Arepas, tequeños and hot dogs are the specialty.
They bring a little piece of
Venezuelan culture
to Buenos Aires in a neighborhood like Congreso, where
many migrants anchored
and where the number of bars and restaurants serving typical food is growing, gaining space and working until late.
“You don't know what this is at night.
There are
cars double-parked waiting for the hot dogs
, long lines that take up the entire sidewalk.
It's a sea of people after 8 p.m. ", says Delia, a neighbor of Congreso, about
"Lo de Joha"
, the hot dog place in Solis at 200.
The mentor of "Lo de Joha" is Edi Joha Santos, a Venezuelan who
arrived in Argentina in 2018.
According to him, "by a stroke of luck."
Colombia was his first option, but a friend gave him the ticket and I don't doubt it.
His main objective was to flee Venezuela.
“We were having a very bad time,” he explains.
Edi had never cooked before.
In Venezuela he was a truck driver and he tried to be a truck driver in Argentina too, but he didn't make it.
Fate led him to get a job at night, in
a hot dog stand in Plaza Miserere.
Guaros Burguer is another of the shops in the Congress area opened by Venezuelans.
Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
“It wasn't selling much.
I saw that your hot dogs were very similar to ours, but they were missing a few things.
Many Venezuelan deliveries passed through there and I began to add some seasonings to the hot dogs.
I started with a garlic sauce," she recalls.
“Until one day I decided
to sell my hot dogs,
I put my price on them.
He would bring me a container with my condiments, and when the boys passed by he would tell them that he had hot dogs.
Word began to spread, there were long lines in the plaza and we began
to gain great popularity,"
he says, and completes: "We saved up and got to the Solís store at 200. We were equipping it while we worked at Once.
Until we decided to just dedicate ourselves to 'Lo de Joha'”.
The business “is a success”.
They offer
five varieties of hot dogs 24 hours a day.
They can sell up to 700 per day. "We wanted to bring a little piece of our Venezuela and we are achieving it," she says.
Tequeños, another classic of Venezuelan cuisine sought after in the Congress area.
Photo: Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi
It started in a studio
“Like everyone, I came with one hand in front and one behind.
The complicated situation in Venezuela brought us.
We left in the migratory wave of 2018, the worst.
The objective was not to come to Argentina, but rather to leave the country at any cost”, says Héctor Mendoza, who had sold everything in his country to be able to eat.
He started working on a delivery app until he stabilized.
Then his wife and his daughter arrived.
“My brother had a bike, I took that and started working.
He pedaled 13 hours a day.
When I was able to consolidate, I became independent and
we began to live in a studio apartment in Congreso
, like many other Venezuelans who are in the area.
That was enough for us just enough.
Then we started to settle in,” she recalls.
They started with the empanadas, although they couldn't get all the ingredients here.
They added tequeños.
All in from the studio on the seventh floor.
Buenos Aires Celebrates Venezuela will take place this Saturday on Avenida de Mayo.
The place became small when the clientele began to grow.
And Héctor and his family installed “Al Ojo Percento”, at
Virrey Cevallos 541.
“It was a roller coaster.
As I learned that they say here,
we paddle in dulce de leche.
Then we build a client portfolio with which we can live”, summarizes Hector.
"80% Venezuelans and 20% Argentines," he says.
Good Arepas
The local
Buenas Arepas
is a fusion of Colombian and Venezuelan gastronomy.
They have a wide variety of fillings, including vegetarian and Argentine versions.
Most of the customers are from here.
Vianny Meleán is 36 years old and works at the store located a few meters from the Congress.
“I arrived 5 years ago from Venezuela.
I started working here, I went through the kitchen, the cash register and in the pandemic
I became a partner”
, she explains.
Although the owners decided to open a Colombian food store, with the increase in Venezuelan migration they began to include the
traditional arepas.
The most requested dish is “La reina”, which brings chicken, avocado, a special mayonnaise that is like garlic and coriander, and traditional Venezuelan cheese.
Most of the customers are Venezuelans.
And in that, according to Vianny, it has to do with the fact that
there are many compatriots who live in the neighborhood.
"There are many Argentines who come looking for tequeños for the children's lunch," he reveals to the public that tastes his dishes, and adds: "I think that in a few years we will change the Argentines and they will include in their typical
dishes the tequeños”,
he synthesized.
also hamburgers
Jesús Colmenares is the owner of GuarosBurger.
“I arrived in 2018 because the reality of that time was to leave Venezuela, make money and return
.
But we couldn't go back.
We fell into reality”,
he relates.
He came with his whole family.
Only her mother stayed in Venezuela.
First they cooked in the apartment they rented.
They sold through the networks and also by word of mouth.
Until they decided to find a place.
They named it “Guaros Burger” after the adjective used by Venezuelans from the Lara region.
"One, when he leaves his country, he has to
try to feel at home
, even when he is far away," he explains.
The specialty of the house are the "pepitos", a kind of sandwich with minced meat cut with a knife.
Clients are usually Venezuelan.
"Although there are Argentines who have already tried the entire menu," he says.
With the bars and restaurants, the
Congress area is changing.
Streets that were turned off at night now receive customers until 1 or 2 in the morning.
And flavors and customs
come together
that will also be present this Saturday, starting at 12, in a new edition of
Buenos Aires Celebrate Venezuela, on Avenida de Mayo.
SC
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