“Don’t fix what isn’t broken,” says Mario Hernández Alonso, 66, owner of El Califa de León, nearly a year after the taquería — and grill cook Arturo Rivera — were awarded a Michelin star. Rivera thought he’d won a set of tires when he first heard about the prize. Now he’s left the taquería.

“They dazzled him, bought him off, promised him the sun, the moon, and the stars. They called him a chef. A chef of what?” Hernández says bluntly. He adds that he respects the decision, but doesn’t understand why Rivera was the one to don the chef’s jacket and receive the recognition.

El Califa de León‘s first big boost came in late 1993. On November 28, Luis Donaldo Colosio was chosen to run for president as the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). The next day, journalist Gabriel Parra reported the news in Ovaciones and concluded the piece with a story in which he described meeting the politician eating two steak tacos and two rib tacos on the sidewalk in front of the taquería back in the 1980s.

El Califa de León was already popular by then — making in five minutes what many high-end restaurants earned in a month, according to Parra — but on November 29, after that mention, its fame reached a new peak.

More than 30 years later, in May, the taquería received another boost —this one sending it to the stars. When it came back down to earth, it brought one with it: a Michelin star. The award changed the dynamics of the surrounding area. The restaurant next door added a few tables, so customers could sit and eat. Street vendors popped up outside selling official merchandise. Logistics were put in place to manage the line so it wouldn’t block foot traffic. Now it’s a favorite stop for celebrities like Formula 1 driver Valtteri Bottas and U.S. boxer Rolando Romero. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the taquería itself.

In 2024, Hernández said he was surprised to become the first taquería in Mexico to receive recognition from the prestigious guide. At the time, he said he wanted to speak to the Michelin team to understand why them, given that the recipe was nothing more than coarse salt and lime. Later, he learned that kind of information is kept secret.

“The representative told me, ‘This isn’t about a recipe, we can’t share how or why you earned the star, because that would be giving away the formula,’” he recalls.

But that explanation didn’t sit well with him when it came to Rivera. “If the man had gone to culinary school, if he had a chef’s degree, I’d take my hat off to him. But it all happened just because he was born into the business,” says Hernández.

The secret

The cut of the meat is El Califa de León‘s best-kept secret. “It might be the only secret we have,” says Hernández, using one of his hands to illustrate. “If you bite this way,” he says, holding his right palm upright with fingers pointing to the sky, “you tear the meat.” He mimics biting down on his index and middle fingers. “But if you do it like this,” he continues, now holding his fingers horizontally, “you bite deeper into the fibers, and it makes the meat more tender.” He repeats the gesture, and the fingers part effortlessly. “Ninety-nine percent of people don’t know how to cut it. My father worked with meat for over 60 years and found the perfect cut.”

He admits he guards this information closely. When the Michelin star arrived, Hernández had his employees — whom he refers to throughout the interview as his family — sign a confidentiality agreement. Most agreed, except one. “It went to his head. He thought he was a rock star… God bless him,” he says firmly. Still, Rivera’s departure doesn’t trouble him. As he explains, there’s no secret in how the taco is prepared, and the people who do know the proper cut all signed the agreement.

The downside of success

Arturo Rivera’s decision to leave the taquería wasn’t the only issue El Califa de León faced after being recognized by the Michelin Guide. The influx of customers brought problems with neighboring restaurant owners and the street vendors out front. “They went to the city hall and complained. And since this place runs like a mafia, you either fall in line or you fall in line,” says Hernández. His employees had to implement a new system to manage the waiting line.

The sidewalk along Ribera de San Cosme Avenue is wide — about a meter and a half separates the entrances of the premises from the street vendors. Between them, a corridor forms for foot traffic heading toward Insurgentes or Circuito Interior. Behind the vendors, there’s another meter and a half of sidewalk. Now the queue forms here, next to the bike lane. It then curves, weaving between two vendor stands, and the line breaks. The next person steps up in front of the grill, along with seven or eight others. El Califa de León is a small space. There’s no place to sit.

“We entered into negotiations [with the neighboring shop owners]. At first, it was difficult, but we helped them understand that success is contagious — it spills over, it generates,” says Hernández. One of the neighboring businesses added a few tables so customers could sit and eat, while others started selling hoodies, t-shirts, and caps featuring the taquería and the Michelin man — white, round, and jolly.

