Latest / New Worlder / Episode #113: Stephanie Bonin

Transcript

Episode #113: Stephanie Bonin · New Worlder

0:00
This is the New Worlder Podcast,
0:02
and I am one of your hosts,
0:03
Nicholas Gill.
0:04
SPEAKER_03: Co-host Juliana Duque will be joining shortly.
0:07
SPEAKER_03: Today we are speaking with Stephanie Bonin.
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SPEAKER_03: She is a Barranquilla,
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SPEAKER_03: Colombia-born chef,
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SPEAKER_03: and she is the owner of Patio Tropical in Williamsburg,
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SPEAKER_03: Brooklyn.
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SPEAKER_03: For years, Stephanie has been doing the legwork in Colombia.
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SPEAKER_03: While she did work at Cosme in New York City for a little while,
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SPEAKER_03: most of her experience comes from learning,
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SPEAKER_03: not in fancy restaurant kitchens in big cities,
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SPEAKER_03: but from traditional cooks,
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many of them older women in the provinces of Colombia and
0:40
elsewhere in Latin
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SPEAKER_03: America.
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She is well-versed in Latin America's regional foods and is
0:46
behind the brand La Troppe Kitchens.
0:49
which has been doing pop-ups and catering events in the New
0:52
York area since the pandemic.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: When I first spoke to her in one of the earliest episodes of the podcast,
0:59
SPEAKER_03: she was in the Catskills cooking for the summer.
1:02
SPEAKER_03: So Patio Tropical,
1:04
SPEAKER_03: it's in the back of the This Is Latin America store,
1:08
which sells handicrafts and home goods from artisans from
1:11
around Latin America.
1:12
SPEAKER_03: It's a cool shop.
1:14
SPEAKER_03: It's on one of the last remaining Latin American streets in Williamsburg,
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SPEAKER_03: Brooklyn,
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a neighborhood that has gone through a dramatic transformation
1:24
and gentrification.
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SPEAKER_03: The street still has this gritty Latin American vibe.
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And what I especially like about Patio Tropical is that
1:33
Stephanie embraces that.
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SPEAKER_03: She isn't trying to appeal to just the hipsters and tourists there,
1:39
SPEAKER_03: but to the people that have lived on the street for decades.
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SPEAKER_03: If you sit there in that beautiful,
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SPEAKER_03: colorful,
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SPEAKER_03: leafy back dining room of hers that's just full of life,
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SPEAKER_03: the neighbors,
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SPEAKER_03: they wander in and they go.
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They all already know Stephanie after just a few months and hug
1:57
her and dance with
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SPEAKER_03: her while ordering arepas and pan de bono.
2:01
It's one of the few New York restaurants where hyper-regional
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recipes from places
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like Puerto Rico or the La Guajira province of Colombia don't
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feel pretentious at
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SPEAKER_03: all.
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SPEAKER_03: She uses good ingredients and plates them nicely,
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SPEAKER_03: but she isn't trying to make them into something they're not.
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SPEAKER_03: They just are, and they're delicious.
2:21
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2:24
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2:28
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2:29
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2:32
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2:33
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2:36
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2:37
such as the Latin American Cookbook at small bookstores
2:42
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2:43
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2:45
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2:48
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3:06
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SPEAKER_03: So thank you.
3:10
SPEAKER_03: Please enjoy the show.
3:55
SPEAKER_03: So I'm trying this new setup.
3:56
Like I keep moving around because usually I sit at my desk when
4:00
we do these,
4:01
but last week Martin Rosberg was here with me and we sat on the
4:06
couch and it felt
4:08
SPEAKER_03: different.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: Like I felt more comfortable.
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SPEAKER_03: I could relax a little more because when I'm at my desk,
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SPEAKER_03: it feels like I'm still like in my work mode.
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SPEAKER_03: And even though this is technically work, I guess,
4:23
SPEAKER_02: Last time it was great.
4:24
SPEAKER_02: You look so relaxed and comfortable.
4:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I just feel more relaxed.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I support.
4:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah,
4:30
SPEAKER_03: you support it,
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but I need to find the right way to sit and the way to look at
4:36
the camera and where
4:38
SPEAKER_03: to put the microphone.
4:39
SPEAKER_03: It's on a stack of books.
4:40
SPEAKER_03: Everything's all fucked up right now.
4:42
SPEAKER_03: Just relax.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe I just have to play with it.
4:47
SPEAKER_03: All right, but here we are.
4:48
SPEAKER_03: Hi, Stephanie.
4:50
SPEAKER_00: Hi, guys.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: Good to see you.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: Same, likewise.
4:56
SPEAKER_03: You look hot, like, because of the weather outside.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: I thought you said I look hot.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: Well, you do look hot.
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SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, you look hot, like with the blonde hair.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: That means from you.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God.
5:13
But I mean,
5:14
like,
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the humidity hot right now is just like...
5:18
Like,
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seriously?
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SPEAKER_02: Nick is saying that?
5:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
5:21
Yeah.
5:22
SPEAKER_03: But it's like fucking crazy outside right now.
5:24
SPEAKER_03: Just like I was outside 10 minutes ago just for a second.
5:27
SPEAKER_03: It was like I felt like I burnt myself just like walking three steps.
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SPEAKER_00: It's okay, Nick.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm glad that you see that I'm hot.
5:37
SPEAKER_03: It's the hair.
5:38
SPEAKER_03: It's the new hair.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: It's the hair.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just for disclosure, we don't have more fun.
5:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I did this to myself.
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SPEAKER_00: I burnt my hair just trying to figure it out.
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SPEAKER_00: You know, after owning a business, maybe I can have more fun, but
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no it's bullshit you don't have more fun as a blonde I was
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going to ask you how do you feel
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SPEAKER_00: Um,
6:00
SPEAKER_00: how I feel like I've been a person that I never,
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SPEAKER_00: I mean,
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SPEAKER_00: 10 years ago,
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SPEAKER_00: I used to work a lot of makeup for some reason,
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SPEAKER_00: not anymore.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't put makeup.
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SPEAKER_00: I don't do my hair.
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SPEAKER_00: So it feels like a huge responsibility.
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SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
6:18
SPEAKER_00: Because now you have to get a lot of hair.
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So it's like,
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I was just trying to try something different to feel better.
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And I just adding more responsibility in a situation when I
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don't need more responsibility.
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okay and you just have to wait then until yeah i mean i feel i
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think that one of
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the most beautiful things about human beings is that we can
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transform our reality
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SPEAKER_00: constantly we can change so many different things we can um
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SPEAKER_00: You know, this comfort teaches you a lot.
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SPEAKER_00: So actually my blonde is teaching me a lot.
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SPEAKER_00: So it's like you say, it grows, it can change everything.
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SPEAKER_00: That's the beauty of life.
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SPEAKER_00: You can change.
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SPEAKER_00: If something doesn't work out, you can change it, you can transform it.
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SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's part of the whole higher thing too.
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SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
7:08
So Stephanie,
7:09
when I first interviewed you,
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I think you were one of like the first episodes.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: it was still like very much pandemic.
7:16
SPEAKER_03: A lot of things were still shut down everywhere.
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SPEAKER_03: Everyone was still masked up and everything.
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SPEAKER_03: You were doing like a pop-up in the Catskills for like a month, was it?
7:27
SPEAKER_03: Three months.
7:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay, three months.
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SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the whole summer, basically.
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SPEAKER_03: The summer of COVID.
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And it was great because people were going to the Catskills and
7:37
it was fresh air
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SPEAKER_03: outside and all that.
7:42
SPEAKER_03: And
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But then you were thinking ahead when COVID ended,
7:46
you were going to open a restaurant.
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SPEAKER_03: After the summer ended and COVID kind of relaxed,
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SPEAKER_03: you started looking for spaces,
7:55
playing around with the idea of what would my restaurant look
7:58
like in Brooklyn.
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SPEAKER_03: But you never committed to anything for a long time.
8:03
SPEAKER_03: Why not?
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SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, I think, as I said, it's been a process.
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When we met,
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I was like cooking in the most like secluded area,
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the less diverse community ever.
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SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
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SPEAKER_00: it was kind of like the first opportunity for me as myself,
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SPEAKER_00: because one of the things that I got,
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SPEAKER_00: I went to culinary school.
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SPEAKER_00: I did my stay at an internship in Cosme.
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SPEAKER_00: And after that, I just went by my own.
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SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
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SPEAKER_00: I just like,
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SPEAKER_00: I was just questioning like in reality,
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SPEAKER_00: what I really,
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SPEAKER_00: really want to do with these new tools,
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SPEAKER_00: with these knowledge,
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SPEAKER_00: what I was my place in the world.
8:45
in the culinary world and for some reason i never like you know
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the restaurant
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model as if it was it never felt like comfortable to me um and
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then i was given the
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opportunity you know to do this residency and and and and cook
9:01
whatever i wanted i
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SPEAKER_00: was like a frying fish making shrimp cocktail like doing
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chicharron stuff like that and it was I'm making pan de bono so
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it was a really
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exciting opportunity to see my concept at the end of the day I
9:12
don't call them my
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concept everything that I do is an extension of who I am my
9:16
personality and and I
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just want to try to bring that and share that with people so I
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mean it was really
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successful at that moment because if you see like a big
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families of like people
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SPEAKER_00: from the Catskills like coming and
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SPEAKER_00: and questioning if we can debone the fish.
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SPEAKER_00: And I was like, no, just be careful.
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SPEAKER_00: We are no deboning fish.
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SPEAKER_00: And it was kind of like,
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SPEAKER_00: it gave me the boost,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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SPEAKER_00: that I really needed,
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SPEAKER_00: you know,
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SPEAKER_00: to being able,
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SPEAKER_00: if I can lead,
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SPEAKER_00: if I can take care of a kitchen because,
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SPEAKER_00: or even I can own a business because that's something,
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SPEAKER_00: two different things.
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SPEAKER_00: One thing is to work with somebody.
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SPEAKER_00: You do your probably a lot of hours and now, you know,
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SPEAKER_00: you pass to the other side when you have all the commitments,
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SPEAKER_00: you have to be like,
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SPEAKER_00: now I understand when my colleagues said that every day you are like,
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SPEAKER_00: like,
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SPEAKER_00: like,
10:05
SPEAKER_00: like,
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SPEAKER_00: like dealing with fire and,
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SPEAKER_00: and,
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SPEAKER_00: and also the challenge of like being working with my partner as well,
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SPEAKER_00: my husband and being partners in so many different capacities.
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SPEAKER_00: So it was a process when I just came back, I went to Spain to study,
10:26
And then I keep doing pop-ups and then realizing that when I
10:30
started that nobody
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SPEAKER_00: was doing pop-ups.
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SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, what I was just doing is doing exactly what
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Many women that have mentored me in Colombia are doing opening
10:41
their house,
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SPEAKER_00: selling their food,
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SPEAKER_00: creating better opportunities for them and their families,
10:47
SPEAKER_00: hustling with that and doing certain levels of informality and surviving.
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SPEAKER_00: So even in the country of regulations,
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SPEAKER_00: I just like do it,
10:57
SPEAKER_00: you know,
10:57
because I grew up and I came from a place where actually women
11:01
do that in different
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SPEAKER_00: capacities.
