People We Meet: Gabriela Reynoso

San Francisco CA

13 June, 2021

2:49 PM

Description

By Eleni Balakrishnan, Mission Local June 13, 2021 Gabriela Reynoso works behind the counter at Cava 22, on 22nd Street.Gabriela Reynoso juggles restaurant jobs – before at The Grove, and these days at Gracias Madre on Mission Street, and at Cava 22 where we met on Tuesday. When I walk in, she's having a slow morning — but of course, right as she tells me this, customers start arriving. "Sometimes I'm running like crazy, like a chicken without a head," Reynoso said. She likes her jobs, and even though it's not as easy as when she was 20, she's not complaining. She's just happy to be back at work at all, after spending much of the pandemic unemployed and then catching COVID-19 in February once she finally went back to work. "It was awful," Reynoso said. "I live with my brother and my sister, so they got sick, too. So we all got sick almost at the same time." She was put out of work for another month. Even while describing such a difficult period in her life, Reynoso seems to be smiling under her mask. She said that Cava 22, which just reopened after renovations and an expansion into the space next door, looks better and serves better food these days. She's looking forward to the return of live entertainment like mariachi Fridays and karaoke. Mission Local covers San Francisco from the vantage point of the Mission, a neighborhood with all of the promise and problems of a major city. You can support Mission Local here.