On May 16, 2024, when Michelin awarded them the star and a swarm of journalists came to speak with Hernández, he said it felt like a dream he didn’t want to wake up from. “It was a phrase that just came to me in the moment,” he recalls wistfully. “The dream continues. If God gives me the chance, I want to earn another star. I’m also thinking about expanding the business — mainly to the United States. And why not? Madrid, London, Paris. Dreams do come true.”

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La única taquería del mundo en obtener una estrella Michelin cumple ahora un año con ese distintivo y algunas sorpresas. Para empezar, en este tiempo, el parrillero se ha largado. Arturo Rivera, quien creyó que se había ganado un juego de llantas cuando le avisaron del premio Michelin, se ha ido a buscar otros horizontes: “Lo marearon, lo compraron, le bajaron el sol, la luna y las estrellas. Lo nombraron chef. ¿Chef de qué?”, dice el dueño de El Califa de León, Mario Hernández, y agrega que respeta la decisión, pero no entiende por qué el parrillero recibió la filipina y el reconocimiento. “Se creyó un rockstar”. El éxito del establecimiento sigue viento en popa, pero ha tenido que sortear otros inconvenientes, muy propios de México: las mafias. La mucha gente que se agolpa a las puertas del local ha ocasionado trastornos con los comerciantes de los locales vecinos y los puestos ambulantes. “Fueron a la alcaldía y se quejaron. Y como esto es una mafia, o te enderezas o te enderezas”, comenta. Sus empleados adoptaron una nueva logística para la fila de espera.

“No cambies lo que no necesita arreglo”, es la máxima de Mario Hernández (Ciudad de México, 66 años). Pero hay cosas que han tenido que modificarse. Ahora es una mujer, Gloria Ochoa Hernández, quien lleva la parrilla de los reputados tacos de gaonera. Y sobre los problemas con los vecinos en la Ribera de San Cosme, comenta: “Entramos en negociaciones. Al principio fue difícil, pero les dimos a entender que esto salpica, esto genera”. Uno de los locales de junto ajeno a la taquería adaptó un puñado de mesas para que los clientes coman sentados, otros hicieron sudaderas, playeras y gorras de la taquería y del señor Michelin, blanco, redondo y bonachón. Al negocio, sin embargo, le sigue faltando espacio para tanto cliente.

El primer empujón que tuvo El Califa de León a la cima del éxito sucedió a finales de 1993. El 28 de noviembre, Luis Donaldo Colosio fue elegido para competir por la candidatura a la presidencia en representación del Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). Al día siguiente, el periodista Gabriel Parra publicó en Ovaciones la noticia y cerró la pieza con una crónica en la que contaba que se encontró con el político comiendo dos tacos de bistec y dos de costilla, en los años 80, sobre la banqueta frente a la taquería. El Califa ya era conocido, ya hacía más dinero en cinco minutos de lo que hace cualquier otro restaurante de postín en todo el mes, según decía Parra, pero el 29 de noviembre, tras la noticia y la crónica, la popularidad de El Califa subió un escalón más.

Más de 30 años después, esta vez en mayo, a la taquería le llegó otro empujón que los catapultó a las estrellas. Al volver a la tierra trajeron consigo una, la Michelin. El reconocimiento cambió la dinámica de los alrededores: el local de junto adaptó unas mesitas; puestos ambulantes frente a la parrilla con la mercancía oficial; se montó una logística para la fila de espera; ahora, es el sitio favorito de celebridades como Valtteri Bottas, piloto de la Fórmula 1 y Rolando Romero, boxeador estadounidense. Lo único que no cambió fue la taquería.

En 2024, Hernández confesó estar sorprendido de convertirse en la primera taquería mexicana reconocida por la guía gastronómica. Decía entonces que quería hablar con los representantes para saber por qué ellos, siendo que la receta no es más que sal de grano y limón. Después se enteró de que esa información es secreta. “La representante me dijo: ‘Esto no es una receta, no podemos darles el cómo ni por qué se ganaron la estrella, porque sería una fórmula”, cuenta. Pero esta explicación no lo dejó tranquilo respecto a Rivera. “Si el señor hubiera ido a una escuela de cocina, tuviera un título de chef, me quitaría el sombrero. Pero todo fue porque él nació en el negocio”, dice.