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SPEAKER_00: And and then that's what speaks to me,
11:06
SPEAKER_00: you know,
11:07
SPEAKER_00: have kind of like a more like a close interaction,
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give a different kind of hospitality where I feel that
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sometimes in a restaurant
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SPEAKER_00: set up,
11:15
SPEAKER_00: it can be really cold and different or super.
11:18
The kitchen is completely separated from the people and you
11:21
have a front of the
11:22
house team that is actually representing you and doing
11:25
everything for you.
11:26
So this time for me was just trying to figure out what I really
11:30
want to do,
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SPEAKER_00: what I feel comfortable,
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SPEAKER_00: because I'm a person that I'm super easy to get bored.
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SPEAKER_00: And I move on of things really fast.
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SPEAKER_00: If I don't feel comfortable, I will move on.
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SPEAKER_00: I will do different things.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So I want to make sure that this is what I really, really wanted to do.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: And I think that the opportunity came out to me because at the beginning,
11:50
SPEAKER_00: I tried to partner with somebody.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: It didn't work out.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: And one of the reasons is because I was self-conscious.
11:58
I thought that I need somebody with a lot of experience to
12:01
materialize what I can do.
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SPEAKER_00: And then it took some time to realize, like, I can do it by myself.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: I have a beautiful support system.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: I have a beautiful community.
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I have,
12:12
I mean,
12:13
it's just about finding the right tools to create the vision.
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SPEAKER_00: And that's what I'm right now.
12:18
So if I answer your question,
12:20
everything was a process,
12:21
like the hair,
12:22
like everything in life.
12:23
SPEAKER_00: You know,
12:23
SPEAKER_00: you're starting a point,
12:25
SPEAKER_00: you fucked up many times,
12:27
SPEAKER_00: you borne breaches,
12:28
SPEAKER_00: you learn,
12:29
SPEAKER_00: you fail,
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SPEAKER_00: you stand up until you find a place that you feel comfortable.
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And even though having a place,
12:36
I still like really uncomfortable and trying to.
12:40
This is a word that I don't know how to pronounce and I say it
12:43
so much and it's
12:44
SPEAKER_00: pivot or pivot or I don't know.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: Pivot.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Pivot the situation.
12:50
SPEAKER_00: So this is like basically what it is.
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SPEAKER_02: How did you decide about the location?
12:55
SPEAKER_02: How that conversation happened?
12:57
So it's a beautiful story because we are located inside a store
13:02
called This is
13:02
SPEAKER_00: Latino America and I was looking for like first of all
13:08
SPEAKER_00: a business model.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: So I don't want to own a restaurant.
13:12
SPEAKER_00: I don't even want it to sell alcohol.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's like when you put everything on a,
13:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
13:18
SPEAKER_00: my husband is the one that does operations numbers,
13:20
SPEAKER_00: the introvert,
13:22
SPEAKER_00: the operation person,
13:24
SPEAKER_00: which I'm really lucky.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: and grateful to have that role because I suck at that,
13:31
SPEAKER_00: is first of all,
13:32
SPEAKER_00: to put everything in numbers and do everything backwards.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: So, okay, New York City, rent, insurance, all this different stuff.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: What I really wanted to do, I want to host dinners.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: I want to, you know...
13:45
SPEAKER_00: I want to be able to collaborate with different chefs.
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SPEAKER_00: So let's find an operations that actually can pay for the fixed costs.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: So we were,
13:54
SPEAKER_00: okay,
13:54
let's open a coffee shop with a simple menu and at night we do
13:59
our pop-up dinners.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: Okay, where is going to be that location?
14:02
SPEAKER_00: We look for different places.
14:04
And then when you talk to a landlord and you show your
14:06
financials based on pop-ups,
14:08
SPEAKER_00: private chef and different things,
14:10
SPEAKER_00: The guy that I sell in the really horrible,
14:13
SPEAKER_00: like whatever,
14:14
SPEAKER_00: but I have already five locations is going to win over me.
14:18
SPEAKER_00: So that was the first challenge.
14:20
I mean,
14:20
to find somebody that actually thinks that a model that is kind
14:24
of new age.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: It worked.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: And that's what we've been doing.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, so I was walking in Williamsburg.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: At that moment, I was taking a break of La Tropic Kitchen.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: I was just like, I really want to figure it out.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: What was the next step?
14:41
SPEAKER_00: If I was comfortable in what I was doing, if it makes sense.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: And I remember getting a job.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
14:47
SPEAKER_00: in such a long time,
14:49
SPEAKER_00: I got my first like job where I have to go to a kitchen,
14:54
SPEAKER_00: do events and operating a big scale because I said,
14:59
SPEAKER_00: OK,
15:00
SPEAKER_00: if I'm going to take a hold of that,
15:01
I'm going to go to a place where I'm going to learn a skill
15:04
that I really,
15:05
SPEAKER_00: really need to take my business next level.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: OK, catering, luxury, big scale.
15:11
you know i sold myself to the demo but sometimes you have to do
15:15
it so and then i
15:16
was just saving money to go to southeast asia to find myself to
15:19
take this trip that
15:20
i did i traveled for three months and that's another story um
15:25
and then i remember
15:26
walking like i was super sad i mean i mean it's really
15:30
important also to talk about
15:31
mental health i was depressed i cry every morning i was
15:34
questioning what i was
15:35
SPEAKER_00: doing for
15:37
I don't know how many times in my life I've been in that moment
15:39
of nothingness.
15:41
SPEAKER_00: For people that are listening to me right now,
15:43
embrace that moment of nothingness because that's a possibility
15:46
of everything.
15:48
SPEAKER_00: Those are the moments of expansion.
15:49
Those are the moments where you question yourself and you
15:51
figure out things.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people don't see it that way.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: I see it that way.
15:55
So I was walking in Williamsburg and I remember getting inside
15:59
of like a coffee shop.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: This really cool bro from Williamsburg,
16:03
SPEAKER_00: you know,
16:04
SPEAKER_00: I do skate,
16:05
SPEAKER_00: I run marathons,
16:07
SPEAKER_00: but I first of all,
16:08
SPEAKER_00: I light a cigarette before I run the marathon.
16:09
SPEAKER_00: I saw fucking cool that guy, you know what I mean?
16:12
So he was in his store,
16:14
he have a coffee shop,
16:15
but he have a workshop downstairs.
16:17
So he was making clothes and it was like,
16:19
oh,
16:20
this is a really interesting business model.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: He's not putting the eggs in just one basket.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: So he have a showroom, he have his studio and he sell coffee.
16:31
SPEAKER_00: So and then my friend Ernesto Sulu and Justin were,
16:37
SPEAKER_00: you know,
16:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
16:38
SPEAKER_00: it was with Ernesto and Sulu.
16:40
And then Justin,
16:41
that this is my wife,
16:42
friend,
16:43
wannabe Mexican,
16:44
beautiful,
16:44
queer,
16:45
creative.
16:45
So he says something like,
16:47
hey,
16:47
there is a store right there where they're selling comales.
16:51
SPEAKER_00: And it was,
16:51
SPEAKER_00: Justin,
16:52
don't take me to another store of a white guy selling Mexican
16:56
stuff like an
16:57
SPEAKER_00: overpriced witness.
16:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to see that.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: No, but do it.
17:02
SPEAKER_00: They have a beautiful altar because it was the date of the death.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: I will lie to you that I was, I don't want to go.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: But then Ernesto, my friend said, let's go to see it.
17:12
SPEAKER_00: We cross the street.
17:14
SPEAKER_00: And the first thing that I see is Miguel.
17:17
SPEAKER_00: With these beautiful braids.
17:20
you know,
17:20
with this beautiful altar and then,
17:23
oh my God,
17:25
you guys want some tamales?
17:26
SPEAKER_00: You want a welcome to this is Latin America.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: And I saw the beautiful art craft and I was like, where am I?
17:33
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
17:35
SPEAKER_00: So the way I will never forget the way that made me feel,
17:39
they made me feel like how hospitality should be is like in the
17:43
way that it's not
17:44
SPEAKER_00: just about selling something,
17:45
SPEAKER_00: it's about creating community.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: which is really,
17:48
SPEAKER_00: really important,
17:48
especially when you are a migrant in a place where you actually
17:51
don't belong
17:51
SPEAKER_00: anywhere.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: And I said this so much.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: So the way that you feel in a place where you feel welcome,
17:57
SPEAKER_00: that you feel that at least people speak their same language,
17:59
SPEAKER_00: that you understand.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: So I will never forget the day.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: And then I just start talking and they say, we have this project.
18:06
We want to have this coffee shop,
18:08
a traditional Colombian Mexican in the back.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: And we want to have like guest chef.
18:15
SPEAKER_00: So and then I introduced myself and they said,
18:17
SPEAKER_00: oh,
18:17
SPEAKER_00: we've been following you,
18:19
SPEAKER_00: blah,
18:19
SPEAKER_00: blah,
18:19
SPEAKER_00: blah,
18:19
SPEAKER_00: blah.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: So the conversation started there.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: I bought like a bunch of stuff for them for my catering business.
18:25
SPEAKER_00: And then I went to Southeast Asia.
18:28
And then when I went,
18:29
when I came back,
18:30
I was like,
18:30
what happened with these guys?
18:33
And then they were trying to build a kitchen,
18:35
but they didn't know what they were doing.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: So I started getting to know them.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: Now I take my time to know people.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: Before I was, ah, everyone is my friend.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: I love you.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Let's collaborate.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: No,
18:46
SPEAKER_00: now I take my time to get to know people,
18:49
SPEAKER_00: to people to get to know me because I can be a lot too.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: And I took my time.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: I get to know them and whatever.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And then we start brainstorming, long short story, biotropical birds.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: So I jumped in to help to build the kitchen and then
19:05
SPEAKER_00: We started creating the concept together,
19:08
SPEAKER_00: and now we have a beautiful tropical patio in the heart of Williamsburg.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: And actually, Nicolas can tell you, it's pretty tropical.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: You're there and you're sweating.
19:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
19:19
SPEAKER_03: Well, I can't imagine today.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're close today, but also... No, it's hot.
19:25
SPEAKER_03: It's hot back there.
19:26
SPEAKER_03: But, you know, it's the time of the year.
19:28
SPEAKER_03: But what I really appreciate about Patio Tropical is...
19:35
As someone who lived in North Brooklyn for 12 years until I
19:40
moved up here,
19:42
SPEAKER_03: like so many restaurants just come in from Manhattan or wherever,
19:46
SPEAKER_03: just somebody,
19:47
SPEAKER_03: you know,
19:48
SPEAKER_03: opening something.
19:48
SPEAKER_03: And they don't try to fit in with the neighborhood whatsoever.
19:55
SPEAKER_03: They just try to impose whatever idea they have.
19:59
SPEAKER_03: on this place,
20:00
SPEAKER_03: and it totally is,
20:02
SPEAKER_03: like,
20:03
SPEAKER_03: destroys the fucking character of the neighborhood sometimes.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Like,
20:06
SPEAKER_03: even just,
20:07
SPEAKER_03: like,
20:07
SPEAKER_03: around the corner from your place,
20:08
SPEAKER_03: there's a fucking Swedish candy shop that looks like it's fucking,
20:12
SPEAKER_03: like,
20:12
SPEAKER_03: $100 for a jar of Swedish fucking candy in Puerto Rican Brooklyn.
