Meet The Owners: D'Road Cafe

MADE On Multi-Cultural Montgomery

WORDS  Natilee McGruder   PHOTO Jon Kohn

One early Wednesday morning, I meet Janet at D’Road Café, in the same shopping center as Virginia College and Mr. G’s, off the Atlanta Highway between Frazier Church and Bell Road. She greets me in Spanish as she quickly finishes mopping and then proceeds to wipe down the counters and tables. “Quieres tomar un café?” she asks me through the flurry of activity. I decline coffee and at her recommendation opt for “jugo de kiwi”, a simple smoothie with the sole ingredients being blended kiwis, ice and a dash of sugar, which tasted like the most delicious, creamy fruit smoothie. After heating up some homemade rolls for us, Janet is finally able to sit down for the interview.

    A few days away from 60 at the time of the interview, Janet Malpartida is spry and vivacious, an animated speaker who fills our lively conversation with sharp wit and laughter. She was often in trouble as a child, “for talking too much,” she confesses with a mischievous smile. When she was 12, her mother threatened to send her from their native Venezuela to the United States if she didn’t behave, and so it came to be that Janet learned Americanized English while staying with her uncle in Chicago. She stayed just long enough to learn the language and some of the culture but soon returned home after the devastating 1974 earthquake in Caracas.

    As Caracas rebuilt itself, Janet continued her studies and eventually graduated with a degree in tourism from the Instituto Universitario de Nuevas Profesiones. Her reputation as an excellent tour guide led to a colleague contacting her about an opportunity to work on a cruise ship, taking care of every need of valued passengers as they sailed around the world. She agreed and turned a two-week internship (during which that same colleague attempted to illegally pocket her pay) into 14 years of dedicated and acknowledged service aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, a 1,777 passenger ocean liner based out of Southampton, England, with regular transatlantic service to New York as well as world cruises. Janet found her calling, taking care of her clientele while gaining an invaluable education with 64 countries visited and countless experiences gained. She was prized so highly by her employer that on the rare occasion that she took off in order to take her mother on a 42-day cruise around the Mediterranean, the top brass at headquarters refused to let her pay.

    When her husband died in a plane accident, Janet took her baby daughter to Florida where she met her current husband of 10 years. They eventually settled in Montgomery where Janet had the vision of creating a coffee shop. Her dream became more solid when her brother, who had followed the family to Montgomery a year later, agreed to do the construction for D’Road Café while his employer did the plumbing and Janet the art and decoration. At the time she set up the coffee shop two years ago, her daughter was in 8th grade and home schooled, now she is at LAMP and looking towards college. Janet figured that, “maybe if I sell this coffee, maybe it will give me enough money for my daughter’s future.”  

    One of Janet’s biggest challenges financially is to reach her capacity of 24 customers everyday for lunch and dinner. Culturally, Janet notes that people who like fried food are disappointed with her healthy home cooked fare, as are those who can’t wrap their head around the fact that neither she nor her food is Mexican. She says that some people who drop in don’t want to experience new things: they think they that since they know one “Mexican” place, they know them all. Janet uses fresh herbs and sea salt in her cooking, always buys the freshest meat and produce and tries to buy food that is organic and responsibly raised.

    After two years of surviving with no money behind her, sometimes she wants to close: a large catering order cancelled for a small operation like D’Road Café can be suicide, but Janet holds on to her unshakeable faith. Little by little she has been putting her business together, slowly adding to the menu and while she can’t say that she is currently turning a profit, all her equipment has been paid for and she makes enough to stay open.  She does not worry and she will not fear; her family and her bible class at Frazier help her to maintain her conviction to stick with her dream. Eventually she is looking to relocate to downtown or Old Cloverdale where she feels her unique offerings might be better received. She wants a better location but not necessarily a bigger space: she is determined to maintain an authentic Latin environment where she can sit and talk to her customers, get to know their favorite order and create dishes for them off the menu. As one Yelper described it, D’Road Café is like coming to your grandmother’s to eat, if your grandmother was Venezuelan.

    One thing Janet would love to see in Montgomery is more encouragement and activities for younger people. She notes that old ways are on their way out, slowly but surely, and that even though sometimes breaking into Montgomery society can be challenging when your name and parents are not legacy, she freely acknowledges that it is a much improved city compared to 10 years ago. What Janet loves about Montgomery is the peace. According to her, it’s the best place to bring your children up—you have a little taste of big city offerings, but you can still make family time because it is not all about consumerism. Sundays for her, when D’Road is closed, are family time and God time.

    Janet has several unique offerings for the city: she makes dishes from various Latin American countries such as Columbia, Chile and her husband’s native Peru. Every Friday she features a different country to invite customers on a culinary tour. The week we spoke, she branched out of Spanish speaking countries and chose Russian cuisine. No doubt her travels, diverse co-workers and clients aboard the Queen Elizabeth taught her various cooking traditions that she combines with her natural talent of making guests feel like family. For her, preparing food from scratch, with quality ingredients, no flour and no chemicals is not about being skinny or fat but the high risk of diabetes, heart attack, and other markers of poor health. Janet has no plans on leaving town any time soon, when asked how long she would stay in Montgomery she replied, “until I die.”

