date on our cleaning. Hands are washed constantly, checking on team members, thankfully we’d never had an outbreak here. And sometimes even when someone’s like ‘Hey, it might be allergies’, I’m like, ‘Stay home, take a [COVID-19] test and let us know’, just to make sure that no one’s been in contact with someone that might have [COVID-19] that could affect us.” At Chi’lantro, similar provisions that were not necessary prepandemic, are now regular practices today. “Washing hands, being on top [of everything], and sanitizing everything [are precautions that have recently been implemented]. We did it every hour - we had to sanitize the restroom. We don’t have customers seated now, but [if we did, the tables] would be touching. So that’s why you have to be on top of that,” Beltran said. The employees are grateful to the customers for continuing to order meals online. “The to-go orders and just our fantastic regulars and the loyalty of them, always coming by and seeing people multiple times a week. That’s what really helps us out,” Jones said. The future is looking bright for both of these restaurants. Hajimaleki, Jones and Beltran all agreed that their only hope for the future of their restaurants is for business to expand. Who knows, maybe you will visit District Kitchen or Chi’lantro sometime soon.
At District Kitchen, the tables are placed into rows that maximize social distancing during the pandemic. Courtesy of District Austin Kitchen and Cocktails. Two of the many appetizing meals you can get at District Kitchen. Photos by Emily Laux.
First invented by Jae Kim, kimchi fries are a clever fusion of kimchi and french fries. Courtesy of H Mart.