20:17
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
20:18
SPEAKER_03: It's like, who the fuck is this for?
20:20
SPEAKER_03: Like, who is buying that shit?
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Tourists.
20:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but it's...
20:24
SPEAKER_03: It's just weird.
20:25
SPEAKER_03: And it's just like, why would you open that there?
20:27
SPEAKER_03: I think New York does a bad job of preserving character of neighborhoods.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: And I saw that living in Greenpoint for 12 years.
20:38
SPEAKER_03: Just when I got there,
20:39
it was this Polish kind of industrial neighborhood that just
20:44
all of a sudden
20:45
SPEAKER_03: gentrified.
20:46
SPEAKER_03: And everyone I knew...
20:49
SPEAKER_03: you know, eventually moved out.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: We all got like pushed out eventually.
20:53
SPEAKER_03: It was too fucking expensive.
20:54
There was no feeling of restaurants or cafes or coming in for
20:59
the community.
21:00
It was always these like developers pushing shit all the time,
21:03
causing the rents to rise.
21:05
SPEAKER_03: And yeah,
21:05
it was nice to have the hipster coffee shop down the street or
21:08
whatever that opened
21:09
SPEAKER_03: up and suddenly you can get good coffee.
21:12
SPEAKER_03: But did you need fucking 30 of them?
21:15
SPEAKER_03: You know, like...
21:17
in in three blocks you know and it just became this like this
21:22
boilerplate yoga
21:23
coffee shop tattoo parlor thing that i don't know it just like
21:28
it lost all
21:29
character of all the fucking gritty bodegas and and whatever
21:35
and not to say like
21:36
all of those things were perfect but they were real and they
21:39
were serving people
21:41
SPEAKER_03: But what I like about Patio Tropical,
21:42
SPEAKER_03: this is the point I'm getting to,
21:44
SPEAKER_03: is that local people are going to eat there.
21:48
SPEAKER_03: As I sat there for a couple of hours,
21:51
SPEAKER_03: there were people coming in the whole time,
21:54
SPEAKER_03: locals that have lived on the street,
21:56
SPEAKER_03: this very Puerto Rican street in Williamsburg,
21:58
SPEAKER_03: not these sudden faux hipsters that work at a bank.
22:04
It's people that have lived on the street forever and they're
22:07
coming in and they're
22:08
SPEAKER_03: hugging you and you're hugging them and they know you.
22:11
SPEAKER_03: You've been there a few months,
22:12
SPEAKER_03: but it seems like you've known them for decades at this point,
22:16
SPEAKER_03: at least from the attitude I could feel.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: And that's great.
22:21
SPEAKER_03: And I feel like that's real New York.
22:24
It's not this like manufactured gentrification shit that seems
22:29
to be like what's
22:30
SPEAKER_03: going on in a lot of the city right now.
22:32
It's like it felt real and it felt like it fit in and the
22:35
people on the street were
22:37
SPEAKER_03: eating there.
22:38
SPEAKER_03: They wanted the things that you were serving,
22:41
SPEAKER_03: not because they know about necessarily,
22:44
SPEAKER_03: you know,
22:45
SPEAKER_03: what like an arepa in Guajira is like,
22:49
SPEAKER_03: but they get this sense of,
22:52
SPEAKER_03: you know,
22:52
SPEAKER_03: like it's still familiar to them,
22:54
SPEAKER_03: even though it is this very different type of food.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: It's the Caribbean.
22:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: And it's really important that you said that because sometimes for me,
23:06
I've been having many of my identity crisis and the most recent
23:10
one is questioning
23:10
SPEAKER_00: my heritage.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: As a person from Barranquilla,
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Colombia,
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I felt more than a Colombian person,
23:19
SPEAKER_00: I feel a Caribbean being.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: I always said that I'm from understanding the Caribbean was a huge,
23:28
SPEAKER_00: like huge,
23:30
SPEAKER_00: it was the cosmopolitan of like all this,
23:33
SPEAKER_00: everything arrived there,
23:34
SPEAKER_00: everything happened.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And that it was also influencing the food that we eat in our food ways,
23:41
SPEAKER_00: in our culture,
23:42
SPEAKER_00: in our music,
23:43
SPEAKER_00: everything is such a rich territory.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: So as you said, we are in Grand Street in the sures of Williamsburg.
23:50
And it's really important to understand that it's a huge Puerto
23:53
Rican diaspora down
23:54
there that are being like living there and so many of them is
23:57
still there.
23:58
And many of them are like cohabitating with the fact of a
24:02
gentrified neighborhood.
24:04
So one of the really important things for us as everything in
24:07
life is understanding
24:08
SPEAKER_00: where we are,
24:09
SPEAKER_00: we came from and where we are and where we're trying to go.
24:14
SPEAKER_00: Just like a few business around there is the Caribbean Social Club,
24:18
SPEAKER_00: where it's like a woman called Toñita,
24:22
SPEAKER_00: a matrona.
24:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
24:26
SPEAKER_00: for me,
24:27
it's surreal that I'm living in New York and I can find in my
24:32
own community
24:33
something that I've been looking for in every single travel
24:36
that I do abroad,
24:38
SPEAKER_00: that really strong woman that is supporting her community,
24:42
SPEAKER_00: that is helping others,
24:43
SPEAKER_00: is feeding people.
24:44
SPEAKER_00: is creating better opportunities for her and people around her.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: That's what we call a matrona.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: And no everyone is a matrona.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
24:53
SPEAKER_00: for you to become a matrona,
24:54
SPEAKER_00: you have to be somebody respected by your community,
24:57
SPEAKER_00: creating,
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
24:58
SPEAKER_00: the same thing that I already said.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: So we have three blocks away.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Toñita, we just celebrated her.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: She is being mentioned in Bad Bunny songs.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Politicians goes to her.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: And I've seen that woman kick out people of her business.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, are you out?
25:15
SPEAKER_00: Like 80-something.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how old is Toñita, but Toñita is already an old lady.
25:21
SPEAKER_00: So that being said,
25:23
SPEAKER_00: you know,
25:23
I feel flattered to be there and to be supposed of a woman that
25:29
at the end of the
25:30
SPEAKER_00: day,
25:30
SPEAKER_00: if I tell you the truth,
25:32
SPEAKER_00: you can ask so many female chefs,
25:34
SPEAKER_00: like,
25:34
SPEAKER_00: oh,
25:34
SPEAKER_00: who you want to be?
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Who are you looking after?
25:37
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Dominic Krem.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: I want to be Toñita.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: It's like no writer.
25:46
SPEAKER_03: That feels like real.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
25:49
SPEAKER_03: It feels real.
25:50
SPEAKER_03: That's a good summary of it.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:52
And then people like one of the really important things to us
25:56
as a business is being inclusive.
26:00
You know,
26:00
it's tough because we're in Williamsburg,
26:03
tough friends,
26:04
tough crew,
26:04
everything.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: And I need to be,
26:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
26:07
SPEAKER_00: right now,
26:07
SPEAKER_00: like,
26:08
SPEAKER_00: you know,
26:09
SPEAKER_00: now I understand more than anybody that I'm running a business.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's not just like, oh, how beautiful will be.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to be inclusive.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I want to donate.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: I want to, yeah, that's beautiful.
26:18
SPEAKER_00: But now it's real shit gets real.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: I run a business and I need to make a business work.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: But it's always the challenge.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: How can we be inclusive?
26:26
SPEAKER_00: You saw Doña Lucy.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: We have Doña Lucy.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: We even make a dream after her because this is a woman that she comes.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, she doesn't.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: She's like me.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for her, it's really hard to have female friends.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: So she gets along better with men.
26:42
So she's the one that I made the Tintons and the food to the
26:45
guys that I placed
26:46
SPEAKER_00: dominoes next to my business.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: And that's the real Caribbean social club is kind of like hitting.
26:53
and she goes there and doña lucy has his red hair and she comes
26:57
to us and she give
26:59
me protection necklace you know and and and and bring us food
27:04
and everything and
27:05
then we have don angel that comes all the time but also we have
27:08
magic mike the
27:09
SPEAKER_00: magician of the neighborhood the cookie
27:12
SPEAKER_00: We have the actor for Netflix.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: We have the pregnant ladies that now I see them with the stroller.
27:20
So that means that we're doing something that people are
27:23
connecting with at the end of the day.
27:26
And that's what I call inclusivity,
27:28
that we have from Doña Lucy buying us coffee.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: from Magic Mike bringing his friends because he pulled a new cool spot in
27:36
SPEAKER_00: Williamsburg and all these different people.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day,
27:41
SPEAKER_00: the people from my own country,
27:43
they're like a small percentage of the people that are
27:46
patronized my business.
27:47
SPEAKER_00: They still coming.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day,
27:49
people are not coming to us because what kind of food that we
27:53
are serving.
27:55
People are coming to us for what we have to offer to the
27:58
neighborhood and they want
27:59
SPEAKER_00: to support us and that sense of community that we're building.
28:03
How have you gotten that feedback apart from obviously people
28:06
going and expressing?
28:11
SPEAKER_02: How do you get a sense of that?
28:12
SPEAKER_02: What do they say?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we are not making... I mean, Nicolas already went there.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, we are making food, nurturing food, healthy food.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: It's not healthy in that way.
28:25
SPEAKER_00: No, we're doing clean ingredients.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: We're sourcing for the farmer's market.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: We are working.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: We are,
28:30
SPEAKER_00: like,
28:31
our chorizo is made by a Serbian butcher that we have been
28:34
working in this
28:35
SPEAKER_00: formulation for many years.
28:36
SPEAKER_03: Let's talk about that chorizo because that's, like, amazing.
28:41
SPEAKER_03: And it's, like...
28:42
okay it seems like it's straight out of colombia like but it's
28:45
absolutely totally
28:46
not and that's it so we are like educating people about what
28:50
caribbean colombian
28:51
food it is who we are our music our experience we don't we
28:55
don't serve tables and
28:59
um we don't have a waitress we have a pos system you order for
29:03
day and you grab
29:03
SPEAKER_00: your own stuff you're so it's different
29:07
SPEAKER_00: So you go to my patio tropical that I don't even like to call them.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: My restaurant is just my patio, my house, my kitchen.
29:14
SPEAKER_00: You will be taken care of by me or Miguel from my kitchen.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: We're going to judge your name.
29:19
SPEAKER_00: We're going to ask about your pet, everything.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: We are not serving tables.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: You're going to ask about the pet.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: What do you mean?
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I know the dogs, Mocha, Chipita, Sophie.
29:30
I know people by,
29:32
you know,
29:32
I don't remember anybody's name,
29:34
but I know the name of the dog.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: So what do you say?
29:37
SPEAKER_03: Sophie's mother, your arepa is ready.
29:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Sophie needs some water.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: Can I give Sophie a huesito?
29:46
SPEAKER_00: And they loved it.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like the kind of thing,
29:49
SPEAKER_00: like,
29:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
29:50
SPEAKER_00: I even have,
29:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
29:51
SPEAKER_00: I have these crew of guys that I call them the Coachella kids.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: They came with their Coachella fans.
30:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh, the Coachella kids are here.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: Are you guys Hanover?
30:04
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Sancocho.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, and also our Sancocho, it doesn't call Sancocho.
30:08
SPEAKER_00: It's Saint Kosho.
30:12
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the cure of the Hanover.
30:15
SPEAKER_00: So it's how we,
30:17
SPEAKER_00: and the sancocho that we serve,
30:20
SPEAKER_00: we cook it as a full with all the nutritional things,
30:23
SPEAKER_00: extracting flavors and everything,
30:25
SPEAKER_00: yuyukita,
30:25
SPEAKER_00: your papitas,
30:27
SPEAKER_00: some whatever,
30:28
SPEAKER_00: green,
30:28
SPEAKER_00: delicious,
30:29
SPEAKER_00: either cilantro oil or like wild garlic or something.
30:33
SPEAKER_00: We make an oil.
30:34
SPEAKER_00: That's it.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: The short rib cooked for 24 hours.
30:39
seasoning and then you can put it with a spoon so it's like our
30:43
cuisine but on my
30:44
own way but mindful of the coachella kids needing a sancocho
30:49
because they're hard
30:52
when you started i think the idea was more all of latin america
30:56
right like it was
30:57
just like like the story it was just going to reflect
31:00
everything because i was lost
31:02
SPEAKER_03: yeah it's like how do you do that it's impossible
31:06
it's impossible i uh because at the beginning i was oh uh okay
31:11
we have the cafe we
31:12
have some base trees blah blah some drinks and and we like uh
31:18
and then let's be a
31:19
collaborative space so have different chefs of latin american
31:23
that were our crap
31:25
and then i went to colombia and then my friend ariel that i
31:28
love him so much my my
31:30
SPEAKER_00: samurai
31:32
SPEAKER_00: He came from Japan like a couple months here waiting for his visa.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: He stayed three months and he helped me to build El Patio.
31:40
I left to Colombia to spend Christmas for my family after I
31:42
don't know how many years.
31:43
I think that was the first Christmas that I spent with my
31:45
family since I left
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Colombia 13 years ago.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: And then because Ariel was there, I just let him stay at the restaurant.
31:52
SPEAKER_00: So we were like kind of like in a soft opening.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: We were like trying to figure things out.
31:58
SPEAKER_00: To tell you the truth, I wasn't in a good place on my head.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: I was dealing with a lot of stuff.
32:04
And then when I came back from Colombia,
32:06
Ariel was like,
32:08
Steph,
32:08
what the fuck?
32:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, La Tropic works.
32:11
SPEAKER_00: What you do works.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Why are you trying to do something different?
32:14
have to do what you do and i was like you know what ariel i was
32:18
just thinking
32:19
exactly the same thing we changed we pinked el patio pink i
32:25
changed everything i
32:27
mean i'm so extreme i mean if something made me uncomfortable i
32:31
will burn it and
32:33
change it and i will rebuild it so in two weeks we rebuilt it
32:37
and then i was like a
32:39
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to cook whatever I feel like until it sells.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: And if it's good, we remake it.
32:43
SPEAKER_00: If not, 86.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: And then let's experiment with different things.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: And that's how I ended up calling my restaurant Caribbean.
32:51
Because you can eat a costilla can come from Puerto Rico
32:54
because I go to los cookies next door.
32:56
SPEAKER_00: That's the way that I call matronas or matrones, las cookies or cookies.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if I call you cookie one time, it's because I really respect you.
33:03
SPEAKER_00: I don't call cookie anybody.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: So, for example, you know,
33:06
i asked my yes my i asked nicholas how's your cookie it went
33:12
fine whatever you know
33:14
what i mean so um and then i was trying to understand also
33:18
pablo uh is puerto rica
33:19
i mean even though that he's really spanish in heritage he was
33:22
born in puerto rica
33:23
SPEAKER_00: i thought he was ohio i mean pablo is a citizen of the world pablo is the
33:27
globalization he's like me you know from all the place he grew
33:30
up in ohio but
33:32
SPEAKER_00: He was born in Puerto Rico.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: So half of his family is in Puerto Rico.
33:35
So that was the first time that I understand that I was a
33:38
Caribbean being coming to
33:39
SPEAKER_00: Pablo's family in Puerto Rico.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: I feel in Barranquilla.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
33:43
What is the difference between that and then going to the
33:45
different Caribbean islands?
33:46
So I was also introduced to this cuisine in the way that they
33:50
celebrate and different.
33:51
SPEAKER_00: So for me, it's really important to be kind of inclusive.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: And it's not like, oh, I want to make a Dominican dish.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, why?
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I haven't had the experience.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: But having like a Puerto Rican family,
34:02
SPEAKER_00: We have in our menu pastelón.
34:04
SPEAKER_00: We have chuleta cancan.
34:06
So I've been experimenting with different things and also
34:08
understanding that we are
34:09
SPEAKER_00: in the surres and our community is Puerto Rican.
34:13
SPEAKER_00: I need to practice.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: And when they came to buy my pastelones, that made me so happy.
34:17
SPEAKER_03: So tell me about chuleta cancan.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: So I went to Puerto Rico.
34:22
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
34:22
SPEAKER_03: This was like 15 years ago and I was writing something.
34:24
SPEAKER_03: And I went to the place that like...
34:27
SPEAKER_03: Invented it or whatever.
34:28
SPEAKER_03: Chuleta can can.
34:29
SPEAKER_03: It was this like giant fried pork chop.
34:32
SPEAKER_00: And it was amazing.
34:33
SPEAKER_03: But I never heard of it ever again until I saw it on your menu.
34:37
SPEAKER_00: Puerto Rico is not amazing.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: So la chuleta can can is my uncle Javier Bonin favorite dish.
34:43
SPEAKER_00: And I remember him taking me to have it.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: The magic about that dish is you can start it, you never end it.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: And it's basically a pork tomahawk because it have part of the belly,
34:56
SPEAKER_00: chicharron,
34:57
SPEAKER_00: and also have the pork chop.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: So, and then I was like a chicharron, a chicharron.
35:03
SPEAKER_00: I should have a chicharron in the menu.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: Chicharron is really important.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: We eat a lot of chicharron.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: I said, why should I make a chicharron if I can make a chuleta gangal?
35:10
it's even better so i mean obviously we are like brining the
35:17
chuleta can can let it
35:19
dry and then do like a shallow frying and it's called can can
35:22
because when you bite
35:24
it it's so crunchy that it sounds can can can can yeah that's
35:29
why it's called yeah
35:30
and also because it's also sound like the shoes of the can can
35:34
dance like so
35:37
As many different things,
35:38
people have different theories of how things are called.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
35:43
SPEAKER_03: So the menu, it's still Spanish Caribbean though, right?
35:46
SPEAKER_03: Like you're not like going to put a Jamaican dish or I don't know.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: Maybe.
35:51
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
35:51
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
35:52
I don't like labels because as a woman that I was born in the
35:59
Colombian Caribbean
36:01
SPEAKER_00: from a paisa household,
36:04
SPEAKER_00: Living in New York City,
36:06
married with a Spanier man that also have half of his family in
36:10
Puerto Rico,
36:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm the result of everything.
36:13
So if one time I have like this encounter of the first degree
36:17
with a beautiful
36:18
SPEAKER_00: Jamaican person,
36:20
SPEAKER_00: and this person introduced me to how to make a delicious,
36:23
SPEAKER_00: which I really want,
36:24
SPEAKER_00: and I'm manifesting that,
36:26
SPEAKER_00: this ox tail in the Jamaican style,
36:29
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't tell you.
36:30
maybe one time you will find that on the menu on an empanada of
36:34
that or certain way.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
36:36
SPEAKER_00: I open to creativity,
36:37
SPEAKER_00: but for me,
36:38
SPEAKER_00: the really important thing is not just play to know things.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: I need to be introduced to the concept.
36:43
I need to understand the cultural background of the dish and I
36:46
need to connect to
36:47
SPEAKER_00: it in order for me to do my own interpretation of it.
36:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, at least me, I'm not saying that.
36:51
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: I think that that's smart because I think you do.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: do the legwork.
36:59
SPEAKER_03: You do do the like research.
37:00
SPEAKER_03: Like as long as I've known you,
37:02
SPEAKER_03: you have been,
37:03
SPEAKER_03: you know,
37:04
SPEAKER_03: traveling to Guajira and,
37:06
SPEAKER_03: you know,
37:06
SPEAKER_03: all these places and actually spending time with these,
37:10
SPEAKER_03: these cooks,
37:11
SPEAKER_03: not just,
37:11
SPEAKER_03: you know,
37:12
SPEAKER_03: popping in and having a dinner,
37:13
SPEAKER_03: but getting to know how they do things and understanding it.
37:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, for me, food is a vehicle.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you ask me more than anything else, I like people.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
37:27
SPEAKER_00: Not all the people, but I like people.
37:31
I mean,
37:31
I like,
37:33
and I like people in their broader sense with challenges or not
37:37
challenges.
37:38
I mean,
37:38
for me,
37:39
more than anything to understand,
37:41
I mean,
37:42
food tells you so much about people.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: They tell you about their religion.
37:45
They tell you about their social structures,
37:50
their landscape,
37:51
where they came from.
37:53
the something like me i told you about my background so my food
37:57
is the result of
37:59
that so that's why it's really hard to talk about being purist
38:02
in the kitchen or in
38:04
cooking because at the end of the day food is an it is an
38:09
evolving evolving keep
38:11
SPEAKER_00: evolving and you can see that in places like malaysia singapore etc um
38:18
SPEAKER_00: So at the end of the day, New York also is part of that.
38:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can go to La Caridad and have like a Cuban Chinese menu.
38:26
And there is a huge Chinese diaspora in the Caribbean and part
38:31
of our food is a result of that.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: Same like a place like Barranquilla, Colombia.
38:36
SPEAKER_00: Our traditional food is going to be like a menu from Líbano,
38:40
SPEAKER_00: Syria or Palestine because we have a huge diaspora of them.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: And then you go to places like Lorica,
38:45
SPEAKER_00: Córdoba,
38:46
you will find in the same mesa de fritos a quibbe in the same
38:51
importance of like a
38:52
SPEAKER_00: caribañola or like a arepa de huevo.
38:56
SPEAKER_00: So,
38:57
SPEAKER_00: you know,
38:57
SPEAKER_00: like that's one of the things where I,
39:00
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
39:01
SPEAKER_00: when I started Colombian,
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Colombian,
39:03
SPEAKER_00: Colombian,
39:03
and I've been living a transition of understanding my identity
39:07
through food as
39:07
SPEAKER_00: well.
39:08
And understanding that I'm in New York and questioning why I'm
39:11
making arroz de
39:13
camarón seco from La Guajira and I'm sourcing in New York City
39:17
from a Thai place.
39:18
That's what the reason that it put me in a situation where I
39:21
want to go to
39:22
SPEAKER_00: Southeast Asia,
39:23
SPEAKER_00: because being in New York,
39:24
I'm sourcing ingredients from preparations that I learned back
39:29
in Colombia,
39:30
SPEAKER_00: but I'm sourcing them from all over the world.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: So what's happening right there,
39:34
SPEAKER_00: what's happening there,
39:34
SPEAKER_00: that they have kind of like the same thing.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: How do you interact with Miguel in the kitchen?
