July 22, 2019

Meet Rosendo Jacquez of Balam in Lynwood

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosendo Jacquez.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always wanted to open up a restaurant that showcased the different styles of Mexican recipes from all over the country with a twist – but I had no culinary experience. In 2015 my sister introduced me to Chef Manuel Bañuelos (aka Chef Kornie), and we created a menu that brought my ideas to life. We then had a taste test for friends and family, which convinced us to open up a restaurant. We got to where we are today by being featured in an article in LA Weekly. From there we got invited to Tacolandia 2016 and won the Best Innovation award for our Tropical T taco. Since then, we’ve gotten more recognition and invitations to various events like Taco Madness 2017, where we won Best of Show.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of the biggest problems we’ve faced was in 2018 when Long Beach Blvd. was being repaved for nine months. This made it difficult for customers to reach us; resulting in a decrease in our sales. We’ve had some ups and downs, but they’ve all been learning experiences.

Please tell us about Balam.
At Balam, we like to think outside the box and stay away from trends. We specialize in tacos – 12 different ones – which you can turn into a burrito, bowl, or quesadilla. But we also serve menudo, ceviche, and torta ahogada with a birote salado, which we import from Guadalajara, Mexico. Being a first-generation Mexican American, it means a lot to have the opportunity to represent my culture’s versatility. Typically Mexican restaurants want to keep things traditional and perfect those recipes. Often times, straying away from tradition is viewed negatively or not done the “right way”, but we want to show how good different can be. Our tacos exhibit only a fraction of how diverse Mexican cuisine is when you build off of the classics.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would do nothing different because if we didn’t experience those mistakes, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Pricing:

Taco Tuesday – $2.75 each taco
Burrito Wednesday – $5.5o for a burrito
Bowl Thursday – $5.50 for a bowl

Contact Info:

Address: 11700 Long Beach Blvd. Lynwood, CA 90262
Website: balamkitchen.com
Phone: (424) 338-6762
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: https://instagram.com/balamtaco?igshid=1d42gas9e3qfl
Facebook: https://facebook.com/balammexicankitchen
Yelp: https://yelp.to/qTKq/TOjIpFJiPX

Image Credit:
Aileen Lim, Balam

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.