Visit Janet at D’Road Cafe Monday to Friday 9:00 am - 2:00 pm for breakfast and lunch, or 5:30 - 9:00 pm for dinner at 6250 Atlanta Highway (334-356-1563). Check out D’Road Café’s Facebook page for the featured country of the week on International Fridays.

MADE On Multi-Cultural Montgomery: Meet The Owners of La Coronilla

WORDS Natilee McGruder

The landscape of food in Montgomery is noticeably changing: there is Venezuelan, Jamaican, Korean, Mexican, Thai, Chinese and Indian food now available in a town where “meat and three” reigns supreme.  The food served in these restaurants acts as a gateway. For those from abroad who now call Montgomery home, the gateway opens to comfort, solace, the evocation of memories. For those from Montgomery, the restaurants are a gateway to cultural diversity, to new experiences and new memories, to people one would otherwise never meet. By exploring the people behind these restaurants, I hope that you might come to know them more personally and be inspired to step outside the culinary box when eating around town. While it’s simple to stay on the trail blazed by ease and familiarity, that path will lead you right past an upstart local gem like La Coronilla - meaning “the crown”.

Friends Apolonio Ramirez and Epifaunio Barrios own La Coronilla. Epifaunio (or Epi) runs La Coronilla on the service road (near Wares Ferry) that runs alongside the Eastern Boulevard, while Apolonio owns and runs El Chido, a Mexican tienda on Burbank Drive just a few miles away from the restaurant. Epi came to Montgomery in 1996 and has spent the past 17 years working hard to realize his dream of owning a restaurant. I walked into to La Coronilla and asked him if he wouldn’t mind telling me his story and that of his restaurant.

Epi’s story began in his home state of Guerrero, Mexico which has a deep influence on his particular brand of Mexican food - which is fresh, traditional and made from scratch in La Coronilla’s open kitchen. He came to the United States for work and ended up in Orosi, California doing backbreaking work as a field hand. He moved to Montgomery in 1996 and began cooking at the newly opened China Buffet which many long-time Montgomery residents will recall. After five years at China Buffet and five years at Lek’s Taste of Thailand, Epi had honed his skills in various culinary traditions but still heard the siren call of freshly made enchiladas con mole and pozole from his native Guerrero.
He has put those skills to work in La Coronilla, a place he decorated by hand with Mexican artwork and live plants. He stresses the freshness and his commitment to delicious traditional food that includes augas frescas (fresh juices), tamales, carnitas, various types of soups, as well as tacos with hand-patted tortillas made fresh daily by his sister. When I asked Epi what were the main challenges of owning his restaurant in Montgomery, he said that people don’t like “cebolla y cilantro”—meaning that people don’t want the fresh onion and cilantro (which, along with lime, complements most any authentic Mexican dish), they want cheesy, saucy, Americanized Mexican food. I told him that I didn’t think that was strictly true, but rather that the local culture of wanting to experience the familiar or making a selection through word of mouth can be limiting to new and “foreign” establishments.

When your friends, family and co-workers are not Korean or Mexican, don’t speak Korean or Spanish, and don’t frequent those restaurants, you are less likely to receive a recommendation and or get a wild hair to seek one out. La Coronilla has been in Montgomery for four years but according to Epi people are not as interested in 100% authentic Mexican food, although he hopes to change that. When I ask if he means that they seem to prefer Mexican food a la Taco Bell he shudders and affirms with a nod. He notes that he welcomes more residents and visitors to experience his version of the Meat and Three: various savory choices of meat or seafood with rice, beans and salad. Some of the Montgomery Crossfit community patronize his establishment and often order dishes off the menu that fit a paleo or primal-style diet, which generally excludes beans and grains. He even remarked that when a large group of them came by one weekend he made them Tom Yum soup by special request. Urbanspoon has highly favorable reviews of La Coronilla from some satisfied souls who have experienced Epi’s homemade food.

Epi has made his home and business in Montgomery and he plans to stay for the long haul. At this point, he says, he just needs a wife. He enjoys the calm way of life in Montgomery but thinks that we need more jobs. According to him, “Si no hay trabajo, no hay dinero y si no hay dinero no hay negocio.” Which means if there are no jobs there is no money, and without money, businesses like La Coronilla cannot survive.

Visit Epi at La Coronilla located at 425 Eastern Boulevard. Open from 9am-9pm, serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Wednesday to Monday (closed Tuesdays). On Thursday, Saturday and Sunday they serve pozole. Epi is happy to explain anything on the menu or create an order to meet you or your child’s needs. La Coronnilla is also on Facebook at LaCoronillaGrillCosinaMexicana.

