Author Juan Miguel Martinez

I consider myself a semi-regular tea drinker, and the things a mind like mine ponders when it comes to tea are "What kind of monkeys picked the oolong? Did they wear little bellhop hats?" and other such nonsens...

My visit to the Sherman Park neighborhood on Memorial Day was a memorable one. I finally got an interview with Chef Tizzy Tazz, who I had been trying to track down for a couple of years. During the course of ou...

The long stretch of Holton between Brady and Capitol is the main vein that bridges downtown, the north side, and Riverwest. It is a storied drag, and one that has a rich Boricua history. All the people who grew...

The people of the village are hard at work under a harsh and unforgiving sun. The year is 500 B.C., or as close as anyone can figure it, anyway. These people are working to create a meal for themselves and the ...

Puerquitos (Spanish, noun): piggies, a gingerbread pastry in the shape of a pig, made by the Huastecan (San Luis Potosí) people of Mexico, where piloncillo (hardened brown sugar) takes the place of molasses in ...

"Es que tu comes pura maciza, wey" ("It's because you only order the lean meat, dude") is something I overhear at Carnitas Machetes (2000 S. 8th St., 414-389-9254), where I am waiting in line to get my two poun...

About eight years ago, my sister and I went to see OFF! in Chicago. We showed up about three hours early, so we went to eat at El Barco Mariscos, a Mexican restaurant on Ashland and Cortez. We ordered ceviche, ...

In the vast and sometimes strange world of south side Milwaukee cuisine, hole-in-the-wall eateries are king. There are ones that people in a three-block radius swear by, and ones that north shore nancies trek i...

Renee Valdez and Sofia Esmeralda are a microcosm of Milwaukee hospitality, swirled with a starry magic that is bright-eyed and inviting. They are the owners of Ellas Café, a pop-up coffee shop that has recently...

Chilango (noun) 1. A person who has left their home in provincia (anywhere outside of Mexico City) to live in Mexico City, and has gone back home after some time. 2. Anyone from Mexico City—this is the pocho (a...

The old "piragüero" (shaved ice vendor) pushes his cart down a busy promenade in old San Juan, Puerto Rico. He wears a straw hat, a billowy linen shirt, and sandals. There is a certain level of pageantry involv...