39:39
SPEAKER_02: Because you both cook, right?
39:41
SPEAKER_00: Miguel is not a cook.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
39:43
Miguel is...
39:46
Miguel,
39:47
a year ago,
39:48
he was selling aircraft from Latin America.
39:50
SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, he was selling cilantro in Texas.
39:54
SPEAKER_00: So,
39:54
SPEAKER_00: Mileni is the most beautiful,
39:55
SPEAKER_00: camaleonic person that adapts to so many different situations like me.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: I call him my work wife,
40:05
SPEAKER_00: which is amazing because Miguel let me be masculine,
40:08
SPEAKER_00: and that's part of my duality.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm feminine and masculine.
40:11
SPEAKER_00: So when Miguel, it can be really masculine sometimes.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: So it's a really good interaction in the kitchen.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: Miguel is my second hand.
40:18
SPEAKER_00: He's like, actually, he's just new in the industry.
40:23
SPEAKER_00: And now he's a guarbarista.
40:25
SPEAKER_00: He helps me.
40:26
SPEAKER_00: He cooks.
40:27
So one of the reasons that I knew that he was a good fit for
40:31
this project is
40:33
Because,
40:34
like,
40:34
I made a mistake in the past where I tried to involve somebody
40:37
for experience.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: And this is not about experience.
40:40
This is about willingness,
40:42
charisma,
40:43
and the openness,
40:46
you know,
40:46
to interact.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
40:47
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
40:48
you can bring your plating tongs and your production sheets and
40:53
stuff like that.
40:53
SPEAKER_00: I already know how to do that.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking in a partner,
40:56
SPEAKER_00: somebody that also have the charisma,
40:58
SPEAKER_00: understand what we're trying to do,
40:59
SPEAKER_00: the sense of community,
41:00
SPEAKER_00: which is really,
41:01
SPEAKER_00: really important.
41:02
SPEAKER_00: So then the other practicalities and technicism, I can teach it.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: Or also you can learn on Gronda,
41:09
SPEAKER_00: YouTube,
41:10
SPEAKER_00: a station at one place,
41:12
SPEAKER_00: and also in places like Masterclass.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: So now we have so many resources.
41:17
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day,
41:18
SPEAKER_00: where I was looking in a partner,
41:19
SPEAKER_00: it's more about personality,
41:21
SPEAKER_00: willingness,
41:21
SPEAKER_00: and connection with people,
41:23
SPEAKER_00: especially with me.
41:24
so so yeah we're a great team because um you know when i'm
41:30
doing something
41:31
immediately he's washing me and he's doing sometimes it's tough
41:35
because i mean if
41:36
you go to my kitchen it looks like a patio but my kitchen is as
41:39
clean as a michelin
41:40
star and that's the way that we do it you know what i mean
41:43
every day we spend
41:45
SPEAKER_00: almost two hours on cleaning every day and that and i i
41:48
SPEAKER_00: one hour,
41:49
SPEAKER_00: 30 minutes,
41:49
SPEAKER_00: and then we do deep cleanings on this,
41:52
SPEAKER_00: you know,
41:53
SPEAKER_00: because we have an open kitchen and that's the way that I like to work.
41:56
SPEAKER_00: And my team needs to understand that we need,
41:59
SPEAKER_00: even though that we are informal,
42:01
SPEAKER_00: we need to perform with levels of excellence that at the end of the day,
42:06
SPEAKER_00: working in a clean environment is really important.
42:08
SPEAKER_00: So it's like teaching somebody that never worked in a kitchen before
42:14
SPEAKER_00: And to operate in these standards can be challenging,
42:17
SPEAKER_00: but I mean,
42:19
the cure of learning of Miguel is more steady than many people
42:24
that I know with
42:25
SPEAKER_00: more experience.
42:27
SPEAKER_03: Charisma is very important.
42:29
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
42:29
SPEAKER_03: Like for you.
42:30
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you have this whole persona.
42:32
SPEAKER_03: Do you consider it a character ever?
42:36
SPEAKER_00: No, because I'm not performing.
42:37
SPEAKER_03: I mean... I don't think you are either.
42:40
But is some of it sometimes like...
42:44
Because you always say you have a lot of anxiety.
42:49
SPEAKER_03: At least you tell me that.
42:50
SPEAKER_03: And I don't think you hide it or anything.
42:51
SPEAKER_03: So I hope I'm not like... But you say you have a lot of anxiety.
42:55
SPEAKER_03: Is the character a way to overcome that anxiety?
42:59
SPEAKER_03: Do you know what I mean?
43:00
SPEAKER_03: Is this extension of yourself that's like fearless?
43:03
SPEAKER_03: Does it come out when you're in the kitchen and you become this,
43:07
SPEAKER_03: you know,
43:07
SPEAKER_03: other,
43:08
SPEAKER_03: not other person because it's still you,
43:10
SPEAKER_03: but this elevated version of yourself,
43:13
SPEAKER_03: maybe.
43:13
SPEAKER_03: Does that make sense?
43:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
43:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
43:16
SPEAKER_00: I think that life humbles you and it gives you a challenge where as soon,
43:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
43:23
SPEAKER_00: maturity at the end of the day is about like controlling your reactions,
43:31
SPEAKER_00: especially a person like me.
43:33
and controlling your anxiety and and and and not reacting i
43:37
think that that's the
43:38
because at the end of the day when you have anxiety it's like
43:41
this feeling that
43:42
everybody i mean i live in fucking new york city i mean we are
43:45
in the middle of
43:46
like uh we don't know if the war is a start we don't know
43:48
anything so every single
43:50
person in the world most feeling certain level of anxiety you
43:53
know and you and you
43:54
SPEAKER_00: learn to cope with your anxiety and i think that um
43:58
at the end of the day you know when you've been learning so
44:02
much and you have
44:03
experienced so many things in life in your personal
44:05
professional in so many
44:06
SPEAKER_00: different aspects of it
44:08
you use that strength because that's energy at the end of the
44:13
day that you are
44:13
feeling and you transition that energy to perform or produce
44:19
you don't let that to
44:19
consume you because like two days ago we have this festival and
44:24
we have all these
44:26
people coming and everything and i have a megaphone and then be
44:30
you know wearing
44:31
SPEAKER_03: this captain yeah that's what i'm saying it's like
44:33
SPEAKER_00: I literally wore like a captain hat.
44:35
SPEAKER_00: It was, you're food.
44:38
SPEAKER_00: Come here right now.
44:39
SPEAKER_00: Bring the place.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: You are the food.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: You have to.
44:42
SPEAKER_00: How long did I get?
44:43
SPEAKER_00: And then using my anxiety as an energy stream.
44:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: Then I collapsed.
44:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
44:51
SPEAKER_03: No,
44:51
SPEAKER_03: because on a personal level,
44:52
SPEAKER_03: like I know you,
44:53
SPEAKER_03: we're friends and you're often pretty introverted,
44:56
SPEAKER_03: you know,
44:57
SPEAKER_03: like me,
44:58
SPEAKER_03: but then you give you a microphone,
45:01
SPEAKER_03: And you do.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: You explode into this persona.
45:04
And it's like you take on the challenge and you just channel
45:07
all this energy in a
45:09
SPEAKER_03: way I could absolutely never do.
45:11
And it's like you're fucking like dancing and shaking your
45:13
booty and stuff in front
45:15
SPEAKER_03: of people in the kitchen and all the time.
45:17
SPEAKER_03: And it's like wild Caribbean energy.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: Decolonizing the booty.
45:23
SPEAKER_03: Decolonizing.
45:24
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
45:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
45:25
SPEAKER_03: All right.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: All right.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: All right.
45:31
SPEAKER_03: I think it is a way to overcome anxiety.
45:35
SPEAKER_03: And like you do it in a very, I think it's a healthy way.
45:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have to find your ways.
45:40
A friend of mine always said that you do what you have to do
45:43
with what you have.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: Americans said, if life sends you lemons, make lemonade.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: So it's like either I let,
45:52
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
45:52
SPEAKER_00: obviously it's tough,
45:53
SPEAKER_00: you know,
45:53
it's like the biggest challenge for every human being is to
45:57
control your own mind.
45:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, we are transitioning.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: We'll evolve into monkeys,
46:01
SPEAKER_00: to conscious beings,
46:03
SPEAKER_00: you know,
46:03
SPEAKER_00: and that's part of the human experience to understand,
46:06
SPEAKER_00: you know,
46:07
SPEAKER_00: what surrounds you,
46:08
SPEAKER_00: what you lack,
46:08
SPEAKER_00: what you need.
46:09
SPEAKER_00: And, and,
46:10
and and and that's part of it like uh all my training in this
46:13
career has been
46:14
operating in different way when i have collaborated with
46:17
mitchell and star chef
46:18
they don't they don't say how the you do it how can you thrive
46:21
in cows the pop-up
46:23
SPEAKER_00: is thriving cows you know
46:25
SPEAKER_00: You know,
46:25
SPEAKER_00: now that I have a restaurant or like a kitchen,
46:28
SPEAKER_00: now I have my production,
46:30
ta-ta-ta-ta in the pop-up is a different thing because you are
46:33
trying to confront
46:35
SPEAKER_00: yourself to a new space,
46:37
SPEAKER_00: new customers,
46:38
SPEAKER_00: new people,
46:39
SPEAKER_00: new menu and do everything.
46:40
SPEAKER_00: It's like opening a restaurant every time.
46:43
And now I'm so grateful to the pop-up because now every,
46:48
I mean,
46:48
my food costs always on point.
46:52
we don't waste anything because I have to learn in a harder way
46:56
for so many years.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
46:58
SPEAKER_00: So,
47:00
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
47:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
47:00
like hugging your anxiety is really important because at the
47:04
end of the day,
47:05
SPEAKER_00: it's energy.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: And energy, the only thing that you can do with it is just transformers.
47:12
So it's how can you transform something that can be really
47:14
challenging in something good.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: But I mean,
47:17
SPEAKER_00: also,
47:18
it's really important to don't fantasize that and not
47:20
romanticize that because it's
47:23
SPEAKER_00: really exhausting.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: it's really exhausting.
47:25
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
47:26
SPEAKER_00: When you,
47:27
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
47:27
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
47:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm who I am,
47:29
but you are performing not necessarily because you are becoming
47:32
somebody else.
47:32
SPEAKER_00: It's just like you,
47:34
SPEAKER_00: you know,
47:35
SPEAKER_00: like it's,
47:36
SPEAKER_00: it's,
47:36
SPEAKER_00: it's being,
47:37
SPEAKER_00: I,
47:38
SPEAKER_00: the feeling is the same where,
47:42
SPEAKER_00: um,
47:42
SPEAKER_00: uh,
47:43
SPEAKER_00: uh,
47:43
SPEAKER_00: an animal have to run for his life.
47:45
SPEAKER_00: Like you're, you're get really warm.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
47:48
SPEAKER_00: And that's how you feel it in your body.
47:50
SPEAKER_03: That's, that's what you equate, uh, like cooking to an animal.
