Photos and reporting by Jake Santiago.
Chef Jay Anthony Irizarry is getting ready to serve guests on a busy Sunday at the new Cabo Rojo Cocina restaurant inside of King Sushi.
A recent social media message indicates the restaurant is now open at that location Thursdays to Sundays from noon to 9 p.m., with a limited 4-course tasting dinner this weekend at 6 p.m., including Puerto Rican appetizers, pastelillo, alcapurria and relent de papa, citrus garlic surf and turf mofongo and pistachio tres leches, along with signature sangria options.
Cabo Rojo Cocina first started in Reno after the Bronx native made a second big move to Reno from LA, anticipating a demand around the west coast for Puerto Rican food.
Initially, Irizarry fulfilled online orders from his website before getting to now share a space with King Sushi at 180 E 1st, allowing for a sit down food service.
”I feel like a lot of people are discovering it. There's so many different outlets, but obviously, because of this, this story that you did really help locals kind of find me and know that I'm here. So yeah, it's been good. It's been steadily picking up,” Irizarry said of previous Our Town Reno coverage when he was doing deliveries.
His website also delivers seasonings, a cookbook, sweets, and frog branded merchandise. “I was born hungry. Not just for food, but for flavor, for connection, for life. Sure, technically, I was born in The Bronx but my spirit was born in Puerto Rico. My family spent alot of time visiting the Island before I could even say "mofongo,”” he writes referencing the beloved Puerto Rican fusion dish of Taíno, African and Spanish influences featuring fried green plantains mashed with garlic, salt, and pork cracklings in a mortar for a starchy, savory base, served with broth or a stew.
”It's nice to have a place to call home for the restaurant,” he told Our Town Reno during our follow up interview.
”I was scouting for a commercial location where I can just do takeout, DoorDash, and Uber Eats and one day I spent the entire day scouting different locations and speaking to different leasing officers and to make a long story short, I walked in and asked the owner if they can rent me some space and that's how it happened.”
The new location will soon have Cabo Rojo Cocina signs up.
“I’m officially moving in January 1, so you'll see signs, you'll see tables, and we'll be offering full service dining. So I'm excited to see where this goes,” Irizarry said.
The restaurant still does their preorder system through its website and will keep a consistent menu. Not everyone will be used to the flavors as Puerto Rican and Caribbean based food are mainly centered around sweeter tastes. When people think of “Latino” foods they think of spicy foods and flavors whereas Puerto Rican food is much sweeter and some would argue that’s what makes it so good.
Speaking of sweets, deserts he sells online also have large customer bases in New York and LA. His coconut cloud donuts have become a favorite and soon he says he will be introducing a coconut cloud cake.
Irizarry says he has also been taking advantage of the current mainstream buzz of Puerto Rican culture, with Puerto Ricans making a big impact such as Bad Bunny.
”There are a lot more artists and a lot more things in the media that are coming out about Puerto Rico, and that gets people curious,” Irizarry said.
Recent exposure also got him a highlight on the local Telemundo. ”I was nervous and ended up being very proud of how it went. I'm just grateful for them giving me the time of day to talk about my culture and my business. That's the ultimate lens for the Latino community here,” Irizarry said.
Another big event day for the restaurant will be Super Bowl Sunday with all the buzz around Bad Bunny performing the halftime show. Irizarry also has his birthday on that exact day, on February 8th.
“I am definitely going to try to make that day special and offer a bunch of fun things, fun specials, and really be the go to for Reno that day, go to for anything Puerto Rican, because I'm going to also have some shirts in the works and new merch,” Irizarry said.
With all the changes, he wants interested customers to check his social media and website. “I always tell people if they're wondering what the hours are, if we're open, if we're closed, what the menu is going to be, to check Caborojococina.com for Reno takeout. I go there every day to make little updates and I just updated it this morning too,” Irizarry said.
Mariana Cecilia Velazquez, a Spanish Professor at UNR, who moved here from Puerto Rico, is excited about this new local culinary development.
”When I first arrived in Reno, I stayed connected to my culture by surrounding myself with the things that reminded me of home. I cooked Puerto Rican dishes, listened to música de la isla, and kept traditions alive, especially during holidays and family celebrations. I also stayed close to my family in Puerto Rico, calling them often and keeping those bonds strong. Little routines, like speaking Spanish at home and celebrating our customs, helped me feel grounded and connected to my roots,” Velazquez said.
Velazquez said she doesn’t know many Puerto Ricans in Reno, but she did credit an artist by the username of @kidnetik saying that this person made a Puerto Rican jibaro art piece. A jibaro is a Puerto Rican person from the countryside and they are most known for their style of hats famously worn by Bad Bunny.
Velazquez says her favorite Puerto Rican dish is not surprisingly Mofongo. This dish has become a staple in Puerto Rican cuisine, and for many it’s the first Puerto Rican dish they will want to try. Everyone has a different favorite dish, and for many it just comes down to taste buds and preferences of style.
”My favorite dish was the Pasteles Deconstructed,” Claudia Cruz who works at the Reynolds School of Journalism and has roots in the Dominican Republic said. “A pastel en hoja is the Puerto Rican's version of a tamal, but instead of corn, it's made with plantains. The chef's take was to deep fry the plantain batter separately and serve it with the stewed pérnil on the side, instead of inside. Interestingly, he added a house guava ketchup to the broth which I loved. Not everyone loves ketchup on their pasteles, but I do, so he had me with that drizzle,” Cruz said.
”The food at Cabo Rojo was delicious and it reminded me of home. The portions were smaller than I was used to, but I understand that the chef is trying to bring a more elevated presentation of Puerto Rican food to Reno, compared to the more cafeteria style some of us are used to. I appreciate the chef's effort to highlight that Caribbean food can be both healthy, good, and look beautiful on a dish,” Cruz said.
Daisy Gomez is a student at UNR who is of Puerto Rican descent. Gomez has not tried Cabo Rojo yet, but wants to try it someday.
”No Puerto Rican culture is present besides Cabo Rojo. I haven’t tried it, but I want to,” Gomez said.
Reno is a growing city and could gain a larger Puerto Rican population especially since there are people of Puerto Rican descent all across the country. When you look around Reno right now, it’s very rare to look up and see a Puerto Rican flag compared to a city like Philadelphia or New York.
Gomez said that she was waiting to try the restaurant until it had a fixed location. With some of the university students being Puerto Rican as well it was clearly a good choice for Cabo Rojo to be not far from the UNR campus.
Irizarry emphasized how crazy these past couple of months have been for him and Cabo Rojo Cocina. Irizarry lives in downtown and feels he’s getting more and more connected with Reno, a city that now includes his own flavors and delightful, hard working Puerto Rican mouth watering touch.
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