Craft cocktails, local beer, and carefully curated wine.

No.

We are not in downtown LA.

We're at Alchemy Craft right here in the heart of downtown Montebello.

Today I'm going to try my hand at mixing cocktails and pairing good food to go with it.

Let's mix it up.

[music] I met up with Evelyn Santos, one of the co-founders of Alchemy Craft and the community food hall, Boulevard Market.

Tell me more about Montebello.

Montebello is only 8 miles away from downtown LA.

We are located off of Whittier Boulevard, which that in itself is just iconic.

We've got the culture of low riders and people cruising down Whittier Boulevard.

My partner and I, we were originally living in downtown LA, but we decided we wanted to open up a business.

Since I had roots here in Montebello, I told him like, "Let's move to Montebello."

Isn't it kind of funny how you grow up in one place, leave it for a minute, and somehow you get pulled back to where you're from?

Yes.

We were really inspired by just life, having experience living in other cities, having traveled.

We wanted to create something for the community where it was a sense of place.

The best thing to do that is food and drinks.

There's nothing that brings people together more than food and drink.

Exactly.

Let's check out Boulevard Market.

Sure.

The moment you step into Boulevard Market you're greeted by greenery, sunshine, and a welcoming vibe.

This is your brainchild.

This is Boulevard Market.

We have a total of eight vendors here.

Six food, one coffee that also serves food, a beer and wine bar, Alchemy Craft that serves beer and wine.

Obviously.

My partner and I hand selected every single vendor that is in this food hall, and so we always jokingly say, "We created this space for ourselves."

It's like, "Where would we want to eat?"

Selfishly, this is in our backyard.

Perfect question.

I couldn't wait to try some of the food, but first, Evelyn introduced me to her husband and business partner, Barney Santos.

Barney co-founded Alchemy Craft and Boulevard Market with Evelyn.

Locally sourced craft beers and wines are a specialty here.

I hear that Barney makes a mean margarita.

As a Margarita fan, I need to find out what's his secret.

Yes, I'll be the coach.

I'm really good at following direction, but I am not a good bartender.

This is going to be our actual end glass, right?

It's a wine-based drink.

It's a sake, but it's a blend of tequila blanco.

It has that same type tequila blanco bite in the front without- The burn in the back.

-the burn in the back.

It's a smooth drink.

Here we go.

We put 2 ounces This is a jigger, fill it all the way to the top and then we'll dump it in our glass here.

Inside.

In this bad boy, yes.

We'll do 2 ounces of actual fresh lime All right.

You want to dump it in there?

Okay That's 2 full ounces right there.

Perfect.

Then grab that bottle right there, which is our syrup, which we make our syrups from scratch here.

Hey, I love that you guys make-- look at all these others.

Yes, we're good to go here.

Another shake.

Do you want to give it a shake?

Okay [laughter] Do you do one-handed?

Yes, oh, that's perfect.

[laughs] You're a natural.

Right.

You're a natural.

This part I can do We'll pop off here.

Pop off?

Yes, pop off right here.

Pour.

Okay, which cocktail is this?

This is just our Fidelio.

We call it a Fidelio.

Fidelio.

Then we just garnish with a lime, salt it a little bit here.

People like to drink it with their straws.

Nice and simple.

Simple drink, yes.

That's our margarita right there.

The Fidelio- Yes, Fidelio -margarita.

Perfect This is a classic margarita.

You don't need to put too much, just a simple syrup, the lime juice, whiskey, and that's it.

The Fidelio was simple, refreshing, and delicious and we didn't stop there.

We made a hibiscus margarita, a spicy cucumber margarita, a cider with a fun candy rim called the Mexican lollipop, and finally, a lavender seltzer.

[laughter] Salud.

Salud.

After all of those Margaritas, I sure did get hungry, so Evelyn and I stepped outside to sample some of the food vendors.

[music] This is an amazing spread.

What do we have going on?

Oh my gosh.

This is the best part about being in a food hall, right.

Yes.

You can pick and choose.

You can do all of these different pairings.

The very first item that we have is from our incubator kitchen, Los Taquero Mucho, which is going to be a hand pressed tortilla with a black bean spread, carne asada, and pickled onions.

This is a perfect pairing with a Mexican lager.

I'm going to give it a try.

Mix it up with a lager.

It looks so good.

Everything is scratch kitchen, they do the black bean spread.

The tortillas, like I mentioned, are hand pressed.

Cheers.

Cheers.

I tried a little bit of everything on the menu.

Pupusas revueltas with cheese, chicharron, and beans paired with a hazy IPA.

A margherita pizza with a lager topped with a Mexican lollipop rim that I love so much.

Finally, a huge blue corn tortilla bowl with specialty crema, grilled chicken, chilies, guacamole, and pomegranate seeds.

It's their take on a chiles en nogada, paired with Alchemy Craft's classic hibiscus margarita.

More drinks.

You guys moved here 2012.

You have all of the ideas, you start seeing spaces, but it doesn't come together until literally a few years ago.

Yes.

August will be two years that we're open.

That is a labor of- It has-- -love with that kind of time.

Yes It really has been a labor of love.

Lots of blood, sweat, and tears A whole lot of tears.

[laughs] I'm sure.

Tell me some of those struggles.

Oh my gosh.

Building in the midst of the pandemic, right?

Both my partner and I were fully invested in working on this and then us deciding, "Maybe I should go back to a 9:00 to 5:00 just to have health insurance, to have a little bit of stability."

I think it's really common, and it's a lot of things that people don't talk about as entrepreneurs This is the dream, but if you don't come from wealth, if you don't come from money, then you've got to work.

You still need an income at the same time.

It's not going to come out of nowhere.

Yes.

That's incredible.

Tell me what you envision for the future.

We are currently working with two other cities that want a development just like this one.

No way.

We want to stay in communities that are usually not on the radar.

We're not on the- Underlooked -west side.

We want to stay predominantly in Latino communities I think that's what the vision is, to continue developing businesses that bring people together.

There's really something magical about getting to try so many different flavors from all of these great restaurants.

As the afternoon went on, we ate delicious food, sipped great drinks, and chatted.

I really felt that Evelyn and Barney built a place to celebrate the neighborhood and the good times.

It's been a great day meeting Evelyn of Boulevard Market and Alchemy Craft, learning about her vision and struggles to get here and build this together with her partner Barney and her community at her side.

It's been wonderful to venture out of the lesser-known part of LA and get to know just a little bit of Montebello.

SoCal Wanderer is made possible by the Wurwand Foundation's key initiative to support local entrepreneurs.

FOUND/LA.