San Franciscos Mama Tess Serves Filipino Elders Taste of Home, Community

SAN FRANCISCO -- Someone who doesnt live or work in the area around 6th and Mission might walk past the Mint Mall and miss the tiny JT Restaurant. But around the neighborhood there are many, from elderly residents to construction workers to Filipino and Latino families, who know the business not only for its home-style chicken and pork adobo, but also for its vital role as a community space.

At the center of it all is the owner and chef, Tess Diaz-Guzman, who is called Mama Tess by those who know her.

Im proud because everybody calls me [that], she says, laughing. I have a lot of nephews and nieces, but [many are] American.

Diaz-Guzman, 55, owns JT Restaurant in the South of Market neighborhood in San Franciscos central city area, with her husband Juan, whom she married in 2010. Formerly a butcher and originally from the province of Laguna in the Philippines, she came to San Francisco 13 years ago, shortly after her first husband passed away.

Her brother already lived in San Francisco and had started the Filipino restaurant in the 1990s. Diaz-Guzman and Juan took charge of it a few years ago, renaming it JT Restaurant (the initials for Juan and Tess).

Business is community hub

In SoMA, residents who are over age 65 and living alone make up over 10 percent of the population, and more than a third of them are living below the federal poverty line. The citys rising rents are squeezing nonprofit social service providers and small businesses that often times serve as a safety net for low-income seniors and families.

James Chionsini, an organizing director with the nearby advocacy organization Senior and Disability Action, says that small businesses like JT Restaurant are particularly important for seniors who are living alone. If you live in a small room, you need a community place.

Places like Tesss are an access point, he says. They provide the community with ways to survive. Many in the community affectionately call her the Mayor of SoMA, he said.

The space is used for gatherings. For instance, the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center nearby has brought seniors there to sing karaoke, Diaz-Guzman says. She meets elders when she caters for community centers like West Bay, as well as Centro Latino in the Mission, and organizations like Chionsinis have used her space for receptions.

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San Franciscos Mama Tess Serves Filipino Elders Taste of Home, Community