Guajiro Cuban Comfort Food

The owner's story

A second generation Cuban-American, Chris dreamed of opening a Cuban restaurant from the time he was seven years old. He grew up listening to his grandmother, “Nana”, tell stories about life in Cuba, and her father’s farm in Las Villas. More importantly, Chris grew up in the kitchen beside her. Chris and Nana have cooked countless everyday Cuban meals together using recipes passed down through generations of aunts, uncles, mothers, fathers, grandmothers, and grandfathers — always finished with el toque de Nana, Nana’s special touch. Those meals weren’t fancy, they were the food you ate around the family table: slow-cooked meats, black beans, rice, plantains, Cuban sandwiches, cafecito, and recipes made from memory rather than measuring cups. That is what we mean when we say Cuban comfort food. Chris began working in a Cuban restaurant while still in high school, spending afternoons, weekends, and summers learning the business. After graduating from Florida State University with degrees in Public Administration and Entrepreneurship, he finally had the opportunity to turn a childhood dream into Guajiro Cuban Comfort Food. Today, that dream has grown into a family-owned Cuban restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, built around the same food, stories, and traditions Chris grew up with.

— Chris Barroso