Bringing folks collectively is Aaron Peña’s present.
Firing up the grill. Cranking up the music. Popping open a spherical of chilly ones. The man is aware of the best way to kickstart a avenue get together.
For 3 years, Peña has taken The Fajita Lounge, a touring pop-up, to areas and locations throughout San Antonio. Supported by sponsors, he served meals free of charge till it ran out, and occasionally, donated tricks to native hospitality staff.
Now it’s Peña’s flip to profit.
Native cooks and associates have organized a fajita plate sale on Sunday to help Peña, a beloved bar proprietor who was recognized with testicular most cancers on Could 6. He begins chemotherapy in June. Even with insurance coverage, the therapy is dear.
“I stay 100 miles an hour due to work,” stated Peña, 37, proprietor of Southtown bars Gimme Gimme and Amor Eterno. “However this has slowed me down.”
The plate sale at rock-n-roll bar Gimme Gimme, topped Bar of the 12 months by CultureMap San Antonio, begins at 5 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m.
For a instructed donation of $20, supporters will obtain a plate of beef and hen fajitas, sausage, rice, beans, potato salad and “fixins.”
“When you can solely give $5, then give $5,” stated Matthew Garcia, an occasion organizer. “Give what you’ll be able to. Any donation is useful.”
Donation choices are Venmo: @aaron-pena-21 and Money App: $yungguayabera.
Raffle tickets ($20 for 10 tickets) could also be bought for an opportunity to win greater than 35 prizes, together with a 55-inch TV, a Blackstone grill, a Yeti cooler and present playing cards to native eating places.
Tejano and Conjunto music will likely be offered by DJ Texas Papi.
The Fajita Lounge is supporting the occasion, together with different bars and eateries and a litany of cooks, amongst them: Luis Colón (Spot On Hospitality), Paul Peterson (Bar Loretta), Matthew Garcia (Gigi’s Deli), Jacob Gonzales (Jacob’s), Michael Barrera and Roy Baker (Bucán Rodeo) and Javi Gutierrez and Jackie Giddens (Buddy’s Large Bother).
“I respect the outpouring of help,” Peña stated. “I haven’t needed to sit with my prognosis alone. Once I do, my thoughts begins to sort of wander and go down these black holes. However folks haven’t allowed me the possibility to overthink this an excessive amount of.”
How it began
It started with a crawfish boil. In the summertime of 2022, Peña, Garcia and Gonzales, then the chef at Rebelle, have been making an attempt to draw enterprise for Squeezebox, a since-closed St. Mary’s Strip bar run by Peña.
After the crawfish was gone and hen hit the grill, somebody requested what the trio was doing.
In reply, the blokes provided a wisecrack, “That is the fajita lounge.” The title caught. Thereafter, the three tíos, as they known as themselves, launched a cellular, meals give-away.
The Fajita Lounge origin story made it to Texas Highways journal in January, together with the tios’ recommendations on the best way to correctly marinate fajitas.
Three or 4 occasions a 12 months, the tíos loaded a pop-up with protein and sides. They posted their vacation spot and arrival time on Instagram and pulled into the designated spot. For the previous 12 months, that’s been Tony’s Siesta at 206 Brooklyn Ave.
Folks present up, a whole lot generally, and infrequently carry their very own contributions: salsas, tortillas and bacon-wrapped jalapenos, for instance. Peña turned up a boombox that blared Tejano favorites and the gathering ate and drank into the evening.
“Aaron created an area that was wanted,” Garcia stated. “I’m so blessed to be a part of one thing like that. Now many in the neighborhood have been keen to step up. As you pour into different folks’s cups, they pour again into yours.”
Waves of highs and lows have carried Peña from winter to spring. The Fajita Lounge drew a giant turnout on Feb. 16. Gimme Gimme received Bar of the 12 months on April 10. “I used to be thrilled for the accolade,” Peña stated. “It meant loads to be acknowledged out of these nice bars that have been in that class.”
Days later, a physician ordered x-rays and an ultrasound. The most cancers prognosis got here on Could 6. An oncologist set a schedule for chemotherapy.
“I did get in my head and fairly low for a bit,” Peña stated. “Fortunately, my household and associates obtained me proper again up.”
Colón, the previous chef at Fig Tree Restaurant, knew the best way to assist.
“I can cook dinner,” he stated. “That’s what I do. That’s my love language.”
The kitchen at Gimme Gimme on Sunday will likely be stuffed with cooks, volunteering to assist a pal.
“It’s sort of come full circle,” Peña stated. “Now it’s my flip to be the beneficiary. However the concept is identical: to get folks collectively and have a superb time.”
