Pura Vida
May was all about Costa Rica. My son had just come back from Costa Rica with his school on Spring break so it was perfect timing! He had the best time! My husband and I went there meany years ago. There’s two things I remember being my favorite. The coffee and the Guaro! I would go back in a second for those!
Adapted from visitcostarica.com: Costa Rica is a country located in Central America that is ranked as one of the most visited international destinations. One of Costa Rica’s main sources of income is tourism. Costa Rica is a democratic and peaceful country and it has not had an army since the year 1948.
To finish our month dedicated to Costa Rica, I had the pleasure of visiting Tico’s Empanadas in Blue Point where I spent the day with the owner Ruben and his family.
Our interview with Ruben, owner of Tico’s Empanadas
Ruben, tell me about the inspiration to open Tico’s Empanadas
As a boy, I would like to cook. I was always in the kitchen with my mom. My wife, Christina and I moved to Georgia for a short time in 2018. We realized very quickly that it was so different from NY. We couldn’t find the quality of food we were used to. I said “I know I can make better food than this and I got the idea that I wanted to start a food truck. But we had a baby we had no family there so we decided to go back to New York. I knew I didn’t want to work for anyone else anymore. It was a simple idea at first and we just kind of manifested it and just push it forward to make it happen. We opened our doors August of 2023.
Tell me how your Latino heritage influenced the cuisine ?
It’s not just an empanada place. It’s my food from Costa Rica. I can say we do have traditional from Costa Rica but some new innovations as well. It’s a fusion. I grew up on the south shore of Long Island in a Latino household. My mother and father came here back in the 60s and they were very set on the American dream and that was to become American citizen. We fused our Costa Rican traditions with American ones. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes along with all our latin foods! I want to bring a Latin flare, but I also want to nurture the community that we are. For example, the buffalo chicken and the cheeseburger.
What challenges did you face establishing Tico’s Empanadas and how did you overcome them?
We had challenges like the fact that I never had a restaurant before. I never even worked in a restaurant unless you count when I was 14 years old in a pizzeria. My wife, Christina would ask, so when we open, how will you do this or that? I would say, I don’t know, I gotta get there and figure it out! When we got here, I looked at the layout and I wanted everything to be like a food truck because the biggest part of the food truck isn’t just the food, it is a stage where you see the hustle and bustle of people working and cooking the food. But once I was here and cooked, the flow wasn’t right! I came in one morning and I said to my mom, so we’re gonna do XYZ. This is how we’re gonna do it and then we changed it and its been like that ever since. If you would’ve seen our menu, we had 15 things on there now we have like literally like a full menu!
I first heard about you in the group Gluten Free Long Island on Facebook. Was your menu planned on purpose like that?
I say it’s a very serendipitous way how it happened. We have a friend who comes here and his wife is on a gluten free diet. He noticed that our empanadas were gluten free but not advertised as such. I thought about it and looked at the all the ingredients. It is gluten-free, but we had one fryer at the time. To be truly gluten free you should have multiple fryers so one could be dedicated. When we did our ribbon-cutting and the young lady that wrote the article asked the same question and I answered yes. But the day the article came out we had three phone calls and the poor girl that works here got berated by one lady about our fryer not being dedicated. So that night, I went home and I said to Christina that’s it, we’re going to dedicate a fryer! Tomorrow morning I’m going to go empty the oil and clean everything out! That next day, a couple people called and the kids answered right this time. One lady came in and she came again like three days later! She put a post in the facebook group and it was like wildfire! It was amazing!
I have heard that you are very involved in the community. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Sure! Tico’s Empanadas is a part of the local chamber of commerce. We’ve sponsored spaghetti dinners for the Boy Scouts. We hosted a Girl Scout Girl Scout troop that wanted to get their badge. We’ve done workshops where kids come in and they make their own empanadas. It is very important to me to give back to my community. I remember growing up. I was one of 4 boys with a single mom who barely spoke english. We had a lot of coaches that really helped us. They would come pick us up. They would take us to practice. If the money wasn’t there for sports, they helped contribute to make sure that we were always playing. I believe in paying it forward. I will continue to pay it forward as much as I can!
Where do you see the future of this endeavor going?
I like the Chipotle business model. My goal is to be completely gluten-free. I can see us as one of the gluten-free franchises. In the future we are looking to get a truck next. That way we can start to do events and weddings. When my wife and I started dating, I always said, I will retire one day and I’m going to open up an empanada truck in Costa Rica. Well, here I am! I didn’t have to wait until retirement! I’m so happy that I get to build this with my mom and my wife!
