Don’t miss M.M.LaFleur’s 4th of July sale, with up to 70% off sitewide. Sweet as pie!
This past June, M.M.LaFleur’s founder and CEO Sarah LaFleur and Top Chef alum Claudette Zepeda co-hosted an intimate dinner in Sarah’s Brooklyn backyard to celebrate the release of Claudette’s first cookbook, Cooking the Borderlands: Spice and Smoke Between Mexico and the States.
The book is a love letter to Claudette’s culinary heritage, filled with stories of her childhood along the Tijuana-San Diego border.
Guests arrived decked out in the colors of M.M.’s summer collection, gathering under twinkling string lights and sipping Claudette’s cucumber-pineapple chia agua fresca and tangy margaritas as smoke drifted over from the nearby grill, hinting at the meal to come. The evening opened with snacks that created a kaleidoscope of both color and flavor: Monterrey-style guacamole, elote en vaso, crab salpicón with chiles güeros, recipes Claudette herself prepared in Sarah’s kitchen. She added finishing touches and served them all while modeling M.M.LaFleur’s Gracie dress.
Claudette led the group on a culinary journey through the vibrant, intertwined cultures and communities of the Mexican-American borderlands. She shared personal stories about each dish, many of which were family recipes — like the tacos gubernador, stuffed with shrimp and sliced for sharing; the savory, slow-cooked birria guests passed across the table, taking seconds and even thirds, even though more food was still to come. The meal ended with the creamy sweet arroz a la asturiana, a brûléed rice pudding her grandparents used to make.
A once-in-a-generation Venus-Jupiter conjunction fell that same night, so Claudette invited astrologer Marisa Campa to mark the auspicious moment with oracle readings. A line formed to talk with Marisa before the festivities wound down.
Inspired by the book, Sarah asked every guest to answer the same question: What are you a mix of? As the light dropped and a breeze cut through the smoke and heat, the answers turned the table toward both laughter and tears.
Sarah’s daughter also made a special guest appearance!
The group departed with a copy of Cooking the Borderlands, a bottle of jalapeño tequila lime hot sauce from Queen Majesty (whose founder Erica Diehl was in attendance), and fifteen new close friends to walk with them into the season ahead.
