USA TODAY International Edition
Foodies can’t get enough of small NY restaurant
Filipino eatery shoots to fame after Esquire article
Some couples discuss their lives pre- and post kids, but Cheryl Baun and Paolo Garcia Mendoza, the owners of a small Filipino restaurant in New York, separate their lives into pre- and post-Esquire.
On Nov. 30, the magazine ranked Karenderya, their Nyack eatery about 30 miles from New York City, among the 20 best new restaurants in America (they landed at number 19).
Esquire’s Jeff Gordinier described Karenderya: “In the future, we pray, thousands of small towns in America will have Filipino restaurants as excellent as this one, with adobo pork belly braised to crispy meltiness atop garlic rice, and shrimp aswim in a coconut broth that tastes like French cream, and a cassava-jackfruit cake that comes across like a cobbler in which the topping and the filling have magically merged, and a smart beer list that highlights the best of Hudson Valley breweries.”
The restaurant, a 35-seat village mainstay, was quickly overwhelmed, bombarded with foodies willing to make the trip to sample authentic Filipino food. Business quadrupled, with Mendoza ordering two to three and sometimes four times the amount of pork belly and beef as before.
As lines formed outside, the formerly no-reservations eatery had to create waiting lists; at one point, they lost phone service leaving diners in the dark. Food shortages sometimes forced the couple to close early, or on some days, not open at all.
The couple, who have two kids, had an inkling their restaurant would get some notice. Gordinier, Esquire’s food and drinks editor, had been in a few times with his family and, on two occasions when it was quiet, he and Baun talked about food and the restaurant.
“It all seemed so conversational; we never imagined he’d ever write about us,” Baun said. “We had been following him on Instagram, so we figured we’d be so happy if he even posted a picture of our food.”
Added Mendoza: “We had no idea we were about to get national exposure.”
That is, until a couple of days before, when Gordinier called to give them fair warning.
They already had been contacted by Esquire earlier about submitting a photo, but it never registered to them that it was anything beyond local coverage.
The two were bowled over. After all, their restaurant, which opened in July 2017, is not fancy: Diners order at the counter, seat themselves and grab their own silverware, before being served what the couple refer to as traditional Filipino food with a twist.
Many of the dishes, such as fried crispy chicken and longganisa (Filipino sausage patties), are available in either rice bowls or as sandwiches, and liquor is a recent addition – they added it six months after they opened.
“When I first heard the news, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is great.’ But then I panicked when I realized I had to hire more people and push them to get up to speed,” Baun said.
“It’s one thing when you’re the local restaurant to your neighborhood,” said Mendoza, who as chef felt the pressure. “But another when you’re named among the best in the nation.
“The review was definitely a gamechanger.”
Karenderya was created as the kind of place where Mendoza and Baun wanted to eat: honest and comforting food at a good price that works with (or without) kids.
It’s modeled after the carinderias, or roadside eateries of the Philippines and on the menu – albeit with modern touches – are many of the dishes Mendoza (who was born in Pasay City in the Philippines) grew up eating before moving to Brooklyn as a teen. So, too, are influences from Baun, whose Filipino parents moved to the Lower Hudson Valley from New York City when she was a baby.
The cassava-jackfruit cake Gordinier extolled in his story, in fact, is Baun’s mother’s recipe. She makes it at the restaurant herself along with the biko, sticky rice with coconut caramel topping.
The day the Esquire article published was normal, but then each day got crazier and crazier to a point where the restaurant owners, with a no-reservations policy for parties with fewer than six, had to start a wait list.
And, a few times, the two are sorry to say, they had to stop lunch service because they ran out of food and needed to regroup.
Lunch has since been discontinued midweek, and Mendoza has hired extra staff. And he and his employees have gotten into a new rhythm regarding food prep, since Karenderya’s kitchen is so small.
“We’ve just tried to be honest, and I think that’s helped in keeping people’s goodwill,” he said. “But I’m sure along the way we’ve disappointed people.”
Mendoza and Baun never lost their sense of humor or lost sight of how grateful they were for their new reality even with the added pressure of so many new customers, some of whom have been thrown off that their place is so casual.
“Some diners are surprised that they have to get their own utensils and order at the counter,” Baun said.
They used social media to connect with their customers, writing messages like: “Well, this is getting embarrassing! We keep producing, and you keep exceeding our expectations! We are so grateful for everyone’s support!”