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Carrie Omegna on Georgetown
Podcast interview
Often the cultural significance of Mexican food is completely overlooked in restaurants: many think there’s only one kind of Mexican food out there. Catrina works with staff to be vocal about the cultural significance of the Mexican cuisine they serve. Staff is educated and empowered to talk about the good, clean, fair food it serves by listing farmers and purveyors on the menu, speaking to customers about the quality and provenance of dishes, and by presenting fresh ingredients consistently and carefully.
Regular customers, especially when they’re proud of a place, start to build a community, where customers themselves become vocal advocates who come together around the restaurant and feel invested in its whole.
This sense of community leads to opportunities for action. for speaking out about what good, clean, fair food means for the community, speaking out about what the community needs from government and civic entities to make this possible and to help it grow to other parts of the community.
Date
April 2024
Georgetown, Seattle
A conversation with Carrie Omegna of Fonda La Catrina
Location
Georgetown Seattle
Georgetown and Community
Does Georgetown have what it needs to continue to thrive in independence? Carrie Omegna co-owns Fonda la Catrina and El Sirenito–a vibrant restaurant and bar amid the engines and industry of Georgetown. Its a small Seattle neighborhood of just 1,800 residents, but 28,000 people come there to work everyday.
Georgetown has remained fiercely independent over the years--with only one chain store (a Starbucks) amid dozens of local restaurants and bars.
We talk to Carrie about what it will need to thrive in independence going forward (it currently has neither a grocery store nor farmers market), and we venture into what’s possible in this most unique of Seattle neighborhoods.
