FYI Philly celebrates Hispanic and Latin business owners around Philadlephia
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Korea Taqueria, Burrito Feliz put twists on Mexican favorites
Korea Taqueria is a restaurant and food truck that serves a fusion of Korean and Mexican cuisine.
Owners Alexander Sherack and Rene Lopez created the menu by paying homage to their Korean and Hispanic heritage.
Sherack is from Australia with a Korean heritage and head chef Lopez's Hispanic heritage comes from Mexico.
Sharing a love for their mother's home-cooked meals, they found similarities in the peppers they cook with from their culture.
They started as a food cart in 2022, attending different breweries and festivals; and in 2023 they opened their first brick-and-mortar in Grays Ferry.
Some of their popular items consist of the Korean Birria Taco, Kimchi Cheese Fries, Quesadillas, and their Korean style cheesesteak using bulgogi beef.
For a refreshing drink they crafted a homemade watermelon agua fresca. Korean Taqueria also has vegan options.
Both chefs used to be food truckers and met at a shared kitchen. After deciding to work together, they now have a food truck trav
Korea Taqueria|Instagram| Facebook
3101 Tasker St, Philadelphia, PA 19145
Burrito Feliz serves up authentic Mexican Cuisine on wheels.
Food truck Burrito Feliz serves up authentic Mexican cuisine around the city. Just look for the big green truck with a donkey on it.
Known for their birria tacos, chicken tinga tacos, baja shrimp tacos, and more.
Owners Miguel Nolasco and his wife Leticia Jolapa came to Philadelphia in 2008 from Puebla, Mexico.
They started their career working at different restaurants in the city and were inspired to open their own food truck.
In 2018, they created Burrito Feliz starting with a pushcart, and upgraded to a bigger truck in 2019.
Burrito Feliz also has vegan options and offers catering. They post a weekly schedule of their locations on Instagram.
Burrito Feliz Philly| Instagram|
Chef Eladio Soto transforms old pizza spot into El Mezcal Cantina
Chef Eladio Soto will tell you he has worked in kitchens around the city for more than 20 years and is excited to finally have his own place.
At El Mezcal Cantina, Chef Soto put in the sweat equity himself and rebuilt a pizza spot into his dream restaurant.
He specializes in 100% mezcal, available in flights that let guests compare different styles of mezcal.
He also offers a bar dedicated to the Mexican dish called aguachile - similar to ceviche, but served in sauces made with special blends of Mexican spices.
1260 Point Breeze Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19146
267-534-5933
Kensington-based hot sauce FAIYA brings the heat and flavor
Inside a maker's studio kitchen in Kensington, Radhi Fernandez is handcrafting hot sauce he calls FAIYA, a play on the word fire.
Right now he has nine flavors and absolutely everything is done by hand with no added sugars, no additives, and no preservatives.
He gets nearly of his peppers from local farmers.
The salsa verde, with jalapeños, tomatillos and cilantro is his mildest hot sauce.
There's a medium-heat Purple Flame made with Jersey fresh blueberries.
But if you're looking for painfully hot, that distinction goes to his 2022 harvest sauce.
It's an end-of-the-season mix of every pepper he has in his kitchen.
This year's batch has reapers, ghost peppers, chocolate reapers, yellow seven-pot peppers and habaneros.
It's a limited edition that sells out quickly.
Before he became a hot sauce maker, Fernandez worked in the records management department of Johnson & Johnson.
When the pandemic hit, he was on paternity leave after the birth of his second daughter and says he and his wife struck a deal: he could quit his job and take three years to develop a business he could call his own.
He started FAIYA in May of 2020.
Last year, Fernandez produced 15,000 bottles of his FAIYA hot sauce, and he's shipping to customers all over the globe.
He hopes FAIYA continues to spread like wildfire and dreams of it becoming a staple sauce on every table
Máquina Roasters makes great coffee while doing good for the planet
Máquina is Spanish for machine; but aside from the roaster, Gabriel Boscana is doing just about everything by hand in small 15-pound batches.
He and his assistant watch the clock, monitor the temperature and listen carefully for popcorn-like sounds that will signal the beans are starting to caramelize.
And every batch they roast, they cup to ensure consistency of flavor in each and every cup.
Boscana was born in Puerto Rico and his family moved to upstate New York when he was 8 years old.
