Off Menu:
Chatting with Nikki Guerrero of Hot Mama Salsa
If you've ever slathered Hot Mama Salsa on a taco or dipped one of their superlative chips into a fresh-from-the-farmers-market Salsa of the Week, you’ve already gotten a taste of Nikki Guerrero’s kitchen magic.
We sat down with the Portland food icon to chat about the humble joy of beans and rice, her grandma’s enamel spoon, and why you should always order “something for the table.” Along the way, Nikki shares tips for next-level refried beans, the one vinegar she can’t stop using, and her ideal bar order (think: prawn cocktail and a stiff drink in a rolly bucket chair). It’s a portrait of a life steeped in flavor—and a love letter to cooking with heart.
The following interview has been edited & condensed for clarity & space.
WSM: What's your favorite comfort food?
Nikki: My favorite comfort food is beans and rice with salsa.
WSM: How do you make your beans?
Nikki: Well, I (use dried beans to) make my beans. Just soak them overnight. Cook them with half an onion, garlic, epazote or bay leaf; kombu if that's all you have… Got to have something in there. And then don't salt them until they're finished cooking.
WSM: And why don’t salt until you’re finished cooking?
Nikki: They won't get creamy and soft if you salt them in the beginning. They'll stay more firm. When they're done, just mash half of them up with your beans masher and eat them soupy.
WSM: What's your bean masher? Is that different from a potato masher?
Nikki: No, they look the same. Then the next day you can make refritos with bacon fat.
WSM: Walk us through how you make your refritos.
Nikki: Well, I always have a saved can or jar of bacon grease on the counter. So you put a little spoonful of that in your saute pan. And then you take your slotted spoon for your beans because you don't want to put all that liquid in there. So you just take your beans, put it in with bacon fat. Mash it up. If you need more liquid I like to add stock because it adds a little flavor. And my grandma used to put a big chunk of, like, hard cheddar or Monterey Jack in there but I don't always. But I'll tell you, I do have a secret to you.
WSM: Want to tell me?
Nikki: Yes. So sometimes refritos can look gray. So I like to soak a couple of guajillos or chili California, then grind them up and add those to the refritos. It not only gives them a beautiful flavor, but color too.
WSM: What's your favorite, easy spot to go out to? The place you go when you don't want to think about it?
Nikki: We pretty much have two spots: If I go out with my husband, we walk down the street to Campagna. It's right down the street from my house and they have an “all the time, every day” happy hour if you sit in the bar. That's my husband's favorite. My favorite place to go is the bar at Sayler’s Country Kitchen. Best hamburgers in town. This is our Sayler’s order if it’s the two of us: two Manhattans, prawn cocktail, relish tray. Any place that has a relish tray, I’m there. And then we split a burger because they're giant.
WSM: That's a great order. We love a prawn cocktail!
Nikki: And it used to be like 40 bucks! Now it's probably closer to $60, but still Saylor’s Country Kitchen with the rolly bucket chairs in the bar. I love it. Rolly bucket chair in the winter with the fireplace, it’s the best. And they do know how to make a stiff drink. You know who used to be there all the time? I would always see Bob from Bob's Red Mill. He and his family would be there eating dinner and he would pop into the bar for a glass of wine.
WSM: Okay, here's a fun one: So you're going out with a group of people. Group of friends. You're having a nice time. Do you like to order something fun for the table? Are you ever like, “oh, and let's get one of those for the table”?
Nikki: Ha, I usually just order everything. With a lot of my friends and family, they're always like, “can you just do the ordering for us?” And my husband makes fun of me like, “yeah, you always order so many things.” Because we're here we go to try it all!
WSM: What are your favorite kitchen tools? What do you reach for all the time?
Nikki: I’ve been asked this before and I said “hands.” Ha. I mean, okay, I leave a tortilla press on my counter, which is kind of a kitchen tool that not everybody uses. And I have a special spoon. That was my grandma's enameled bead spoon.
WSM: What color is it?
Nikki: It's enameled white with a blue handle. It’s like a cheap cheesy spoon. Otherwise two things that I use that are like “cook tools” that I could never without are a zester and a mandolin. I just have like a cheap, plain plastic mandolin, but I use it all the time.
WSM: Ok, Low brow. What's your guilty pleasure food?
Nikki: Hmmmm I just don't eat junk. I mean, I eat chips— like bad chips—every now and then.
WSM: There's no bar or restaurant that you go to that's not great, that you order, like, a couple drinks and mozz sticks?
Nikki: Oh, well, yeah. Ha. Tater tots at Mcmenamins.
WSM: Oh, yeah. Oh, my God, it's like you told me a secret. Which Mcmenamins do you go to?
Nikki: Well, we used to go more often to the Kennedy School and go in the soaking tub. But now my daughter does volleyball at PCC, and so sometimes I go sit at their Chapel Pub to work while she's at volleyball.
WSM: Mcmenamins are pretty, and they've got good artwork. A fresh squeezed cocktail there, is delicious. But their food is awful.
Nikki: Yeah, it's garbage, but their tater tots are fun.
WSM: Ok, well that’s it. Is there anything you thought of that we should be asking?
Nikki: Well, I mean, it'd be fun to ask people what their favorite, like, packaged food product is at the time, right? What are they using a lot of?
WSM: Yeah. Okay. What's your favorite packaged food product? What's in your pantry that you use a lot of?
Nikki: So Nana Cardoon (shout out Charlene!) has been making vinegars and selling them at the Hollywood Market. So I've been using her sherry wine vinegar incessantly. Like, all the time. Love it. I only have a little bit left and I'm already like, so how am I going to get more of this?
WSM: Ooh, hot tip on the Nana Cardoon vinegar! We love her.
Check out Nikki's YouTube channel and keep an eye out for a familiar face coming soon.
Thanks for chatting, Nikki!
Photos via Hot Mama Salsa