Mike and Joy San Nicolas help people skip the trip to the Mariana Islands with their Portland food truck Chochu Local, bringing a taste of Chamorro food, laden with grilled meats, zingy sauces and savory appetizers, to the Rose City.

Chamorro – also spelled as CHamoru – refers to the indigenous people and language of the Mariana Islands, specifically in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Opened in 2018, Chochu Local serves all of the Chamorro staples: lumpia, similar to a fried spring roll; red rice cooked with spices; fina’denne’, a salty and spicy dipping sauce; kelaguen, chopped meat with coconut, lemon, peppers and more; barbecued meats, like pork belly and ribs; titiyas, flatbread made with coconut milk; and more.

“The payoff is cultural connection, representation of our people and the smiles of people who say, ‘I love your food,’” Mike San Nicolas said.

Rose City Food Park, 5235 N.E. Sandy Blvd., is home to Chochu Local, which, within the past week, has moved locations to the back of the lot, though the smell of fresh-grilled chicken still managed to fight its way to the front of the food truck pod.

Mike and Joy San Nicolas said they love both connecting people to their native cuisine and sharing it with first-timers. Everybody wants to share their story of connection to the Mariana Islands, and if they don’t have one, they’re happy to chase the scent of barbecue.

A couple who moved from Ohio to Portland a couple of years ago tried Chochu Local for the first time and walked up to Mike San Nicolas during his interview with the Portland Tribune:

“I will not see this food anywhere else. Say really good things about them,” the man said, walking toward his car with a smile.

Growing up in SoCal

Mike San Nicolas grew up in Long Beach before moving to Guam at 16 years old, where he lived for seven years before moving back to Southern California.

Much of his heritage was explored later in life, due to his upbringing that hid it.

San Nicolas’ family relocated from the Mariana Islands to Long Beach in the ‘50s and followed a mindset of assimilating to American culture, he explained, which trickled down into his upbringing.

“That was freedom for them. That was their way out,” San Nicolas said.

His dad later married a blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman from Birmingham, Alabama. San Nicolas said his dad wouldn’t expose his family to the food or language growing up, though his wife encouraged him to share it with his children.

“We’re paying the price for that now,” San Nicolas said of his lack of cultural exploration as a child.

Once San Nicolas moved to Guam, it was a culture shock. No hot water, no air conditioning, a new language and lots of traditional food. San Nicolas met his wife as a junior in high school in Guam in 1989.

Joy San Nicolas was born and raised in Guam, moving to Southern California in 1994 with her husband, experiencing her own culture shock.

“It was a culture shock for me coming here and a culture shock for him going out there,” she explained.

After attending school at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, earning a teaching certificate, she worked as a teacher before becoming a stay-at-home mom. Mike San Nicolas worked in IT for about 20 years before opening the food truck.

Opening shop

Neither Mike nor Joy had any food service experience before launching Chochu Local in 2018, one year after they moved to Portland. Joy San Nicolas joked, saying she hadn’t even worked at a McDonald’s before opening shop, unlike the three of their four kids had – the fourth now works at the food truck.

“I feel like I’ve earned some street cred and got some chops in the kitchen now,” Mike San Nicolas said. “You get immersed in the culture and environment, and you either sink or swim.”

Sure, neither had worked in food service before, but they knew how to throw down on the grill at home. The food they serve customers now is the food they were making at home for the family.

Joy San Nicolas said her husband always claims the food truck as his “first midlife crisis.”

Needing to be close to family drove the San Nicolas clan to Portland. It is important for them to raise their family close to cousins, aunts, uncles and other extended family.

With no jobs secured, only having visited the Portland area a handful of times before, they sold their house and sought out for “something new.”

Mike San Nicolas loved hospitality, so they wavered on opening a poke food truck. They called a friend in the restaurant industry who told them PDX671, a Guamanian food cart in Portland, was selling its cart for a steal.

The couple snagged the food cart and settled on selling food from the islands they love.

Joy San Nicolas said she warned her husband of her social anxiety before opening. She wanted to work in the back of the cart, prepping and cooking. Now, guests can expect her face in the window taking orders, sharing stories and connecting with customers.

“Having the cart has fulfilled something I was longing for after moving out here and feeling so displaced,” San Nicolas said.

It’s fulfilling for many who share the culture. San Nicolas engages in the native language, discovers familial connections and helps visiting customers learn more about their Chamorro heritage.

People drive from Everett, Washington, an approximately 8-hour round trip from Portland, just for a taste of home. People bring friends, family, coworkers and more, and tell them that Chochu Local represents their culture and identity.

“We’re not getting any younger, we’re tired, but this is what keeps us going, the connection,” San Nicolas said.

At the core of the culture is its cuisine. It features regional ingredients and is a labor of love, taking hours to prepare and cook properly.

Particular ingredients in Chamorro cuisine are often hard to find in the states, such as Donne peppers used in the finna’denne’ and kelaguen, so they use creativity to make what they can find work. If they’re lucky, they might convince a family member in Guam to send items over.

The couple shops daily, sometimes multiple times per day, to keep up with the demand of the cuisine.

And if they sell out, they close shop.

Mike San Nicolas said they sell out about 90% of the days, well before their closing time.

“We’re not open unless that grill is going,” Mike San Nicolas said. “There are a couple of things that represent our cuisine: The love and hospitality, and live fire.”

Find Chochu Local at instagram.com/chochu_local.