Puerto Rican, Hawaiian cuisines meet in Uptown
Just seven months after launching the area’s first Puerto Rican food truck, Felipe Crespo has found a brick-and-mortar home for the fare of Secretos de mis Abuelos. It’s part of a unique marriage between the food from the country’s only island state and the island that would be its 51st state.
It’s a partnership with Hapa Hawaiian Grill at 1334 Fifth Ave., Uptown, and it is likely the only place in the region where you’ll find spam musubi, chicken mofongo and kalua pork under the same roof.
“What’s pretty cool about it is we are able to promote an island fare thing — Caribbean and Polynesian,” Hapa co-owner Jay Cruz said. “There’s all kind of influences to Hawaiian food — Portuguese, Japanese, Filipino. I can adapt to the Puerto Rican pretty easily.
“Opening up the new place has been an immediate reflection of the love and support we’ve been receiving since day one of the food truck,” Mr. Crespo said.
He was looking for a new commissary kitchen for the food truck when his business partner found Hapa, which had been struggling through the pandemic.
“We opened on Feb. 15, 2020 — a few weeks before the COVID crash,” Mr. Cruz said. The fast-casual restaurant stayed open through the pandemic but closed for the month of August, and Mr. Cruz said he considered closing and moving to a new location. During that time, Mr. Crespo approached him about a partnership. They combined resources and reopened in late September.
“It’s hitting pretty good,” Mr. Cruz said. “It’s fun, and it’ll gain traction.”
Mr. Cruz is Hawaiian born of Guamanian stock. He met his wife in Hawaii, and they moved to the Pittsburgh area when they had kids to be closer to her family.
Mr. Crespo came to Pittsburgh in 2019 for a master’s degree program at Duquesne University, signing a lease for an apartment, sight unseen, on Warrington Avenue in Allentown. By sheer happenstance, it was across the street from a Puerto Rican barbershop.
“This was a very familiar scene,” he said. “I had done a little research and found that there isn’t much of a Hispanic population here in any concentrated area. So I asked them where they buy food and they said there’s no real Puerto Rican spots out here. I said, ‘Well, I can make good Puerto Rican food .…’”
He initially did pop-ups and catering. The 29-yearold entrepreneur now sells his food via the Secretos de mis Abuelos food truck, which he launched March 1.
Other openings
Brooklyn Bagel at Arsenal is now open at 3915 Butler St. in Lawrenceville. It is the second location of the Steubenville, Ohio-based business. It features bagels shipped in from New York City and prepared on the premises, Italian coffee, espresso from La Prima and pastries from Enrico Biscotti in the Strip District.
Two new arrivals in Oakland are second locations of popular eateries. The Colombian Spot brings its South Side- based South American fare to 3533 Forbes Ave. and is slated to open in the next few weeks. Bloomfield’s Baby Loves Tacos has opened its new location at 116 Meyran Ave.
Closing
Italian restaurant Spello on Route 228 in Adams has closed, according to an announcement on the business’s social media platforms.