47:56
like running like what they feel the same thing on my body and
48:00
then you collapse
48:01
and then it's a whole day that you can even mondays for me it's
48:04
just like what do
48:06
you do on mondays mondays what i do usually i slip in and then
48:11
i i treat myself to
48:13
watch a movie on bed i mean that's a luxury that i like you
48:18
know just wake up in
48:19
SPEAKER_00: the morning and just play a stupid movie or something or i watch a show
48:23
SPEAKER_00: And then either I, okay, Mondays I buy records.
48:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a record collector.
48:30
SPEAKER_00: That's something about me that I keep for myself.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: I collect records.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: I go to a park.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: I try to spend some time with my dogs.
48:39
I try to hang out with friends that they also work in the
48:43
industry and to explore a
48:45
different restaurant or more than a restaurant to go to an
48:48
ethnic neighborhood and
48:50
SPEAKER_00: get lost and try something different.
48:51
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes
48:52
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes things are not that good.
48:54
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they're amazing, you know.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: I try to relax and also keep working, you know, try to figure it out.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to cook the next week?
49:02
SPEAKER_00: What we have?
49:04
It's like,
49:05
even though that I have a chiller day,
49:07
there is not a day that I'm not working.
49:09
So it's kind of like,
49:10
even though that I want to put my situation in no work,
49:13
you always.
49:14
It's funny when I interviewed you from a podcast I had in
49:17
Spanish during the pandemic.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: Do you remember who you were?
49:21
with Claudia yes exactly so you were very focused on these
49:27
amazing cooks women in
49:30
SPEAKER_02: Colombia and mentors and you know just friends of you and I know you keep
49:38
SPEAKER_02: having that conversation with them,
49:41
SPEAKER_02: you will always have it,
49:42
SPEAKER_02: of course,
49:43
SPEAKER_02: because of what you just said.
49:44
You want to be Tonita,
49:46
and those are your people to look at,
49:49
right,
49:49
and to learn from.
49:51
SPEAKER_02: How is that conversation going on with them now?
49:54
SPEAKER_02: When you go to wherever you go,
49:56
SPEAKER_02: Colombia or somewhere else,
49:58
SPEAKER_02: because you have changed,
50:00
SPEAKER_02: is the conversation different,
50:02
SPEAKER_02: or how do you feel about that?
50:05
SPEAKER_00: Now I understand.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
50:05
SPEAKER_00: at the end of the day,
50:07
these people are so wrong business and own business and they
50:10
have the same
50:11
SPEAKER_00: challenge,
50:12
SPEAKER_00: you know,
50:13
SPEAKER_00: even though that sometimes I mean,
50:16
one of the things that I love about social media is that all of
50:20
them have social
50:20
SPEAKER_00: media.
50:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:22
SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes the conversation doesn't become that.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
50:26
SPEAKER_00: it's not,
50:27
SPEAKER_00: you know,
50:27
SPEAKER_00: because you also,
50:29
SPEAKER_00: there is,
50:30
SPEAKER_00: you grow a part of some people,
50:31
SPEAKER_00: but not necessarily grow apart.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, you know, life changes.
50:35
SPEAKER_00: Now I have responsibilities.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: But the magic about social media is like, oh, yeah.
50:44
the social media is a beautiful tool to keep connected to so
50:51
many different people
50:52
all over the world even people that I met in Southeast Asia I
50:55
can see them and it's
50:57
so beautiful because at the end of the day one of the beautiful
51:00
things or an
51:00
observation that I've been having I've been living this process
51:04
and I also see the
51:05
SPEAKER_00: same process in the people that I've been knowing for so long
51:09
and is there in a in a way your business it's similar to their
51:13
business in the way
51:15
it operates which is yeah when you see them that they're doing
51:21
for example claudia
51:23
SPEAKER_00: uh her daughter just graduated for for for for college
51:28
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
51:28
And when you get to know her,
51:30
she was trying to figure out how to send her daughter to
51:32
college.
51:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
51:33
SPEAKER_00: as every single parent in Colombia,
51:36
SPEAKER_00: when you have a kid,
51:37
SPEAKER_00: you have to figure out how to send her.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: And in every world of the world, I mean...
51:41
SPEAKER_00: And to see them to accomplish that,
51:44
SPEAKER_00: to see that the festival is still working,
51:46
SPEAKER_00: to see that they now have beautiful uniforms,
51:48
SPEAKER_00: you know,
51:49
that they now they're being actually one of the things that I
51:52
have seen lately is
51:54
that the festivals around Colombia has been more inclusive to
51:58
people that carry
51:59
SPEAKER_00: tradition.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: So that makes me really happy.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day,
52:03
SPEAKER_00: people always say,
52:04
SPEAKER_00: oh,
52:05
SPEAKER_00: Colombian traditional cuisine,
52:06
SPEAKER_00: but these spaces were super exclusive for like non-chef.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: And for me,
52:10
SPEAKER_00: it makes me really happy that at least,
52:12
SPEAKER_00: you know,
52:13
SPEAKER_00: the festivals are having like more interest,
52:16
SPEAKER_00: you know,
52:17
to involve besides the spaces where they come and sell their
52:23
food and have them
52:24
SPEAKER_00: kind of like a showcase and bringing the opportunity for them to also
52:29
SPEAKER_00: being part of the conversations,
52:30
SPEAKER_00: being part of the,
52:32
SPEAKER_00: of the,
52:32
SPEAKER_00: of the,
52:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
52:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
52:33
SPEAKER_00: I,
52:34
SPEAKER_00: I haven't been invited in a festival in a long,
52:36
SPEAKER_00: long time,
52:37
SPEAKER_00: but I was seen,
52:38
SPEAKER_00: I seen through Nicholas when he travels,
52:40
SPEAKER_00: you know,
52:41
SPEAKER_00: and that makes me really,
52:42
SPEAKER_00: really happy as well,
52:43
SPEAKER_00: that things are changing in that direction.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: Cause I mean,
52:47
SPEAKER_00: as a person that,
52:49
SPEAKER_00: that feels that I own a lot of my,
52:52
SPEAKER_00: not necessarily my knowledge in the kitchen,
52:54
SPEAKER_00: but also my character in the kitchen,
52:56
SPEAKER_00: um,
52:57
SPEAKER_00: I feel that carries of tradition have so much to teach.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: And that makes me really, really excited.
53:03
SPEAKER_00: So, like, I mean, I won't lie to you.
53:06
SPEAKER_00: With Chori, Chori Agames, she's my family.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: We talk at least, like, very often, you know.
53:15
And then one of the things,
53:16
she was really disappointed when I dyed my hair.
53:18
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, why?
53:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
53:21
in the way that she talks you know what he means so yeah i mean
53:30
the fact that she
53:31
SPEAKER_00: calls me to bitch me about my hair makes me
53:36
she cares about me and it feels really really nice when you
53:39
have people that
53:40
because at the end of the day i mean you can go and interact
53:44
with a person and they
53:45
can do stuff and that's it but when you build like real
53:48
connection and a real
53:49
familiarity that's what's really really important because as i
53:52
said before more
53:53
than food i'm more interested in the human behind it and even
53:58
here in new york i'm
53:59
SPEAKER_00: like i i getting to know this woman for haiti
54:04
SPEAKER_00: That's another story.
54:06
SPEAKER_00: That's another levels of density and challenge and hustle and survival.
54:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: And then when you get to the point where they want to share
54:17
in the personal level is when it's beautiful because you are
54:20
knowing different food
54:22
SPEAKER_00: ways and life ways through other people.
54:24
SPEAKER_00: And that's, that's why I feel diversity is really important.
54:28
And then the word is lacking besides empathy is to understand
54:33
that there are so
54:34
SPEAKER_00: many different ways of living and people living.
54:37
SPEAKER_02: You said, you said you don't have too many female friends.
54:39
SPEAKER_02: I don't agree with that.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: I think you do.
54:44
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
54:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my female friends usually are people that are triple my age.
54:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
54:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
54:54
SPEAKER_00: but what I'm saying is like me as a woman,
54:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't have that many female friends as other females.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: Like if I have four friends that are...
55:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
55:04
probably my life has changed in the fact that before I was
55:07
surrounded by so many
55:09
SPEAKER_00: people.
55:10
Now I become a little bit more like conscious about who I
55:14
invest my energy.
55:16
And I think that doesn't mean that I am not civil and I know
55:22
like open and I know
55:23
SPEAKER_00: keeping that person that is really generous and warm to everyone.
55:27
but I'm really more like protective of my circle and my energy
55:32
and who I interact,
55:33
SPEAKER_00: who I share my personal experience,
55:35
SPEAKER_00: who I share my vulnerability.
55:36
I think that's- Well,
55:37
I say these women are as feminine wise as you could imagine.
55:45
SPEAKER_02: So I think you have great female friends.
55:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the people that I hang out to have fun are most likely men.
55:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I have female friends, but I don't hang out with women that much.
55:56
I'd rather go to see one of my male friends in their couch and
56:01
smoke a joint and
56:01
SPEAKER_00: talk about the bird or going to eat.
56:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
56:04
SPEAKER_00: that's one of the things that I realized,
56:06
SPEAKER_00: that I get a little better even to play soccer,
56:09
SPEAKER_00: stuff like that.
56:09
SPEAKER_03: There's no female friend that will do that with you?
56:12
SPEAKER_03: Smoke a joint and hang out.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: La Miguelona.
56:17
SPEAKER_02: Who is the Miguelona?
56:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Miguel, you mean?
56:20
SPEAKER_00: Miguel, Miguelito.
56:21
SPEAKER_00: He said, no, Miguelito, you are not Miguelito, you are la Miguelona.
56:23
SPEAKER_00: You are super loud and everything.
56:25
SPEAKER_00: The closest female friend will be la Miguelona right now.
56:29
SPEAKER_02: That's interesting, okay.
56:31
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that I have great female friends.
56:34
SPEAKER_00: I have, and I'm proud of my friends, or one of my best friends.
56:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the amazing, beautiful singer of Bombasterio, Lisa Aumet.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: I look after that woman.
56:42
SPEAKER_00: She's a source of energy, creativity, beauty.
56:49
I mean,
56:50
this is one of my closest friends,
56:51
my friend,
56:52
Carol Solis,
56:53
and a beautiful activism.
56:55
SPEAKER_00: She's back there, you know what I mean?
56:57
SPEAKER_00: My other friend Catalina Ruiz in Mexico.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, I have really beautiful, strong female friends.
57:04
SPEAKER_00: But when I decide to hang out, I always hang out with men.
57:09
But,
57:09
you know,
57:09
these people that I mentioned in you,
57:12
they don't live in New York.
57:13
SPEAKER_02: Maybe the U.S.
57:15
SPEAKER_02: Same happens to me here.
57:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
57:16
SPEAKER_00: they don't live in New York,
57:18
SPEAKER_00: but when they can,
57:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
57:20
SPEAKER_00: probably we wouldn't be that friends if we live so close.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, because we were strong women.
57:27
SPEAKER_00: And strong women, strong women, I mean, it's tough.
57:31
SPEAKER_00: And...
57:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
57:34
SPEAKER_00: And probably,
57:35
SPEAKER_00: I don't know,
57:35
maybe hanging out with friends because I'm trying to explore my
57:37
masculinality.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes I, I don't know.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: I like to play.