El secreto

El corte de la carne es el secreto mejor guardado de El Califa de León. “Quizás es el único secreto que tenemos”, asegura Hernández, que usa una de sus manos para explicar. “Si tú muerdes de esta manera”, dice mientras sostiene la palma derecha en el aire con los dedos apuntando hacia el cielo, “desgarras la carne”. Hace como si mordiera el dedo índice y medio. “En cambio, si lo haces de esta manera”, ahora con los dedos en posición horizontal, “profundizas la mordida en la fibra y la hace más suave”. Repite el gesto de morder y los dedos, sin esfuerzo, se separan uno del otro. “El 99% no sabe cortarla. Mi papá trabajó sesenta y tantos años la carne y encontró el corte perfecto”.

Reconoce que es celoso de esta información. Cuando llegó la estrella, Hernández le presentó a sus empleados, a quienes se refiere durante toda la entrevista como su familia, un acuerdo de confidencialidad. La mayoría accedió, excepto uno. “Se le subió el humo a la cabeza. Él se creyó un rockstar… que Dios lo bendiga”, zanja con seriedad. Sin embargo, la salida de Rivera lo tiene tranquilo porque, repite, en la preparación del taco no hay ningún secreto y la gente que hace estos cortes sí firmaron el acuerdo.

El 16 de mayo de 2024, cuando Michelin les otorgó la estrella y una horda de periodistas acudieron a hablar con Hernández, este dijo que sentía que era un sueño del cual no quería despertar. “Fue una frase que se me ocurrió en el momento”, recuerda nostálgico. “El sueño sigue. Si Dios me da vida, quiero lograr otra estrella. También pienso en expandir el negocio, principalmente a Estados Unidos. ¿Y por qué no? Madrid, Londres, París. Los sueños se cumplen”.

Who made the food for the 2025 conclave? Who made all of those garments for the Mass before the conclave? Who cleaned the floors? Who is doing the hidden labor? While the first question has been publicly answered, the nod to those who did the labor, the nuns from Domus Sanctae Marthae, came with a quick critique: Come for the Conclave. Don’t Stay for the Food.

In her 2016 speech at The World of Labor during Pope Francis’ visit to Juarez, Daisy Flores Gamez highlighted that from her experience as a worker, work roles affect all aspects of society, meaning that too much time is spent on work to make ends meet for the majority of women. Furthermore, houses are only places for sleeping. She calls for a dignity of labor which allows for people to make ends meet with time left to build community where people can “learn the essential issues: solidarity, appreciation, caring for others and the respect for human dignity.”

The Catholic teaching on labor has been explicitly strong on issues regarding labor rights and justice since Rerum Novarum. In 2015 Pope Francis received international attention for calling the international pay gap a “scandal.” And Pope Leo XIV plans to lean strongly on the wealth of Catholic social teaching “in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.” Pope Leo has much work ahead to attend to the hopes of many women around the world regarding labor both within and outside the Vatican, like those articulated by Flores Gamez.

From the day laborer to the theologian, people are struggling to maintain work and make ends meet. An unjust global labor system creates a culture of fear based upon what Pope Francis named a “culture of death.” Women are unevenly impacted by labor and economics globally. They continue to face labor inequities in pay as well as labor afforded to them.

Globally, 94.6% of men participate in the paid labor force, while only 51.6% of women do. On average, women in the labor market still earn 23 percent less than men globally. Beyond earning less, women also save less and 742 million women are excluded from formal financial services, if that were a country, it would be the third largest in the world.

Yet, the picture of impoverished women often reflects images of women from places often called “underdeveloped”; “developing”; “southern hemisphere” or “poor.” Historically, the northern half of the globe has been considered wealthier and more developed with the southern half being seen as needing charitable aid. However, a closer look at a couple of interesting trends shows something surprising about the relationship between the northern and southern hemispheres of the world. The Gallup World Poll 2014-2018 chart depicts the ten countries where single mothers are most likely to fall into the lowest income group to be, in order: Australia, Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Czech Republic, Belgium, Denmark, Poland, Norway, and United States. Single mothers fare terribly in the northern half of the globe.

Regarding migrations, the number of women who migrate globally has been decreasing since 2000. Yet, about 50 percent of the people who immigrate to Mexico from the USA annually are women. According to the Department of State, about 1.6 million US expatriates live in Puerto Vallarta, Merida, Mexico City, San Miguel de Allende, Lake Chapala and Tulum, where they form strong communities of American citizens, including retirees. While cost of living is not named as a reason for people from the USA to migrate to Mexico, it is listed as the first and strongest pro for moving.

Again, there is much work for Pope Leo XIV on women’s equality, labor and migration, and not just, as might be first thought, in the developed world.

Neomi De Anda is Associate Professor of Theology the University of Dayton (Ohio).

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