JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hispanic Heritage Month is a time to celebrate culture, food and community and one Jacksonville restaurant is doing all three at once.
Chancho King is bringing a taste of Ecuador to Murray Hill, and the story behind it is just as rich as the food on the plate.
Co-owners Maria LaMota, Chason Spencer and Francois Castro didn’t start with a restaurant.
They started with a folding table, a pork sandwich and a dream.
“Me and my husband Chason started as a pop-up business just selling like a pork sandwich, chips and frescos, which is our juice,” LaMota said.
They later partnered with a local brewery during COVID and say that unexpected moment changed everything.
“I feel like COVID was a catalyst that we did not know we needed,” Castro said.
“We were doing whatever it takes. We were also unemployed. In a situation like that, you have to adapt and overcome,” LaMota said.
Rooted in Ecuador
But the real roots of this place go back to Ecuador, to family kitchens and grandmothers who cooked with love.
“Being an immigrant, your parents are always working,” Castro said. “But that man always cooked every single day. He cooked for us. And I felt like when I was younger at least, that was the only way that I could get an interaction with my father. So that would be a connection that I would have with him.”
For LaMota, the connection to food runs just as deep.
“One of my grandmas had a whole little catering business in Ecuador. And she was quite successful. And then my older grandma — she just passed away during COVID as well — she was an amazing cook. Like, a majority of these recipes are hers,” she said.
It was that craving for home that sparked the idea for the restaurant.
“I crave Ecuadorian food more than I crave anything else at all times. So I was slowly bringing that. And there is a specific sandwich that we started with. My husband, Chason, whenever we went to Ecuador, he tried it for the first time. He’s like, ‘Oh, shoot!’” LaMota said.
The pork sandwich that started it all
That item was the pork sandwich, and it remains the restaurant’s most popular dish to this day.
“So it’s braised pork, marinated for like 36 hours, cooked for about 12. You just pull it off of the bone. We put pickled onions, which is very traditional, almost every day in Ecuador,” LaMota said.
The response from the community has been overwhelming.
“It’s awesome to have Americans loving it and craving this now, which I don’t think they had before. There are certain customers of ours that like budget Chancho King into their financials because they’re like, I need this pork sandwich,” LaMota added.
What’s on the menu?
The menu goes far beyond the sandwich. During a visit to the restaurant, News4JAX tried the fish soup, yuca bread and the pulled pork sandwich paired with plantain chips.
Everything on the menu is made with intention, and nothing is rushed.
“Most things are actually a labor of love. It’s not just a flip-and-turn type of place. I think maybe the quickest thing that we do is maybe the aioli, but even then, that’s a two-day process,” Castro said.
The hard work has paid off. The team received a James Beard Award finalist nomination. One that they never saw coming.
“We didn’t even nominate ourselves. We had no idea until we received an email, and it was kind of like, ‘Oh man, I guess we’re doing this,’” Castro said.
What’s next?
Soon the owners plan to add an outdoor kitchen to pair with their weekly specials and nights featuring a DJ on the back patio.
As for their menu? They say their staple items aren’t going anywhere.
For Castro, the mission has always been clear.
“When you arrive here, you can either blend yourself in or you stick yourself out. Me being the man that I am, I decided the opposite way. And I kind of embraced our Ecuadorian heritage,” Castro said.
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