He got his first coffee shop job 24 years ago, fresh out of college with a degree in sociology.
It fit because he wanted to learn about the people and communities actually growing the beans.
He started roasting out of his garage in 2016 and moved into the Coatesville space in 2020.
While taste is his first test, he looks for farmers growing sustainably, and he cultivates relationships with his growers paying them 'really good prices' and continuing to buy from them year after year.
Boscana proudly identifies as a Latino and LGBT-owned business.
Originally he planned the space as a cafe but COVID hit right after he signed the lease.
Coffee shops were forced to close their doors, commerce moved online and sales of Máquina coffee tripled.
Now Gabriel hopes to open a service window and sell coffee directly out of the space.
He says it would be the first coffee place in Coatesville and he thinks "it's the best coffee in Chester County."
Máquina Coffee | Instagram
For 10% off, use discount code LatinX; Offer good through October 14
Artisan crafts from Mexico fill South Philly's colorful shop Chocolate
Wilmington artist works in found objects inspired by his Mexican roots
Rogelio Zavala's Wilmington home is filled with his creations -- an old power cord turned into a decorative keychain, a yard sale window transformed into a work of framed art, and even the foil from inside a pack of cigarettes sculpted into a tiny vase of roses.
Zavala says his art is driven by his worry about trash and the things thrown away on a daily basis.
And so the construction worker by trade picks up that trash and gives it a new life.
He makes bonsai trees with everything from natural stone and wood to old telephone wire.
He sculpted a fish from wood and perched it atop an old drill bit.
He makes jewelry too; earrings, pendants, and intricately braided wire bracelets.
Zavala grew up in Mexico City and says it was a street artist there who first taught him how to twist wire into art.
Then, at age 25, he came to the United States in search of work and his art was set aside for more than 30 years, until he saw one of his daughter's friends wearing a copper wire bracelet.
He told her he could make something better, and that long latent skill resurfaced as a passionate hobby.
His daughters have seemingly inherited his creative genes.
Laura Zavala is a paper mache artist and piñata maker. Julieta is a climate-conscious clothing designer who draws inspiration from her Mexican heritage.
Rogelio says his design ideas are often sparked by childhood memories in Mexico, and he finds inspiration in everything he sees.
Rogelio Zavala| | Instagram
Laura Zavala | Instagram
Julieta Zavala | Instagram
Pocono Television Network visits La Posada in Milford, PA
La Posada serves up Mexican dishes made with love and tradition.
Manager Miguel Gonzalez says the recipes originated from his family's Mayan and Spanish roots.
"When somebody sits down at La Posada and eats a chochita taco or a pescado frito, they're eating not just what we put forward, but they're eating all of the love my mother, and grandmother, and my aunts and uncles have shared with me," he says.
He believes they're eating part of a heritage that is deeply rooted in love and happiness.
The restaurant was launched in 1988 by Gonzalez's uncle Felix. Much of the menu is flavors from the Yucatan peninsula and southern regions of Mexico.
Gonzalez strives to bring forth a part of Mexico that isn't well known.
"The flavors and spices will be different from what people associate Mexican food to be," Gonzalez says.
Philadelphia Ballet Kicks Off 60th Anniversary Year with Carmen at the Academy of Music
The Philadelphia Ballet is remaking a classic opera-turned-ballet with Angel Corella's Carmen.
Corella says the story is full of "jealousy and betrayal," describing it as a very tragic fairy tale.
Corella is celebrating his 10th year as the Philadelphia Ballet's artistic director.
Carmen is set in his native Spain.
Shelly Power, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Ballet, says this ballet is "meaningful to him."
Corella says not only is he using Georges Bizet's music, but the ballet is also going to have all new costumes and sets.
He actually designed the costumes and traveled to Spain to oversee the production.
The story is set in the South of Spain and focuses on Carmen.
She's caught in a love triangle with two men - a bullfighter and an officer named Don José.
Corella says the latter, "falls madly in love with her, but she doesn't correspond the same way."
"She's full of life and it's impossible for Don José to retain her," he says.
Corella says the story is great for all people to experience, since it demonstrates how crazy passionate love can take someone to the limit.
Philadelphia Ballet presents Angel Corella's Carmen October 5-15 at the Academy of Music.
Angel Corella's Carmen | Tickets | Philadelphia Ballet
Academy of Music
240 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
