Juana Tamale’s Jennifer Zavala wants to show you the underbelly of restaurant life

Philly, Jennifer Zavala wants you to listen up.

The owner of Juana Tamale is known for her hot tamales, tacos, and takes on the restaurant industry, often getting a bad rap for highlighting how the glorification of “white males in the industry comes off the backs of people of color” who are working and looking for their shot, she said.

Now, Zavala is amplifying the conversation with a mic in hand.

This fall, the East Passyunk chef will host her first podcast called 86ers to discuss the underbelly of Philly’s restaurant life. The goal is to bring the struggles of BIPOC-owned and -operated restaurants to the forefront, shedding light on the daily realities and mental health of chefs and owners.

Cheffing for about 26 years in Philly, Zavala notes people are not dining out the same after the pandemic. Yet, she sees restaurateurs and chefs receive awards or constant recognition from local media and open multiple locations despite only operating a year-old restaurant, while “I’m barely able to keep one spot open.”

“How are people [expletive] doing that? It causes me to feel I am the biggest loser,” she said. “‘You can’t compete with these people. You’re never going to be these people, you should just tap out.’ I feel like saying those things out loud and sharing that conversation with people is so important.”

The podcast is Zavala’s way to offer transparency about restaurant life — the successes and struggles — by providing a platform for all voices in the industry to be heard in hopes of building a better path for everyone. She explains the past summer was hard on many, but it seems “no one thinks anyone is having a hard time” with social media showing only the positives, “[so] we all think that we’re just losers and doing it wrong.”

“It’s so funny, the city is 47% Black and how many Black chefs do you really read about? And if you do, they’re usually all the same,” she said. “They have to have a certain pedigree — you can’t write about an amazing chef who’s in the hood, why? I don’t think it’s really talked about a lot.”

With the podcast, she aims to tune listeners in on this conversation and show how the lack of coverage has an effect on people of color in the restaurant industry.

Zavala’s culinary footprint stretches from Philly restaurants like El Camino Real and Amada to season six of Bravo TV’s Top Chef. Before opening Juana Tamale, she ran a food truck and later popped up at Underground Arts, where long lines circled the venue for her tamales and birria tacos.

But along with the success, she said the return of working in an industry with “slave wages” is not as “great as social media makes it out to be” — especially as she watches her neighbors struggle, pointing out “there’s a fourth GoFundMe for a place here on Passyunk Avenue.”

Nonindustry folks remain ignorant to the actual realities of the restaurant business, despite obsessing over the chaos inside Carmy Berzatto’s kitchen for two seasons of the hit FX show The Bear. That’s because the fictionalized story is a romantization of a hot white chef, said Zavala, who opted out of watching it as she lives the chaos on a daily basis.

”People turn their TVs off when the reality/cost of the situation/occupation comes to light — no one wants to face how hard it is to just live, because it ultimately means no one’s living well,” she said.

“The glory of working hard, being assertive, leading a team while also being sexy and tortured in the craft of food as a white male has been done,” Zavala continued. “If his sous was ‘the Bear,’ would people love it so much? If no, why not? We’d like to ask those questions and allow people to hear for themselves how that directly affects someone in their community with not only compassion but also top-shelf levels of hilarity.”

Zavala named the podcast “86ers” to target her intended audience: the local restaurant industry. Kitchens use the term “86″ to indicate when menu items or ingredients are no longer available. “It’s the jawn of the culinary world,” she explained. “If you work in food service, you know that term, [and] you would know what the podcast is about.”

While the podcast line-up is still in the works, it will feature co-hosts Zavala and Matt Reed, chef and kitchen manager at Juana Tamale, offering a “raw perspective” of the industry. With their wit and humor, the two will chat about various topics, including the responsibilities of the industry and the circumstances that lead to a restaurant closure. The podcast will feature guests, amplifying perspectives from fast food workers and other “people within the industry that we don’t hear from often.”

“It’s like Howard Stern and Guy Fieri had a baby with Sara Moulton — boom 86ers,” Zavala said.

You’ll also hear Zavala’s reviews of noted cheesesteak establishments, like her take on SQ Philip’s Steaks.

Walking down East Passyunk Avenue, you may catch Zavala and Reed recording an episode of 86ers over birria tacos. The podcast will be produced at the restaurant with the help of freelancers Chris Feher (Zavala’s husband), who will serve as executive producer, and Chloe Castellucci, writer and editor.

They also plan to have fun additions, including listener call-ins for the best 86 stories, “what’s in your fridge” with guests, and a “we ate it, we rate it” segment.

“The goal [of the podcast] is not to hurt people or to be shady to people — no one deserves that right now [and] no one needs that right now — but to just share how horrific it already can be sometimes,” she said.

The podcast releases in September or October on YouTube. The plan is to air two episodes a week until “we 86 ourselves,” Zavala said.

Follow @86ers215 on Instagram for updates.