57:44
SPEAKER_00: I like to play sport.
57:45
SPEAKER_00: I play sports.
57:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know what I mean?
57:48
Sometimes my own husband gets a really easy,
57:52
I will let you to be a little bit more soft.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: Like I just sometimes I feel like a dude and everything.
57:57
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of, I don't know.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: I feel, I mean, I feel really vulnerable about this right now.
58:04
SPEAKER_03: Well, that's another different podcast.
58:06
SPEAKER_03: Do you beat Pablo playing sports?
58:08
SPEAKER_03: Is that why he gets upset?
58:10
SPEAKER_00: No, Pablo is taller, stronger.
58:13
SPEAKER_00: Like,
58:13
SPEAKER_00: you know,
58:14
like sometimes we play soccer together and we try to start a
58:17
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
58:18
SPEAKER_00: together.
58:19
SPEAKER_00: But right now with the restaurant, it's really hard.
58:22
SPEAKER_00: We have the geese and everything.
58:23
SPEAKER_00: It feels really empowering when I get just poking out on the floor.
58:31
SPEAKER_00: But I mean,
58:32
SPEAKER_00: right now,
58:32
the only commitment that I have with fitness is Pilates and I'm
58:36
really sick about
58:37
SPEAKER_00: it.
58:39
And it's really,
58:40
really important because one of the things that I realized is
58:44
that in this
58:46
SPEAKER_00: In this career, we don't take care of our bodies.
58:49
And one of the reasons that I started on Pilates is because I
58:52
really want to have a
58:53
SPEAKER_00: good posture.
58:55
SPEAKER_00: And it makes me really, really happy.
58:58
So eventually when I have more time,
59:00
I would like to explore different and other things.
59:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's my more female thing.
59:05
And the good thing about Pilates is that you just go there,
59:07
you breathe and that's it.
59:08
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to play with other people.
59:11
SPEAKER_03: So you're flying to Colombia tonight?
59:14
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
59:14
SPEAKER_03: To Bankia or what?
59:17
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to have a crazy layover, but I'm going to Santa Marta.
59:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to a wedding and I'm going to do scuba diving Friday.
59:26
SPEAKER_02: What's happening with restaurants in Santa Marta?
59:30
I always have,
59:31
it's never clear to me how Santa Marta behaves in terms of
59:38
food.
59:38
I mean,
59:39
there is obviously traditional food,
59:40
but the restaurant seems to be
59:44
SPEAKER_02: kind of blurred in comparison with Cartagena or Barranquilla.
59:49
SPEAKER_02: How would you describe it for people that haven't been or that have been?
59:54
At this point,
59:55
I think that I have the same knowledge than you about that
59:57
matter.
59:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when I go to Santa Marta, I always go .
1:00:01
SPEAKER_00: My spectacular arepa that we have an adaptation of that right now.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_00: To go close to, I can't remember where to have my arepa .
1:00:17
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:00:18
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like my own preference.
1:00:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:00:21
to have these beautiful support they use that is more like a
1:00:24
milkshake and also
1:00:28
there is a wasimo there that have a beautiful restaurant that I
1:00:31
think that
1:00:32
SPEAKER_00: He's doing a great job over there.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I don't know what's going on.
1:00:37
I think that people that go to do tourism in Santa Marta are
1:00:41
looking for things different.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like they go more to Sierra Nevada and go to those areas.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_00: So obviously, I think that that's a huge opportunity.
1:00:54
SPEAKER_00: And I think that Cartagena is not what it was in the past.
1:00:58
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:00:58
SPEAKER_00: you guys are the journalists here,
1:01:00
so probably you should educate me more about that because you
1:01:02
are like putting,
1:01:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:01:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm talking from a person that actually like enjoys food.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_00: And my mom is from Cienega Magdalena, which is like pretty, pretty close.
1:01:12
So every time that I go to that area,
1:01:15
it's most likely to go to people's houses.
1:01:18
I always say it,
1:01:20
the best food that you have in the Colombian Caribbean is in
1:01:23
people's houses.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
1:01:25
The best thing that can happen to you is somebody invite you to
1:01:29
their house to eat.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_00: And I think that specifically that in Santa Marta.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_02: Have you been, Nick?
1:01:38
SPEAKER_03: Santa Marta?
1:01:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah,
1:01:40
SPEAKER_03: I mean,
1:01:40
SPEAKER_03: I went like 20 years ago and I stayed a few days,
1:01:44
SPEAKER_03: like,
1:01:44
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:01:45
SPEAKER_03: no,
1:01:45
SPEAKER_03: more than,
1:01:46
SPEAKER_03: yeah,
1:01:46
SPEAKER_03: 20 years ago,
1:01:47
SPEAKER_03: 2005.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_03: But I went to, I went hiking to Ciudad Perdida.
1:01:49
SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_03: So I was there a day or two before and after.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_03: But then I went back for the first time a couple of years ago,
1:02:03
SPEAKER_03: but it was just for a few hours on the way to Guajira.
1:02:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Guajira.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
1:02:09
it seems to be a city in which people stop for a couple of
1:02:12
nights before going to
1:02:13
SPEAKER_02: Palomino or Sierra Nevada or La Guajira,
1:02:15
SPEAKER_02: and then maybe it stays in this place.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_00: But I think there is something coming.
1:02:21
SPEAKER_00: It's a family-owned property in El Rodadero.
1:02:23
SPEAKER_00: And the way that it was,
1:02:25
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:02:25
SPEAKER_00: at the beginning,
1:02:26
SPEAKER_00: Rodadero was the place where you go,
1:02:28
SPEAKER_00: you rent an apartment,
1:02:29
SPEAKER_00: the hotels were there.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_00: They were different.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_00: It was more like a curated too.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_00: But it's really important to think about it.
1:02:38
Colombia has been having a revival because our tourists was
1:02:42
like national tourists.
1:02:44
SPEAKER_00: Like right now people are trusting to go.
1:02:46
SPEAKER_02: I know everyone is going there, especially to Medellin.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_00: So there's like cities that are more like,
1:02:52
SPEAKER_00: and also that happens to me at the restaurant where I,
1:02:58
SPEAKER_00: clients say,
1:02:58
SPEAKER_00: oh,
1:02:59
SPEAKER_00: I've been to Colombia.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've been to Cartagena.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I went to Bogota a couple of days and then Medellin.
1:03:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:03:05
And then I was like,
1:03:06
I don't understand why people don't go to El Nariño,
1:03:09
for example.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_00: Or the coffee region or.
1:03:13
Well,
1:03:13
people go to the coffee region,
1:03:14
but they think like El Nariño,
1:03:16
Pacific,
1:03:17
Amazon and Indy.
1:03:20
SPEAKER_00: So it's a beautiful place where you can know about Colombian diversity.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_00: If you want to do that kind of tourism, you know, that will be for me.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_00: If you ask me,
1:03:29
SPEAKER_00: I completely understand that they have our own challenge,
1:03:31
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:03:32
SPEAKER_00: with safety and things that the country is overcoming.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_00: And I feel that are really, really positive.
1:03:39
SPEAKER_00: We were in a war for many,
1:03:40
SPEAKER_00: many years,
1:03:42
SPEAKER_00: and I think that when trauma happens in any capacity,
1:03:47
SPEAKER_00: and we're talking about a national trauma,
1:03:49
SPEAKER_00: the first thing is to gain trust.
1:03:51
SPEAKER_00: That's the first step to overcome your trauma.
1:03:54
SPEAKER_00: So I think that Colombia is in a good moment.
1:03:57
SPEAKER_00: And I can see Santa Marta blooming really,
1:04:00
SPEAKER_00: really fast because,
1:04:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:04:02
SPEAKER_00: being in a place where you also have the beach,
1:04:04
SPEAKER_00: you can take a boat and 30 minutes were in Parque Tayrona,
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: a place,
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:04:09
SPEAKER_00: I love Taganga.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_03: I stayed in Taganga a couple of days too, like a lot of years ago.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: It was amazing.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_02: It's very touristic now, crowded.
1:04:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah?
1:04:20
SPEAKER_02: Taganga?
1:04:21
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was not, but now it is.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:04:26
So,
1:04:27
I mean,
1:04:27
to answer your question,
1:04:28
I think that it's just a matter of time.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_00: It's just a matter of time.
1:04:31
I know,
1:04:31
for example,
1:04:32
there is many...
1:04:34
Santa Marta attracts a lot of foreign people.
1:04:39
And then,
1:04:39
I mean,
1:04:40
it's just a matter of time that European or train chefs see the
1:04:45
opportunity...
1:04:47
SPEAKER_00: And I mean,
1:04:48
SPEAKER_00: if I told you the truth,
1:04:49
SPEAKER_00: if I one day I come back to Colombia,
1:04:51
SPEAKER_00: that will be the place that I will go.
1:04:54
I mean,
1:04:56
speaking about products,
1:04:58
you have the Caribbean Sea just right there.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_00: You have a community of fishermen 20 minutes back there.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_00: You have Sierra Nevada,
1:05:04
SPEAKER_00: where it's a mountain where as soon as you start climbing,
1:05:08
SPEAKER_00: climbing,
1:05:08
SPEAKER_00: climbing,
1:05:08
SPEAKER_00: you start from cacao to coffee to different tropical fruits.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:05:14
You have La Guajira two hours away where you can source good
1:05:17
chivo if that's what
1:05:18
SPEAKER_00: you wanted to do.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_00: You have camarones.
1:05:20
SPEAKER_00: So,
1:05:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:05:21
SPEAKER_00: as a chef,
1:05:22
SPEAKER_00: as a Colombian,
1:05:23
SPEAKER_00: if one day it gets me that crisis and I said,
1:05:27
SPEAKER_00: fuck it,
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: I want to come back to my country.
1:05:30
beast shark in Santa Marta no brainer yeah I could see it
1:05:36
there's flights right
1:05:37
there's like an airport major airport direct flights from
1:05:42
everywhere from like the
1:05:43
US right yeah it's just a matter of time I mean you see the
1:05:46
Aeropuerto Cartagena I
1:05:47
mean it's just a matter of time and actually I like when people
1:05:52
come to El Patio
1:05:53
they feel like they're in Santa Marta and that makes me really
1:05:55
happy yeah it's cool
1:05:57
SPEAKER_03: it's a little oasis in the back of like
1:06:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, a gritty street.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_00: And we are not trying to be pretentious,
1:06:04
SPEAKER_00: but at some point we ended up being a little bit pretentious,
1:06:06
SPEAKER_00: sadly.
1:06:08
SPEAKER_03: In what way?
1:06:10
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:06:10
you are eating an artisanal chorizo made by a Serbian butcher
1:06:14
that it tastes like
1:06:14
SPEAKER_00: Colombia.
1:06:15
SPEAKER_00: For me, that's being pretentious.
1:06:17
I don't need to put,
1:06:18
like,
1:06:18
a fucking microgreens on top of it for that thing to be
1:06:21
pretentious.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_02: Ambitious, maybe.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:06:24
Yeah,
1:06:24
but at the same time,
1:06:25
you don't want to fucking just put some fucking Goya...
1:06:29
SPEAKER_03: chorizo, like plop it on a plate.
1:06:32
SPEAKER_00: No happening.
