A Highlands restaurant owner creates a delicious circle of family, food, and community
by Marisa Procopio • Photos Byu Tina Colella
Having dinner with Leo Cervantes is like having dinner with a hurricane—a benevolent one, admittedly.
Chilangos chef/owner (“You’re the sole owner?” I asked. “Me and God,” he replied) grew up in poverty, one of five raised by a single mother in the outskirts of Mexico City. He emigrated to the U.S. at 19, working first as a dishwasher at The Cypress Inn in Ocean, then as a busboy, then on the line, and ultimately as sous chef at The Shadow brook in Shrewsbury.
Cervantes opened Chilangos 15 years ago, with just $500. It was slow going for the first couple of years, then he hit upon an idea: He would come out of the kitchen and greet the guests, every night, as often as he could. People loved the personal touch. They began returning…and giving back themselves. To wit: during Hurricane Sandy, Chilangos took on six feet of water. (“My beautiful bottles of tequila were floating,” he recalled.) Carla Cefalo, president of the Highlands Business Partnership, recounted that instead of despairing, Cervantes brought his stores of food to Henry Hudson High School and cooked for displaced Highlands residents. Paul Wilson, a frequent Chilangos visitor, nodded, saying simply, “What he has done for this community…!” That community helped Cervantes rebuild, even donating cans of paint to the cause. Nine long months later, the restaurant had a rebirth.
Dishes here are made from scratch, often with ingredients direct from Mexico. Growing up poor means no refrigeration, he explained, so his mother shopped daily for every meal, and he grew accustomed to the quality of freshly made. A colleague came into the Chilangos kitchen one day and marveled that nothing was bought chopped and sliced—it’s all done in house. “This is why we have a reputation,” Cervantes told him.
Pork “wings” on the bone are marinated, coated with a spicy sauce, and cooked until wonderfully chewy at the edges. An open-faced tamale with fresh coconut slaw, richly seasoned pork, and tender masa is a textural and flavorful feast, as is the hot poblano pepper stuffed with chicken, raisins, and almonds (its Cervantes’s mother’s recipe). Fiery chorizo tacos are leavened with mild salsa verde and a squeeze of fresh lime juice, and guests happily gobble them as streaks of crimson oil run down their hands. Cervantes is also at ease riffing off of menu standards. “The kind of experience I want to offer people is for me to come out and take the menu out of their hands and say ‘Let me cook for you.’”
When asked the best part of his life, he said, “Every morning when I wake up and open my eyes and am with my family.
I’m proud to be Mexican. I’m lucky to be able to share my flavors and my culture.” “I am not a rich man,” he added, then he leaned forward confidentially. “But I’m a billionaire.”
Chilangos
272 Bay Avenue, Highlands
732.708.0505 / chilangosnj.net