{"id":25717,"date":"2021-08-12T09:00:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000021520"},"modified":"2023-03-20T00:02:09","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T07:02:09","slug":"two-women-challenge-stereotypes-with-remixed-mexican-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/two-women-challenge-stereotypes-with-remixed-mexican-food","title":{"rendered":"Two women challenge stereotypes with \u2018remixed\u2019 Mexican food"},"content":{"rendered":"

Best friends Joty Kaur, 28, and Lucy Singleton, 30, are always catching people by surprise.<\/p>\n

Every day, they say, men at their Mexican takeout spot Break Time! in West Long Beach often comment on their young age and looks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people see us in here, they think that we need to be saved or something,\u201d Kaur said, sitting inside their pink-painted eatery. Men used to say similar things to her mother, she recalled.<\/p>\n

In April, Kaur and Singleton officially debuted their takeout business, operating out of a unit they share with a flan factory<\/a>. Kaur\u2019s mother, 60-year-old Lina Kaur, bought the space five years ago, where she only sold doughnuts and later lottery tickets.<\/p>\n

Lina, who\u2019s Indian, wanted to cook and sell Indian food from the space, but there was no demand for it, according to Lina. Years later, Singleton, who\u2019s of Mexican descent, entered the equation. And she\u2019s a great cook\u2014so much so that people can\u2019t believe it, according to the three women.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Lina Kaur, center, stands alongside Lucy Singleton, left, and Joty Kaur outside of their business, Break Time!, in West Long Beach on Thursday, July 15, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even Singleton\u2019s own family questioned her cooking abilities. \u201cNow, it\u2019s more like my hidden card. Like, ha!\u201d she exclaimed.<\/p>\n

While Singleton\u2019s in charge of the recipes, Kaur handles the marketing. The two make a good team, they said.<\/p>\n

Singleton\u2019s food is influenced by Durango, Mexico, where her mother is from, and \u201cremixed\u201d by soul food from the South, where her boyfriend\u2019s from. And you can taste it in the hints of the barbecue flavor of her meats she uses in her taquitos. With the two nationalities fused together, their food\u2014like their vegetarian potato tacos\u2014is full of spice, and not necessarily the hot kind.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople say, \u2018You don\u2019t even need sauce in it,\u2019\u201d Singleton said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new Mexican flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
A dish of tacos dorados and Hot Cheeto taquitos sit on a table at Break Time!, a Mexican takeout business in West Long Beach, on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She and Kaur also experiment with items, such as drizzling a small bag of Hot Cheeto over taquitos, tajin-rimming and dropping chopped fruits in their iced Jarrito drinks, and putting an entire cheese-oozing chile relleno in a burrito.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make every bite a party,\u201d is all Singleton wants, she said.<\/p>\n

Like many great cooks, Singleton said that she has to do it with love in order for it to taste perfect. While she said it might be a superstition, she took that expression very seriously.<\/p>\n

Singleton said she\u2019ll never forget a time her mother asked, \u201c\u2018Were you mad when you made this?\u2019\u201d after tasting a dish. Singleton said that if her mood isn\u2019t positive when she cooks, \u201cit just throws your palette off.\u201d A dish too salty, too bitter or too spicy might be the consequence, she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Joty Kaur, left, and Lucy Singleton, right, stand for a portrait at Break Time! in West Long Beach on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021. Owned by Kaur’s mother where she only sold lottery tickets and donuts, Kaur and Singleton began serving Durango- and Southern-influenced Mexican food in April 2021. Photo by Crystal Niebla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since launching the takeout business, Singleton changed her lifestyle. \u201cGood vibes only,\u201d an expression literally glowing in pink, neon lights inside the business, also became Singleton\u2019s priority. Avoiding any stress from rushing to work, she gets up early, 6:30 a.m. to be exact. For a clear mind, she then meditates. When she finally hits the road to Long Beach in her cinnamon-colored Dodge Charger from her Canyon Country home, she drives slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to take my time with things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When she finally gets to work around 9 a.m., when they start serving food, Kaur said Singleton is alway in such a happy mood.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Why don\u2019t you come in like Lucy? Lucy\u2019s always in a great mood,\u2019\u201d Kaur said, giggling as she recalled her mother\u2019s words.<\/p>\n

Before launching the takeout business, Kaur\u2019s father died in March from ailments related to alcoholism, which had set her back, she said. Now, she can speak more freely about it without tearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just gave me and Lucy some strength,\u201d Kaur said. \u201cNow, we have to make this work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Break Time! is located at 3636 Santa Fe Ave.<\/i><\/p>\n

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Best friends Joty Kaur, 28, and Lucy Singleton, 30, are always catching people by surprise with their youth and “remixed” Mexican food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":71665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[153,25606],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25587],"class_list":["post-25717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-food","tag-west-long-beach","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72664,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25717\/revisions\/72664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25717"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=25717"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=25717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}