e Essential Ingredient is LoveTh

Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen owner Josue Chanduvi talks about sharing his culture with the North Country through food. Plattsburgh The Essential Ingredient is

Love

By Cara Chapman Photos by Kayla Breen

28 Josue Chanduvi, owner and chef at Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen, will not share the secret recipes for his restaurant’s housemade hot sauces and dressing.

But he named the one essential for Peruvian and Cuban kitchens, from which much of his menu originates.

“Love, that’s it,” he told North Country Foodie during a Q&A. “I’m serious — it sounds corny.

“A vegetable is a vegetable is a vegetable until you put it in the right hands.”

Chanduvi also currently operates Grandma’s Sewing and Alteration Shop, located at 1 Oak St. downtown.

Both businesses were inspired by Chanduvi’s own grandmother, the late Lucia LaCruz.

He described her as a woman who believed every day was a miracle.

“She always believed that love could conquer all, that if you believed in yourself that you could accomplish anything,” Chanduvi said.

And he has taken that outlook with him in his business ventures.

NCF: How did Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen come about?

JC: Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen came about because of my grandmother. She was a big infl uence in my life, and my mom. Food was a big infl uence in my life before I opened the restaurant. It’s kind of what brought everybody together. And also, growing up here in the North Country. We have so many farms available to us and this place is home to me. I felt like my community would support me like they have for the other businesses. I felt it would be something I could share with people.

NCF: If you had to pick one or two, what would you describe as your signature dishes?

JC: Well, ceviche, for one. It’s just a staple dish of Peru. It’s very fresh, it’s very diff erent. Th e other one, lomo saltado. Lomo saltado is a Peruvian dish inspired by the oriental infl uence that we have in our country in Peru. It’s very thin-cut beef that’s sauteed with other types of vegetables, it goes on top of French fries, a bed of rice and a dash of cilantro. It’s so good. Th e profi le of the fl avor is diff erent, the meat’s extremely tender. Photo Provided “ A vegetable is a vegetable is a vegetable until you put it in the right hands. - Josue Chanduvi

North Country Foodie • February 2020 NCF: What does Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen offer that other Plattsburgh area restaurants do not?

JC: One, Peruvian and Cuban cuisine. We’re supportive of all those little farms in the area. We’re always trying to be creative. Our food is pretty much all made to order, it’s fresh. Growing up as a Latino born in the North Country, it’s me telling my story. It’s me sharing with everybody what I was eating at home while I was going to school. It’s my identity, it’s my culture. What I love about my food is I don’t just make Peruvian and Cuban food; I also make burgers, I make pizzas, everything that you can imagine. It’s always changing and updating and I always like taking things that I find here and making it my own.

I was at the farmers’ market two years ago and a little old lady was like, “You can eat Hubbard squash.” I asked her how she made it and she made it into a soup or a mousse, and every year since I met that lady, I use Hubbard squash around that time, and I always make soup. We make it our own, but it’s also paying homage to all these little things that we have in the North Country, all these vegetables that people don’t normally use. We don’t just sell burgers; we take a burger and then we’ll add sweet plantains to it and chorizo and we make it our own. My kitchen can be described as Peruvian/Cuban, but it’s also a melting pot of different food. NCF: Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen has been involved with community events like Live Well, Be Well and North Country Honor Flight’s Picnic in the Dark. Can you speak to how that plays into the vision for your business and how it fits into the greater community?

JC: The community supports me. Every customer that comes in and purchases something, it’s something that I made, it’s something that I believe in, so in every sense of the word they’re supporting what I believe in. If it weren’t for them, how would I be in business? I wanted to establish Dieter Morales (right), chef at Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen, poses with long-time customer Rosa Reding inside the restaurant.

North Country Foodie • February 2020 something, a change. And the community coming in to support my business did that. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. And any chance or opportunity that I have to be involved or to grow with people, I do it because that’s what you do in the North Country: you help each other.

NCF: What are the best and hardest things about owning a restaurant?

JC: The best things about it — in the kitchen, in my restaurant, it’s like breathing air air. It doesn’t feel like work; it’s full of passion and love. Every day is a new day. You’re always learning something. The difficulty is always being willing to adapt and to change. There’s always going to be good and bad days, it’s just how you perceive it, in the restaurant business and in life.

NCF: Has Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen developed a community of regulars?

JC: Absolutely. It’s like seeing your cousins. They come in and they know what they like. I have a menu, but sometimes people just want something different. I have a thing on my menu that says, “Trust me,” and I ask people a couple questions, how they’re feeling today, what they’re in the mood for, and then they trust me to make them something different. NCF: Is there anything else you would like to add? JC: I have to say that if it weren’t for the community, we wouldn’t be in business. I want people to know not to be afraid to come and try our food. Yes it’s different, but it’s me. I went to school with their kids. We’re a restaurant established by family, we’re embedded in our community since I’ve been a kid. I want people to feel comfortable that they can come here and feel at home and not feel intimidated. We’re not a restaurant that has everything set in stone. I just want people to come in and enjoy good food. Agi de Pollo, a Peruvian chicken stew.

One of Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen’s signature dishes, the seafood paella.

Fried fi sh with a side salad and black bean rice is served with ceviche de pescado appetizer and complemented with a pitcher of chicha morada, a Peruvian beverage made with corn culli, also known as purple corn.

If You Go

Grandma’s Spanish Kitchen is located at 5139 U.S. Avenue in Plattsburgh.

It is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Th ursdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Th e restaurant, which carries glutenfree, vegetarian, and vegan options, only opens on Sundays for events until the summer.

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