Last week we did something we’ve been wanting to do for years: we closed the restaurant for a morning and handed our kitchen over to twenty-four fourth graders from Lincoln Elementary.
It was loud. It was messy. It was one of the best mornings we’ve ever had at Lomelee’s.
How it came together
Mrs. Delgado’s fourth-grade class spent the spring learning about the foods of the Americas: corn, beans, squash, tomatoes, chiles, and chocolate. Her idea was simple: what if the kids could actually cook with some of those ingredients? She reached out to us in March, and our head chef Sofía (a Lincoln Elementary alum herself) said yes before she finished asking.
The menu
We kept it hands-on and kid-friendly:
- Guacamole: each table mashed their own avocados and decided how much lime and cilantro to add. There were strong opinions.
- Tortillas from scratch: everyone got a ball of masa, a turn on the press, and a lesson in flipping a tortilla on the comal (with grown-ups supervising the heat).
- Black bean quesadillas with Wisconsin Chihuahua-style cheese.
- Mexican hot chocolate, whisked by hand with a wooden molinillo, which turned out to be everyone’s favorite job.
What the kids taught us
We expected to do the teaching, but the kids asked better questions than most adults do. Why does masa smell different than flour? Why do avocados turn brown? Who decided chocolate should go in a drink? Sofía answered as many as she could and promised to look up the rest.
One student told us her grandmother makes tortillas “exactly like this” at home, and then very politely showed Sofía a better way to fold the dough before pressing. Sofía has been using the trick all week.
Thank you
A huge thank-you to Mrs. Delgado, the parent volunteers, and every student who came through our doors. Each kid went home with a printed recipe card and a small bag of masa harina so they could make tortillas with their families.
We’re hoping to make this an annual tradition. If you’re a teacher in the area and want to bring your class in, give us a call. We’d love to have you.
Lomelee’s is a fictional restaurant, and the people, places, and events in this post are made up for a portfolio demo site.