Q. What is your favorite part about being Latina?
Everything. Every single thing. We grew up very “together.” I am one of four girls, and I remember Saturday mornings, my father would say alright, everyone get in the car – we are driving to the beach! And the beach was 12 hours away, so my mother packed us food, and we got in the car- this was back when people didn’t wear seatbelts and the windows were always rolled down – and we loved it!, I wouldn’t change it for anything.
Q. What is your superpower?
Patience is a big one. I’m married to a man who has no patience! And also respect for others.
Q. Tell us a little more about your background.
I was born in Colombia. I grew up in Medellin and was there until I was 23. I am the second of four girls, and my family experienced some very difficult things growing up. My older sister was killed in a car accident, and my father was never the same. So, my mother had to lean into the strong woman she always had been and say well, I have three other kids to raise. Then Medellin unfortunately became gradually more unsafe in the era of Pablo Escobar, until one day, a bomb came through one of our apartment’s windows, and my mother decided she had enough. That’s when she started sending us one by one to the United States with relatives, and we started from scratch.
Q. Why the restaurant business?
I married an Italian man who loves to cook. He is from a tiny town in the Alps in Italy, close to France, and he’s been in the restaurant business since he was in his twenties. The first place he owned was back in Italy, but he wanted to see the world, so he left his small town and moved to Miami. It didn’t work out for him in Miami, so he moved to New York and tried again. That’s where I met him one day when I was out with my sister for dinner. We dated, we got married, we had our first daughter, and I started coming to the restaurant to get out of the house while I was in the postpartum period. I started helping little by little until it became the family business. Our daughters have grown up there.
Q. Your business- the restaurant Barbalu- overcame two major hurdles: a hurricane that devastated Lower Manhattan, and a global pandemic; how did you do it?
Our story in Manhattan started in 2006 with a tiny restaurant. We expanded to a bigger space next door in 2009, and the tiny space became the kitchen. Things were going well until superstorm Sandy happened in 2012, and the flooding destroyed everything around us. Our community showed up for us then — people lined up to help us clean, brought food, coffee, fuel for the generator, and donations. I was shocked at how they showed up for us. But no matter how much we cleaned, the place had to be gutted, and we had to be out for a whole year. That’s when one of our business partners decided to get out. We didn’t. Instead we renewed the lease and rebranded to Barbalu. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and the whole neighborhood was dead. Tourism stopped, everyone who came for lunch in the Wall Street area stopped coming. It’s taken us about three years to get close to the volume we had before. And during the pandemic we expanded to a second location in Brooklyn. We started with a significant amount of outdoor dining and we knew this community well. We live close to the restaurant, so that made it easier. I already knew all the moms and kids in the neighborhood and once again they showed up for us.
Q. For the Latinas considering a career in the restaurant industry, what’s the secret to your success?
The outgoing Latina in me has naturally fallen into the role of public relations manager. There’s a lot of hugging and kissing at our restaurant, that’s my part. We welcome every single person that comes in the door and make sure they’re having a good experience, and if, for some reason, something is not going the right way, we make sure that person leaves happy. This week, for example, the pizza oven broke halfway through the evening shift- we couldn’t just say, sorry there’s no pizza, goodbye! We had to explain the situation and try to make up for it. We also make sure to accommodate whatever people need- space for their strollers, high chairs, room for a wheelchair, you name it. Our space is also beautiful- when we do private events, we want everyone to feel a sense of awe when they come in. For all my Latinas out there, it’s just about embracing the way we grew up — being happy and welcoming.
Q. Can we expect the menu at Barbalu to be infused with Colombian cuisine any time soon?
I wish. Our chef is very Italian, so our food is 100% Italian, no infusion, no mixing, nothing! But I can tell you that my previously shy and reserved Italian husband can now be seen around our restaurant chatting with people, sometimes sitting with them and enjoying himself. So the Colombian did rub off on him a little bit!