The BentoBox 25
Juan Oajaca Isn’t Just a Great Prep Cook or an Efficiency Pro. He’s the Man.
May 14, 2024
At Wenwen and 886 in New York City, he’s an essential figure in the back of house and beyond.
In the basement of Wenwen, a Taiwanese restaurant in New York City with disco balls in the bathrooms and a line queued up before it opens, there is a white chest freezer. It sits against the Greenpoint kitchen’s walk-in, between a plastic bin holding pounds and pounds of rice and metro shelves stacked with nitrogen tanks for the beer lines upstairs, a meat slicer, and a beat-up container with “Don’t Touch” scrawled on the lid. This is Juan Oajaca’s station, and that’s his knife kit.
From the office-desk-size nook, he prepares beef noodle soup, lo ba beng, scallion pancake dough, whole BDSM* fried chicken (*brined, deboned, soy-milk-marinated, which is what people wait in line for), mustard greens, and other important menu items for both Wenwen and its sister restaurant, 886 in the East Village. It’s where he debones whole birds for the BDSM chicken in five minutes flat and strains gallons of beef noodle soup broth, tasting along the way to make sure it’s got “the good flavor” — herbal, beefy, with a whisper of heat. It’s where a prep cook might swing by to ask Oajaca for his thoughts on a dressing — “So good!” he’ll reply, making the cook beam — and where he flows from one task to the next with an intensity and precision that’s mesmerizing. And it’s where I’m lurking for the better part of his shift one rainy Thursday, long enough for another prep cook to ask me why I’ve been following Oajaca around. “Oh, I’m writing a story about Juan,” I told him. “And trying to not get in his way.”
BDSM fried chicken sandwich via Instagram
When I asked Eric Sze, the chef and co-owner of Wenwen and 886, the week before what Oajaca’s official title is, he answered with a question: “Would ‘the man’ work?”
“A restaurant is so big, right? Even the tiniest mom-and-pop shop requires at least five to 10 people to run it. And when you have a person like Juan who knows what he’s doing and loves his job, it makes the entire restaurant run so much smoother to the point where customers can actually feel it and it helps the entire morale of the staff,” Sze told me. “That’s why he’s the man. There’s no job title for him, unfortunately, because any job title we slap on him is not going to do him justice.”
The next week, I decided to see the man in action. At 10:41 a.m. that drizzly Thursday, Oajaca opened up Wenwen, the first one in. He wore a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and black sneakers, shoe laces untied. He had a shaved head, a little goatee, and a serious expression that easily broke into a smile. “Today is a lighter day of prep,” he explained, which allowed us to take a break during his shift, to go back in time.
Oajaca grew up in Guatemala and started working at seven years old to support his family. As a teenager, he joined the military, where he listened closely to his superior. “When he told me things, I would analyze it and figure out how I can use this information to help me leave this situation,” he said. “I realized I had a fight in me.”
Oajaca heard the U.S. “was pretty, there was money, there was a lot of work,” and took a chance, moving in 2008. For two years, he bounced between different jobs and states, working in agriculture in California and Washington and doing odd jobs in Pennsylvania, before landing at a Chinese buffet in Brooklyn. There, he learned everything about the back of house — dishwashing, prepping, cooking, ordering, organizing, tasting — from the owner.
“I like cooking and prepping,” Oajaca said. “It was fast-paced and busy, so the time flies by.”
RESOURCE
How to Open a Restaurant [Free Guide]
A step-by-step guide to planning, financing, staffing, stocking and marketing a new restaurant for its debut.
He first met Sze almost a decade ago at The Tang, where Oajaca was the dishwasher and Sze was the chef. “Then pretty quickly, he was bumped to prep cook and line cook, because we realized he’s quite the Swiss Army knife of a guy,” Sze shared.
When Sze and his business partner (and eventual co-owner) Andy Chuang ventured off to open 886 in 2018, Oajaca would drop by the construction site to say hi and to remind them to give him a call when they were hiring.
“My mom told me, when I was younger, that when someone gives you a job, they’re helping you, so it’s important to help them and grow with them,” Oajaca explained. “I am very content working for Eric. I want to support him and help him grow.”
At 886, he cooked on the line, pruning and perfecting the systems of the restaurant in his exacting ways while absorbing new techniques from Sze and his fellow cooks. Then he moved on to prep for both restaurants when Wenwen debuted in 2022, with head chef Kathy Chen at the helm.
A server at 886 who helped with translating this interview, added as we wrapped up: “We called him the father of the restaurant because he always knew where everything was and how to do everything. Even the servers can definitely attest to that.”
Sze knew Wenwen is where they’d give Oajaca the space he needed, the dishes and prep he couldn’t trust anyone else with, and the flexibility to do it whenever he wanted. This, in turn, allowed Oajaca to start his own thing: Petencito Deli & Groceries in East Harlem.
Outside shot of Petencito Deli & Groceries via Facebook
It’s a family business Oajaca opened last November, and on his days off, you’ll find him there, wearing his same uniform — with a Wenwen hat. After I shadowed Oajaca (and took a full day to recover), I visited the shop, where he and his family sell chiles and tomatillos, chips and instant noodles, and bags of corn husks.
“I never imagined my life would be like this,” he said. “Where I grew up and because I didn’t have an education, all you could do was be in agriculture. I don’t know what came over me to leave, but I knew I could.”
Oajaca showed me the kitchen where he hopes to cook empanadas, tacos, and Guatemalan dishes in the future. But for now, he’s content to be a resource to the neighborhood, just as he is at Wenwen and 886: someone who, by their steadying presence, infectious work ethic, and good nature, makes wherever they are a little better. He’s truly the man.
Check out the full list of The BentoBox 25.
Recommended
The BentoBox 25
How Blood Bros. BBQ Uplift Houston’s AAPI Community
May 14, 2024
Two Houston trailblazers use social media to help others through a challenging time.
The BentoBox 25
Supporting Women in Hospitality with Chef Elena Reygadas
May 14, 2024
Beyond shaping the city’s food scene at restaurants like Rosetta, the CDMX native has been an outspoken advocate for women pursuing culinary careers.
The BentoBox 25
Sarah O’Brien Is Creating The Community She’s Proud to Live in
May 14, 2024
Little Tart Bakeshop owner Sarah O’Brien thinks investing in the Atlanta community is equally as important as delicious baked goods.