For chefs, ‘We’re taking care of each other. That’s what Fort Worth is all about.’
Two of Fort Worth’s leading chefs led the way last week to help show the city’s love.
A woman in suburban Saginaw started crying when Tokyo Cafe chef Kevin Martinez showed up at her door with tacos and water from Magdalena’s, one of dozens of relief deliveries or dropoffs citywide as restaurateurs mobilized during a winter storm.
“She thought I was just the guy doing the deliveries,” Martinez said this week as Fort Worth warmed up after a week of subfreezing nights in the dark without utilities.
“We rely on each other for help,” said Juan Rodriguez, chef of the Magdalena’s pop-up dinner club.
“We’re all in this together. We can’t do without each other.”
Only days before the ice storm, Martinez was honored by city tourism officials for organizing chefs to gather, pack and distribute “Free Food Care Packs” every Sunday in 2020 to a total of nearly 40,000 needy families, many but not all hospitality workers’.
With most restaurants closed last week, he decided to “get everybody together and do it again,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez was looking at his canceled Magdalena’s events and fully stocked freezer.
When in doubt, make tacos.
“I was at home — we were all very antsy,” he said. “I went to check on the restaurant. Everything was OK. So I called my wife and said. ‘Let’s do some tacos.’ “
He distributed free taco dinners first-come, first-served, then made more for a taco truck delivery Saturday at the Fort Worth police training center.
“We passed them out to first responders — with all the fire alarms and accidents, they’ve been going 24-7,” he said.
Some officers and firefighters asked if they could take food back to families in need in the neighborhoods.
In Saginaw, Martinez brought families some tacos and some chicken-and-rice from another restaurant, Boun Bistro (and its Lao-tino Eats truck).
“People couldn’t get out — it’s still a pandemic, and they’ve got somebody with COVID-19 and can’t get out to get food,” Martinez said.
“You wouldn’t believe how grateful people were when you just say, ‘here’s a meal.’ “
Martinez’s hunger relief effort began last year when he was traveling in Japan during the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
In one day, he saw the city switch from wide-open to closed.
He and friends from other restaurants such as Panther City BBQ started out gathering food for laid-off hospitality workers.
Now he has a GoFundMe for Free Food Care Packs and hopes to start a larger charity.
His family is from a village in San Luis Potosí that didn’t have electricity, paved roads or running water until a few years ago, he said. “But everybody was always super charitable — you pitch in and help.”
It’s the same way in Fort Worth, Martinez said.
“We know some of the people picking up food,” he said.
Some of them made face masks for restaurant workers, he said.
“Now we’re helping feed them. We’re taking care of each other,” Martinez said. “That’s what Fort Worth is all about.”
Tokyo Cafe is open again with regular hours: lunch and dinner weekdays and Saturdays; 5121 Pershing Ave., 817-737-8568, tokyocafefw.com
Magdalena’s is serving from its food truck Friday and Saturday nights; 502 Grand Ave., 817-740-8085; magdalenastx.com
This story was originally published February 23, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