1:06:33
SPEAKER_03: Is it pretentious or is it trying to find a middle ground?
1:06:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:06:40
SPEAKER_00: I think that one time when I went to the Bass Culinary Center,
1:06:45
SPEAKER_00: they asked me,
1:06:46
SPEAKER_00: what is La Vanguardia?
1:06:49
And for me,
1:06:51
and they asked me,
1:06:51
what was the most restaurante vanguardista?
1:06:56
SPEAKER_00: Y para mí...
1:06:58
for me,
1:06:58
sorry that I'm doing Spanglish,
1:07:00
for me,
1:07:00
was I said,
1:07:01
I'm in the best region right now.
1:07:05
SPEAKER_00: Why?
1:07:05
SPEAKER_00: Because first of all, the guy is honoring his heritage.
1:07:12
He's not doing anything pretension and he's just focusing on
1:07:15
the technique.
1:07:17
And the fact that you can pull out of service with just like
1:07:20
bass grills and
1:07:21
SPEAKER_00: everything can come perfectly,
1:07:23
SPEAKER_00: perfect.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_00: For me, that's anything because...
1:07:27
SPEAKER_00: At this point, I have a combi oven in my restaurant.
1:07:30
You know,
1:07:30
in El Patio,
1:07:31
we have Thermomix,
1:07:31
combi oven,
1:07:32
Ocus,
1:07:32
we have all those tools.
1:07:34
SPEAKER_00: And those tools make everything easier.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:07:38
SPEAKER_00: I can make a green oil just putting anything herb,
1:07:41
SPEAKER_00: 1.2% of oil and any herb,
1:07:45
SPEAKER_00: 70 degrees,
1:07:45
SPEAKER_00: five minutes,
1:07:46
SPEAKER_00: I have a green oil.
1:07:48
SPEAKER_00: Thermomix does everything.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:07:51
But the real banger or the real pretentiousness is when you can
1:07:55
accomplish and do
1:07:56
SPEAKER_00: things that are not as simple as they seem.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:08:03
SPEAKER_00: more than anything that you can see, that's the real challenge.
1:08:06
SPEAKER_00: So it's like, that's why I thought that these guys doing things right.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_00: And we didn't want to be,
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:08:14
SPEAKER_00: you went to the restaurant,
1:08:15
SPEAKER_00: you eat eggs,
1:08:16
SPEAKER_00: arepa and chorizo in my menu.
1:08:19
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's something as simple.
1:08:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to give you just a regular egg.
1:08:24
I mean,
1:08:24
I'm going to give you the best egg that I can possibly source
1:08:28
and taste good.
1:08:28
And I'm going to cook it perfectly that even the fucking yolk
1:08:31
is in the middle.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_00: Because I want you to dip that arepa inside that.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:08:38
SPEAKER_00: In the same thing, but you're eating egg, arepas, and chorizo.
1:08:40
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to...
1:08:45
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what we want to do in El Patio.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_00: I want to be conscious of who I am and what I want to serve,
1:08:53
SPEAKER_00: but I also want to elevate,
1:08:55
SPEAKER_00: not necessarily to recreate something new.
1:08:58
It's just elevating in a way that you make the best possible
1:09:03
thing of something that is simple.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's not even elevating it.
1:09:07
SPEAKER_03: It's just making the best thing you can.
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I don't think that's pretentious.
1:09:13
SPEAKER_03: Pretentiousness comes with
1:09:16
SPEAKER_03: when you try to, I think, make it something that it's not.
1:09:18
SPEAKER_03: And,
1:09:19
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:09:19
SPEAKER_03: like,
1:09:19
then you end up fucking dropping the chorizo and liquid
1:09:23
nitrogen and then fucking
1:09:24
SPEAKER_03: freeze and then grating it over the fucking arepa or something.
1:09:28
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_03: And,
1:09:29
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:09:29
SPEAKER_03: just adding all these gimmicks and embellishments just to seem cool and,
1:09:35
SPEAKER_03: you know,
1:09:36
SPEAKER_03: up the price.
1:09:38
SPEAKER_03: I didn't get a sense of any of that.
1:09:40
SPEAKER_03: No, I thought it was great.
1:09:42
SPEAKER_00: Even our salad.
1:09:44
I mean,
1:09:44
I always talk about the salad because in Colombia,
1:09:48
we don't eat greens.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_00: Our diet is full of carbs.
1:09:52
I mean,
1:09:53
just see them on the Javaisa or see,
1:09:55
go to,
1:09:55
I mean,
1:09:56
forget about,
1:09:57
I didn't say that.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_00: Okay, no.
1:10:00
SPEAKER_00: Go to a restaurant where people work in class, people eat their lunches.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_00: What you will find in the menu.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_00: Rice,
1:10:11
SPEAKER_00: beans,
1:10:11
SPEAKER_00: arepa,
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: maduro,
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: carne,
1:10:14
SPEAKER_00: and then one piece of lettuce,
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: one tomato,
1:10:17
SPEAKER_00: and some like grind carrots that are not even seasoned at all.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_00: Don't have anything that they do it more for decoration.
1:10:26
SPEAKER_00: Right?
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: Am I wrong?
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:10:28
SPEAKER_00: So,
1:10:28
SPEAKER_00: and if you are lucky enough,
1:10:29
SPEAKER_00: there is somebody selling an avocado,
1:10:31
SPEAKER_00: overpriced avocado,
1:10:32
SPEAKER_00: and then you add it to your menu.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_00: If you have the extra box.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_00: So when we decided to make our salad,
1:10:38
SPEAKER_00: that is called La Salad,
1:10:39
SPEAKER_00: it's like,
1:10:42
SPEAKER_00: dude,
1:10:43
SPEAKER_00: let's also bring something green,
1:10:47
SPEAKER_00: some fresh.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_00: And I always cross salad in the menu.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_00: But let's source the most delicious greens that they can find.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_00: Norwich Farm, Lani's Farm, everything.
1:10:57
And not just like a crunchy lettuce,
1:10:59
radicchio,
1:11:00
mustard greens,
1:11:02
mizuna,
1:11:04
whatever,
1:11:04
herbs.
1:11:06
You know,
1:11:06
a beautiful hurl on tomato that I can't wait for the tomato
1:11:10
season.
1:11:11
SPEAKER_00: a char avocado and a panela dressi.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_00: That's the salad at my restaurant.
1:11:16
SPEAKER_00: So it's just like taking a concept that is pretty,
1:11:19
SPEAKER_00: pretty simple and understanding also where we are.
1:11:22
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I don't know if that's pretentious.
1:11:24
SPEAKER_00: And also we do compress radishes because I like the spiciness.
1:11:27
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, that's the thing.
1:11:30
It's just like,
1:11:32
for me,
1:11:32
it's just like cook the food that I would like to eat.
1:11:35
SPEAKER_00: That's just that.
1:11:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:11:37
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_03: There's nothing pretentious about that.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
1:11:41
SPEAKER_02: Great to see you again after a while.
1:11:43
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, a while.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_02: It's been a while.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_02: Five years.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_03: God, I'm so hot.
1:11:49
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how you're doing, Stephanie, but I'm so hot now.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_00: I also think you're hot.
1:11:54
SPEAKER_00: You're becoming really hot.
1:11:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's what it is.
1:11:57
SPEAKER_00: No,
1:11:57
SPEAKER_03: the thing is,
1:11:58
it's like I turned the air conditioner off while I'm recording
1:12:02
because I don't want
1:12:02
SPEAKER_03: the sound to make,
1:12:05
SPEAKER_03: but it's like it's turning into an oven in here.
1:12:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, guys, thank you.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for inviting me and asking me questions.
1:12:13
SPEAKER_00: I think that in this podcast,
1:12:15
SPEAKER_00: I've been questioning myself and also because I don't have a folder.
1:12:20
So I talk about my,
1:12:21
now I need to,
1:12:22
after this,
1:12:23
I need to question my masculinity.
1:12:29
SPEAKER_00: But whatever.
1:12:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hope to go soon.
1:12:34
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start making dinners very, very soon.
1:12:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so when does that start?
1:12:39
SPEAKER_03: When did the dinner start?
1:12:40
SPEAKER_00: July 19th.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_00: Because now I want to do the most creative and the most exciting things.
1:12:50
SPEAKER_00: And also,
1:12:52
SPEAKER_00: even though we try to do a warm hospitality,
1:12:56
SPEAKER_00: this is our opportunity to do one-to-one,
1:12:58
SPEAKER_00: to
1:12:59
to being able to do a lot of storytelling and also to try to
1:13:03
connect with a different level.
1:13:05
I think that it's really nice to having a table of 10 people,
1:13:08
completely strangers.
1:13:10
I mean,
1:13:10
in my pop-ups,
1:13:11
there are many people that make friends and everything.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really excited.
1:13:14
And also now that El Patio is running and we have a set menu
1:13:18
and we already have
1:13:19
SPEAKER_00: like kind of our community that support us.
1:13:22
it's really important for me to don't stop doing the things
1:13:25
that have made me feel
1:13:26
SPEAKER_00: creative and challenged.
1:13:28
SPEAKER_00: So starting July 19th,
1:13:30
SPEAKER_00: we're going to start having like,
1:13:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean,
1:13:33
SPEAKER_00: we are not even promoting the menu.
1:13:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you just come, hopefully it works.
1:13:38
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if it's going to work.
1:13:40
SPEAKER_00: We don't know if the cool kids of Williams,
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: we're going to say,
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: hey,
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: there is a place that,
1:13:43
SPEAKER_00: you know,
1:13:44
SPEAKER_00: it's hot.
1:13:46
SPEAKER_00: We don't know.
1:13:47
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully things works because
1:13:49
SPEAKER_00: I wanted to make it work.
1:13:50
SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited about it.
1:13:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, it'll be great.
1:13:52
And regardless,
1:13:54
the people that live on the street will...
1:13:55
Hopefully we'll go together,
1:13:57
Nick.
1:13:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
1:13:59
SPEAKER_00: Please come.
1:14:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Nick knows that, you know, I always like to have him on my table.
1:14:06
SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you.
1:14:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you, Stephanie.
1:14:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, guys, be safe.
1:14:11
SPEAKER_00: And thank you so much again.
1:14:12
SPEAKER_02: Bye-bye to Charlie.
1:14:14
oh my god she's disappointed thank you everyone for listening
1:14:23
uh go check out patio
1:14:24
tropical in williamsburg brooklyn it's in the back of the this
1:14:28
is latin america
1:14:29
store it's uh open for kind of throughout the day but they're
1:14:35
opening for dinners
1:14:37
somewhat soon i'm excited about it because i know she's gonna
1:14:39
do something cool um
1:14:42
If you haven't subscribed to the newsletter,
1:14:44
go to newworlder at Substack.
1:14:47
SPEAKER_03: Or just go to newworlder.com and you should stick forward to there.
1:14:50
SPEAKER_03: And please, like us, share us.
1:14:53
SPEAKER_03: Hit the little heart.
1:14:54
SPEAKER_03: It really does help.
1:14:55
SPEAKER_03: And that's it.
1:14:57
SPEAKER_03: Thanks to my friend Pat Buzzard for the music.
1:15:00
SPEAKER_03: Catch you next time.