For my
final project we were tasked with creating a video of picture with sound and
all the extras. Above was my video about a restaurant that I have eaten at.
Below is the full story to accompany the video.
Asty
Time
Imagine
driving in Southwest Detroit down Livernois Avenue. Looking through the
neighborhoods single-family homes mixed in with abandoned homes. Up comes a
street with kids playing in the middle of the cross streets. Cars fully line
each side of the street. There are all of these people outside enjoying the
nice weather, but one house is very different from the rest and stands out;
just for the people. This house, a small gray-paneled single family home, has
groups of people constantly walking in and out and they also line the porch.
There appears to be a party or maybe you’re just seeing a home that houses a
large family.
Wrong.
Inside that house is not just a normal house, it’s a restaurant.
Inside
is food made from love and compassion. A restaurant that is not like many
others in the area.
Once the door opens the smell of salted
fried plantains and pinto beans wafts up your nose. The sound of fryers boiling
and chicken sizzling can be heard, as well as the sound of pots and pans, and
people talking. People speaking Spanish and bachata music can be heard. People
eating plates full of food and the Chefs are cooking and serving food.
The
open floor plan allows for the connection of the three small rooms; to the
left, a room with a red accent wall that has two aprons sporting the island of
the Dominican Republic. A party table, covered with a red cloth, surrounded by
a few wooden chairs and some folding beside a stereo fills the room.
To the
right, a wooden table that seats about 6 people parallels the wall leaving
quite a bit of spade to travel to the next room. This room comprises a cocktail
table, against the wall to the left, with only two tall chairs and a smaller
table hugs the wall to the right with two chairs on either side. The kitchen
resides in the back of the house.
Four small rooms make up the kitchen. The
first room, which originally was a kitchen, holds stove just left of the door
way and counters line the right side. Customers gather in this area to order
food directly from the chefs. This room is divided from the actual kitchen by a
small wall with a door where the chefs bring the food out to the customers.
Directly behind that wall stands a table with a glass display of bollitos de
yucca y maiz (cassava and corn fritters filled with meat), chicharrones (fried
pork rinds), and papa rellenos (potato balls stuffed with meat).
Looking
into the kitchen everything can be seen, from the food warmer that contains
most of the already made food to the constantly bubbling fryers to the back
left corners, to the counter used to cut up and plate the food being cooked. In
the room to the left are sinks, but not the kind you would find in a regular
home they put in larger restaurant sinks and about three freezers that contain
food and drinks.
The
last room that makes up the kitchen is the pantry. They store seasonings and
another freezer in this area.
Starting
It All
Like
many others, this idea started from the need to make more money to support a
family.
“I was
working for Mexican Industries, it’s a company that makes auto parts. I was
making good money but it wasn’t enough because I had four kids at that time
plus one on the way,” said Astiage Acosta one of the chef’s at Asti Time
restaurant.
Astiage,
current chef at the Motor City casino and culinary student as well as being the
gourmet chef at Asty Time, and wife Edra Tolentino, who is a stay-at-home mom
as well as one of the main chefs at Asty Time, decided to start cooking.
“The first
thing that my wife was complaining about [were] the bills,” said Astiage with a
thick Spanish accent. “The money that I was making wasn’t enough and one day I
went to a place and bought a stove and said that’s what we are going to do, we
are going to sell fried stuff but Dominican style.”
The
husband said this started out as just a need base income, but he never thought
that it would grow to be this popular. The restaurant opened in February of
2007 and it was located right in their family kitchen.
“On the
first day I remember that my wife started calling most of the people that when
know and let them know that we are open and that we have Caribbean food, food
that people like,” Astiage recalled. “I mentioned before [food] like ‘La Bandera,’
it’s a plate with rice beans and any kind of meat, it could be beef or
chicken.”
This
was the start to their catering business; Asty Time.
From
the Kitchen to the table
Asty
Time is a place where people can come and be at home, and not just in the
literal sense.
From
Friday until Sunday from noon until 7 p.m. people go to Asty Time to enjoy
their home cooked meals.
“In the
Dominican Republic we call it like a ‘fonda’. When you come [and] eat it feels
like your home, you can go [eat] and feel comfortable. It’s like a family
business,” said Astiage about his restaurant.
The
family feel doesn’t just stop when you come in the door, it goes into making
the food as well. Astiage said his restaurant focuses on comfort and that goes
into the food.
“It was
a combination of the family,” said Astiage. “Original food, like the one that
comes from Dominican Republic, is made by my wife Edra Tolentino, my sister
Andromeda Acosta and my mother Lourdes Acosta. I’m the one who made the fancy
stuff, like sea food, she [my wife Edra] says gourmet food. I am the one who
plays around with new innovations.”
The
food served has the perfect blend of Caribbean smells. From the arroz blanco
con habichuelas y chicharrones de pollo, which is white rice with beans and fried
chicken, to the pescado con vegetables, which is fish with vegetables, Astiage
and Edra bring the smells and taste of the Dominican Republic here to Detroit.
“At
that time we were the only one who made Dominican food, it’s Caribbean but
Dominican food,” said Astiage. “When you make food with quality and it’s
something that is hard to find here in Michigan, because I mean it’s from the
Dominican Republic, [when] we sell a plate and people talk. “
The
food is made with traditional Caribbean seasonings such as Adobo, which
according to the makers of the product, Goya, is a “perfect blend of garlic,
oregano and other Latino spices” and “is the perfect seasoning for all your
meat, poultry and fish dishes.” The chef’s also use sofrito, which is a blend of
garlic, onion, paprika, peppers, and tomatoes; these two seasonings together
blend to make the perfect salty smell that can usually be found in a Latino
kitchen.