Off The Beaten Path: Korea Boom Boom

WORDS David Mowery

The food scene in Montgomery has grown exponentially in the past few years. We have a fine array of upscale and downscale options: “authentic” southern cooking, enough meat and three options to choke a horse, and enough chains to delight the taste buds of anyone who wishes they lived in Orlando. We also have some off the beaten track options that this column will seek to explore over the next few issues. 

When Hyundai arrived in Montgomery it was the biggest industrial recruitment project in Alabama history and it paved the way for a cross-cultural dialogue that had occurred much in the region. Did you know there are over 10,000 Koreans living in the River Region? 

As a young man, my dad was stationed in Korea. We were lucky enough that it was an “accompanied tour” which meant that I got to spend my 11th Birthday on a Northwest flight from SeaTac to Seoul. This was even pre-Gameboy, so my entertainment options were my Walkman and two trusty cassette tapes: George Michael’s “Faith” and Poison’s “Open Up and Say….Ahhh.” 

What does all of this have to do with food? Well, while everyone has their favorite go-to Chinese place, many enjoy Hibachi and Sushi nightly at several locations, and we even have Lao, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants in Montgomery, how many of you have eaten at one of the Korean restaurants in our city? 

My dad worked for something called The Combined Field Army, which meant, essentially, that his boss was a Korean General – General Han. He was stationed at Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu and we lived on Yongsan in Seoul. Aside from having half days the entire first two weeks of school, my best memories are about the meals we had.

Meals varying from high-end dinners with a wood-fired cooking pot in the middle of the table to make your own Kalbi (short ribs) lettuce wraps, to meals with my dad, his boss, and colleagues where we were the only ones who spoke English, to our “Ajuma” (housekeeper) making Chap Chae (like a pasta salad) to a pre-Anthony Bourdain “street food experience” of eating Yakki Mandu (Korean style pot stickers) and Jjamgyeon (Soup). Well, that and the time my dad conspired with his boss to make me eat dog. 

The dog thing and the fact that many of the ingredients are often translated as “fermented black bean paste” and “beef tendon,” coupled with a general lack of knowledge about Korean culture present a high barrier to entry – even in a town who’s largest private sector employer is a Korean company. 

Most Americans start out with (and enjoy) Bulgogi. It is similar to stir fried beef, but with a pronounced sesame and onion component that may take some getting used to. Traditional Korean food is also served with steamed rice on the side, and Kimchi – the dreaded fermented cabbage that everyone is immediately wary of. Kimchi looks odd to the western eye, and it has a pungent smell and taste that may take some getting used to, but like curry in India and marinara in Italy, each region, and often families within the region, has its own recipes – so you can’t write all kimchi off on the basis of one that you tried. 

The first time my wife and I went to a Korean restaurant in Montgomery, I was excited. Having not eaten much Korean in the ensuing years, I wanted to get some of my old favorites, and show off my supreme command of the language – I can say both “Hello” and “Thank You.” But the proprietors of the establishment could not have been less excited to see us, and seemed to be angry when I tried to use my vast knowledge on them. I chalked it up to the fact that the restaurant in question, Korea Garden, is two doors down from a Chinese restaurant, and they probably get sick of shooing people down there for Fried Rice Special #4. 

We had a good meal, and they serve all the usual dishes. Our next meal at Arirang was met with a slightly more cheerful reception, and a similar meal. I have not been back to either, though. 

Woo-Ga is a “Korean Barbecue Restaurant” located where the old McAlisters was on the Eastern Boulevard. It appears to be a chain based out of Atlanta, operated by locals. I have been several times and sampled much of the fair. The hosts don’t speak the best English, but if you go in knowing what you want, you can have a superb meal. Each order comes with an appetizer sampler with a stream of always changing fare that is all excellent. I had the pork Kalbi and Yakki Mandu, while Michelle enjoyed the BiBimBap – a sort of mixed bowl of rice, vegetables, meat and a fried egg. 

The old Hooter’s is soon to be the home of “Gangnam” – which I’m sure is an attempt to capitalize on the dance craze by K-Pop superstar Psy. At press time it was not open, but I look forward to trying it soon.

There is also a Korean market in the shopping center at the corner of Interstate 85 North and the Eastern Boulevard, which sells home country favorites, but also to-go food options including Kim-Bop (Korean sushi for lack of a better term. It often features egg or a piece of hot dog instead of fish, and uses Korean style sticky white rice and not the sushi rice we are all used to. That said, I can eat 25 pieces of this right out of the package. It tastes like the after school rec center on Yongsan to me).

A good place to start for some “Korean 101” of Bulgogi is Sushi Café on Zelda Road. They have recently introduced a Bulgogi option for the both the Bowl and Bento Box, and (deep dark secret) the place is actually owned and operated by a Korean couple. Everything is great there, but next time you go try the bulgogi, and maybe that will spark a desire to seek out and try more Korean food – now that you know what you are missing.