That's Bodega

from The LocaL, March 2020

By Scott Berson

In the last year, a new restaurant opened on 12th Street. The space, a quick turn from Broadway, had struggled to keep a tenant for one reason or another. So our city was excited to see what would come next. We were about to meet Bodega 1205, a Latin-fusion restaurant and fresh market like nothing Columbus had seen before.

Now, six months later, we’re just as excited as we were back then. Maybe even more so.

Because we’ve come to learn that Bodega isn’t just a restaurant, or a market, or a business. It’s something else, too. So what is Bodega?

We’ll get there. For now, though, let’s start at the beginning. Bodega’s owner, Cesar Bautista, found the spot after moving to Columbus for a post at Fort Benning. He had owned restaurants back in Puerto Rico, and together with his wife Jossy Velez, decided they could create something here.

“We started going out to eat, and started seeing the gap,” Bautista said. “We saw that there was an opportunity and we took it. Things kind of fell into place.”

The duo, who have been together for 30 years (“It’s been good for me and bad for her!” Bautista jokes) gravitated toward the idea of a bodega; a Spanish word for a wine cellar that has evolved to mean “any type of small market.”

“It’s a small market where you can find little things that you need right away to make breakfast or dinner, usually located where people live, like here,” manager Zoemy Barreto said. “Somebody needs bread, somebody needs eggs, come here, pick it up at the market.” Fresh veggies, eggs and deli meats are all for sale. The shop’s beautiful avocados are a big seller, Barreto said.

Bodega 1205 is a restaurant too, so speaking of fresh food, let’s talk about their menu. Bodega creates a carefully curated selection of Latin-fusion delights. Their Cuban sandwich is reputed to be one of the best in town. Their breakfasts are fresh and delicious. Their signature dishes like ropa vieja are hearty, wholesome, and prepared with an unerring passion for perfection. "That passion is Bodega”, Bautista says. “It powers everything.”

Either you have passion or you don’t. If you don’t have pride in who you are, you’re not going to have pride in your business,” he says. He tells a story about how a team member will feel disappointed if a plate doesn’t come out perfectly. “When you look at it, it’s gorgeous, but the sweet plantains were sideways, it’s something nobody would ever notice. But that’s just how passionate everyone is.”

That passion extends to the service. In fact, Bautista feels one could say that Bodega 1205 is more about service than about food. So what does that mean?

It means Bodega feels like a home. A home is a place where there are people who really, truly care about you, and that’s the vision of Bodega 1205.

“Bodega is the people. I’ve been working here since the first day, and I can tell you on one hand how many “bad” tables I’ve had,” Barreto said. “People have bad days, but they come here and they change their moods. They’re smiling, they’re laid back, relaxed.”

Take the coffee, which comes from the mountains of Peru. Barreto, a passionate fan of coffee, tries to make each coffee order a personal experience.

“I serve people the way I would love to be served,” she said. “With the coffee, we have a menu. But I’ll ask you, don’t even look at the menu, what do you want to drink? I’m going to give you something that you’re going to want to come in here every morning and get it.” She’s spent hours sitting and talking with customers. That’s Bodega.

“If you go to any other restaurant, they have a recipe for success, on how to serve a table, a system in place that seems forced. It is not like that here,” Bautista said. That’s because Cesar and Jossy put so much trust in the team. Without that team, Bautista says, there is no Bodega.

“Bodega is a team sport. Without these guys, we are not here. We learn and we transform,” Bautista said. “It’s like, we just wake up and say, let’s try this, and we make it right, we don’t cut corners. I feed off that commitment. I feed off that commitment of Zoemy, of Jossy, my staff. We keep on doing it. I would leave Bodega in order for my team to stay.”

Bodega is evolving, too, as any organic, vibrant place should.

“The Daily Specials are our experiments, we go by heart and feeling. Some things you plan it and it doesn’t feel right. We view Bodega more that way, figuring things out, how it’s going to work out better” Bautista says. “We start with something, and then we think, oh, maybe we can do that.”

For example, Bodega opened up at night for the first time for a Valentine’s Day flamenco night. It went great, Barreto said – but it was an experiment, a testing-of-the waters, to see what a nighttime Bodega could be. That’s the method. Another experiment has been Bodega’s HealthyFIT meals. These are small meal prep kits where clients can grab a menu, pick the foods they want, and have fresh food for a day, a week, or longer.

“Something we’re doing is saying to clients to come every three days so when you come to pick up your food, it is always fresh. We work with them and make it happen for what they want,” Barreto said. That personal touch, that assistance to get you what’s best for you – that’s Bodega.

What’s Bodega? It’s family, fresh food, heart, community, teamwork, and care for people, for food and place. That’s Bodega.

“I’m still amazed at how Columbus received us,” Bautista said. “It’s like moving to a new neighborhood, and people are good to you. People are happy, they’re going to feel happy, we’re here to stay. We’re happy to be part of Columbus.”

This article is from:

The LocaL, March 2020