María Delia La Mota Guerra

At Chancho King in Jacksonville, Florida, chef María Delia La Mota Guerra serves the kind of Ecuadorian food that carries a sense of home: arroz con menestra, llapingacho, encocado de camarón and sánduche de chancho. These are dishes rooted in the flavors and memories she grew up with, now reaching an audience far beyond Ecuador.

Born in Guayaquil, La Mota moved to the United States to study culinary arts in St. Augustine, Florida. She went on to spend more than a decade in professional kitchens, including Restaurant Orsay, Black Sheep and TPC Sawgrass. But Chancho King began on a much smaller scale. In 2019, she and her husband and fellow chef Chason Spencer started selling pork sandwiches at local pop-ups. The concept grew into a food truck at Jacksonville's Riverside Arts Market before the couple opened their restaurant in the city's Murray Hill neighborhood in 2023.

Chancho King remains deeply connected to La Mota's upbringing. Its menu draws on family recipes and the Ecuadorian food she remembers eating at home. The restaurant's signature pork sandwich features meat marinated for 36 hours, while dishes like rice and lentils, ceviche and roasted pork introduce diners in Northeast Florida to flavors that remain personal to the chef.

© Maria La Mota Guerra

That connection took on new significance in 2026, when La Mota and Spencer were named finalists for the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South, one of the most important honors in American dining. The category encompasses chefs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Puerto Rico.

La Mota told ¡HOLA! that the recognition means more than her own career. “It gives me an opportunity to represent Ecuadorian cuisine, my culture, and the flavors and traditions that have shaped who I am.” Her success has also helped Chancho King grow. In March, La Mota and Spencer opened a second Jacksonville location at The BLOCK Jax, marking a new chapter for a business that started with local pop-ups and grew into one of the city’s most exciting destinations for Ecuadorian food.

Through it all, La Mota has kept the purpose of her cooking close to where it began. Food, she says, has always connected her to “family, culture, memories, and community.” Today, those memories are reaching new audiences in Florida while giving Ecuadorian cuisine greater visibility within the American culinary conversation.

For La Mota, that may be the most meaningful measure of how far Chancho King has come: the food of home no longer needs an introduction. It has earned its place at the table.