FSR September 2022

Perspectives BY NICOLE DUNCAN

The ‘CauseCasual’Restaurant At Immigrant Food, the menu is only part of the equation.

FOR THE LEADERS BEHIND D.C.’s three-location eatery Immigrant Food, the mission is clear: Celebrate immi grant communities and advocate on their behalf. It’s also personal; the three cofounders, chef Enrique Limardo, Peter Schechter, and Téa Ivanovic, are al l immigrants themselves. In addition to serving an ever-evolv ing selection of globally inspired dishes, the restaurant offers its space, for free, to nongovernmental organizations ( ngo s) that serve immigrants. It also brings guests into the conversation by includ ing an “engagement menu” alongside the regular F&B one and tackling big issues through expert interviews, infograph ics, and more. After opening in late 2019, Immigrant Food has grown to three locations and switched to a full-servicemodel. Limardo along with chef Mileyda “Mile” Monte zuma continue to craft dishes that deftly marry disparate cuisines. For example, the MadamVP’s Heritage Bowl, created in honor of Kamala Harris, blends Indian and Jamaican flavors, while the dinner time dim sum includes items like Cochi nita Pibil Buns and Chicken Kataifi. And as Ivanovic and Montezuma explain, this is only the beginning for Immigrant Food. How did Immigrant Food begin? TÉA IVANOVIC: The idea really started in 2018. The whole immigration debate

THROUGH FOOD, ADVOCACY, AND EDUCATION, IMMIGRANT FOOD CELEBRATES THE MYRIAD INTERNATIONAL CULTURES THAT CONTINUE TO SHAPE AMERICA.

became very heated and polarized. It’s important to mention that there have been polls conducted about immigra tion for 25 years, and every year it shows three out of four Americans believe that immigration is a good thing for this country—it actually went up dur ing the Trump administration. It’s not something that controversial. So the idea for us was to open a res taurant with a mission and really com bine ESG—environmental, social, and governance—criteria into the business model from day one. When I met my cofounder, Peter, we talked about how to integrate this where it’s really a part of the business model, and it’s not just a corporate afterthought. A lot of com panies do that, which is great, but we wanted to be a little more creative.

We’ve been called the first ‘cause casual ’ restaurant, and we always say there are two beating hearts at Immi grant Food. One is the gastronomy and the food. And then the second is the advocacy and the mission. How do you balance a restaurant operation and a social mission? TI: We wanted to celebrate immigration and what immigrants have brought to this country, but also advocate and educate on their behalf. So we cele brate through our food; we’re inspired by all the different cuisines that immi grants have brought for centuries and the spices and flavors and ingredients. Chefs Enrique andMile brainstormhow we can best do that, how we can fuse cuisines into something that’s new and

IRENA STEIN

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FSRMAGAZINE .COM

SEPTEMBER 2022