I enjoyed this Chef's Table episode in part (of course) because it's in
my neighborhood.
Martinez left Mexico eight years ago, fleeing an abusive husband. She hasn’t been back, or seen her family, since. Despite having married an American, she has been denied a green card, and is officially undocumented. In the process of applying for that green card, she lost her restaurant job. So she opened her own restaurant, South Philly Barbacoa, and has become an advocate for immigrants and undocumented workers. Finding home in South Philly, in sharing the lamb barbacoa her family has made for generations, is no throwaway sentiment.