From
a Dream to a Success
“Okay
listen, she [my wife Edra] said it the struggle but it seems like it was in my
blood,” said Astiage about his reason for starting the restaurant and his love
for cooking. “My mom liked to cook and all my generation liked to cook. I love
to cook.”
Edra
said that for her it all started when she was younger.
“I learn
to cook since I was like 7 years old,” Edra said. “I didn’t go to school for
that, but that’s how I learned. My grandma [taught me a lot] and I learned a
lot from my mother in law too. She didn’t say let me teach you how to cook, but
I was interested to learn [how to cook] because I was thinking maybe one day
[when] I have my family and I [will] need to learn how to cook for them. My
kids they love my food; my husband he’s a chef but he doesn’t cook at my
house.”
When this all started they never
thought that people would like their food so much.
“When
we start this [it was just for] like fun and then it was getting bigger and
bigger,” said the mom.
They
both don’t know what the future would bring but they are doing everything they
can do keep their dream growing. Not only have they expanded into this house,
which they have renovated to have a more culinary like kitchen, but Edra said
they she took a class in food safety to ensure that everything is prepared
well, and Astiage, as well as working as a chef at Motor City Casino, is going
to culinary school to refine his love of food.
“In
order to do something to make money you have to love what you are doing and
this is a thing that I like and I love because as a human being we need to
eat,” said Astiage. “Any human being who doesn’t eat what is going to happen? It is something that we really need. That is
why we decided to cook because it something that is easy for me because I love
and it’s something that people need.”
To
Expand or Not
While
the couple enjoy their success, business is growing and the small house just
isn’t going to allow them to keep their customer base happy. Edra said that she
is happy about the space they have now and really enjoys it.
Not
only is this a different way of dining for some, but it’s also very unique to
the area. According to Edra there was maybe one other family that she knew of
that cooked and sold food out of their house but she said that they have since
moved away from Detroit.
The
article “Trend Watch: Restaurants in Homes,” by Regina Yunghans in 2011,
discusses the fact that restaurants in homes, in Lawrence, Kansas, was such a
revolutionary idea. The Yunghans wrote that this experience was a first for her
and wondered if there were any other restaurants in homes.
I on
the other hand, while feeling like this is an innovative idea, have grown up with
people cooking out of their houses from the time I was born. Being around food
all the time was nothing new to me but maybe it’s because I am a part of this
community, a community that often comes together over food.
Monet
Davis, known as Sister Mimi, found out about the restaurant through a Cuban
friend of hers. Davis said that she was ecstatic after having tried a plate of
rice, beans and baked chicken.
“A
friend of mines that’s Cuban he told me about it,” Davis said. “He has been
coming here maybe every week. I was wondering what’s going on and where is he
going to get this food.”
“I found
out that the food is great,” Davis said after having eaten morsel on her plate.
“I see now why he comes here. I didn’t know it was this good.”
She
even saved the chicken bones, which were clean to the bone, to share with the
neighborhood squirrels that she feeds and says that she will definitely be
coming back.
People
like Davis are the reason Astiage and Edra cook. They strive to serve every
plate with love and make sure that it is bursting with flavor; for this reason
they hesitate to expand.
“It’s
when you have that relationship with the customer they feel comfortable,” Edra
said about the importance of the customer’s relationship to their restaurant. “They
[the customers] say we are very nice so they want to come back. That makes them
talk about us and come back [with more people].
The
customers have said that they really enjoy the homey environment that Edra and
Astiage have built so far and are reluctant to let that go. Even with the
building customer base, with several Tiger’s players buying their food, and the
need to have a larger restaurant the couple hesitates to move because their
customers are important to them.
For the moment Asty Time is staying in
its current Southwest Detroit location just off of Livernois and I-94, although
future plans to move and expand are still in the works.
Asty
Time Menu
Frituras (Fritters) $1 Sopas (Soups) $8
Pastelillos (Meat Turnovers) Mondongo
Yanikekes (Johnny
Cakes) Servido
con tostones o arroz Blanco
Papa Rellenos (Tripe
stew served with fried plantains (Fried Potato Balls stuffed with meat) or
white rice)
Quipe (Fried Bulgur Rolls Filled with meat)
Bollitos (Yuca y Maíz)
(Fried Rolls of Cassava or corn filled with meant)
Entradas a (Entrees)
$10
Todos platos
servidos con arroz blanco y habichuelas, arroz con gandules, tostones, mofongo
o mangú. (Everything is served with White rice and beans, rice
with pigeon
peas, fried plantains, fried mashed plantains or boiled mashed
plantains.)
Pollo (Chicken):
Frito Al
Horno Guisado Chicharrón de pollo
(Fried) (Baked) (Stewed) (Fried Chicken)
Bistec
(Steak):
Encebollado Guisado
(Cooked with onions) (Stewed)
Carne de Res (Beef):
Encebollado Guisado
(Cooked with onions) (Stewed)
Carne
de Cerdo (Pork):
Guisado Chuletas Fritas Pernil Costillas al
Horno
(Stewed) (Fried
Porkchops) (Roasted Pork Shoulder) (Baked Ribs)
Entradas a $12
Chivo (Goat) Rabo (Tail)
