For decades, the Portuguese bolinho de bacalhau has been the Ironbound standard for cod fritters. More recently, the prominence of pan-Caribbean bacalaito served at Dominican, Puerto Rican and Colombian restaurants reflects the neighborhood’s changing demographics. Today, Guatemalan arepas and Salvadoran papusas are in plentiful supply in the neighborhood, and the variety of empanadas on offer is staggering. Over the past decade, the country of origin for the largest number of immigrants in Newark is no longer Portugal or Brazil, but Ecuador. As with the city’s Portuguese and Brazilian residents, the majority of Ecuadorians have settled in Ironbound; the vanguard of a multinational wave of Latin American immigrants reflected in the new faces, music, and food in the neighborhood.
Ecuadorian Festival 2019, Newark. Photo credit: Ecuadorian Fest / El Gran Festival Ecuatoriano en Newark
A glimpse of the Portugal Day Parade in Newark. Photo Credit: Ashley Gilbertson for Newest Americans
Mayor Ras Baraka was Gran Padrino at the Ecuadorian Day Parade 2019 in Newark. Photo credit: Office of the Mayor, Newark, NJ
Today, Ironbound is home to a recently formed Ecuadorian cultural center similar to the long-established Sport Club de Portuguese a few blocks away, as well as the annual Ecuadorian Parade, which has begun to rival the Portugal Day parade in attendance. The growing prominence of Ecuadorians in Newark is evidenced by the “king” of the recent 8th annual parade, Newark mayor Ras Baraka. Ferry Street has become a hub for the rapidly growing Ecuadorian community in the region, as it has been for the Portuguese and every other immigrant community in Ironbound since the old Ferry Road was chartered by the colonial legislature in 1765 to connect the ferry slip to the marketplace.
Many of the new Latin American additions to Ironbound and its foodscape are situated just off Ferry Street’s restaurant row. One such place is La Guayaca, an Ecuadorian restaurant a few steps away from the intersection of Ferry and Monroe. La Guayaca announces its arrival in the neighborhood with a big red sign and a banner on the window displaying a wide variety of Ecuadorian dishes. For those familiar with Ecuadorian food, the banner is an invitation to step out of an unfamiliar city and into a familiar space; a place where the language spoken, and the sustenance provided does not require translation.
Entering the restaurant, it was immediately clear that the other customers had noticed our arrival. The older woman and her husband with their two younger companions waiting for their order, the young guy who was in no hurry to finish his lunch, the woman with a broad smile having lunch with her 4-year old, all turned to look at us: the alien faces at the door. The difficulty we faced in navigating the menu reinforced the impression that we were in unfamiliar territory. Though the ingredients were listed in English, the menu was clearly designed for Spanish speakers, as were the specials written on the blackboard, the music on the jukebox, and the conversation among the customers and in the kitchen.
Patricia Urbana greets a customer. Photo credit: Unless otherwise noted, this and all other photographs on this page were taken by Anthony Alvarez.
This was what Patricia Urbina imagined when she first opened La Guayaca in 2016. Immigrating to the United States with her Ecuadorian ex-husband in 1987, Patricia worked for 30 years in bars and restaurants in New Brunswick and Ironbound. During her time at Nuestra Casa, an Ecuadorian bar and restaurant on Ferry Street, Patricia was exposed to the growing Ecuadorian community in Ironbound. She noticed that while there were several restaurants in the neighborhood serving food from the mountain regions of Ecuador there were none from Guayas, the coastal region where she was from. The owner of Nuestra Casa had a sister who owned a building on Monroe Street that was home to another Ecuadorian restaurant that was struggling. When the space became available, she helped Patricia finance the creation of La Guayaca, inspired by the cuisine of Guayas.
The menu’s emphasis on Ecuadorian seafood dishes (Sudado de Pescado, Encocado, Cangrejada), and the blue and yellow jerseys of SC Emelec and Barcelona FC on the wall, reveal the restaurant's affinity with the Guayas region and their leading soccer teams. Patricia’s pride in Ecuador’s ethnic diversity is also displayed on the walls through a wide range of dolls dressed in the attire of different regions of the country, from the coast to the mountains.
In addition to Ecuadorian cuisine, the restaurant also serves dishes familiar to other Latin American immigrants in the neighborhood. Patricia’s ethos of inclusion and adaptation, as well as her welcoming personality, has made La Guayaca home to a pan-Latin community of staff and customers that includes Ecuadorians, Colombians and Guatemalans. While Patricia runs the restaurant, managing deliveries, supervising the kitchen, and designing the menu, she is assisted by a female crew, which includes her daughters, Amie and Ashley.
On weekdays, breakfast is the busiest part of the day. The kitchen and wait staff—a mix of Ecuadorians, Colombians and Guatemalans—arrive at 4:30 a.m. to prepare for a 5:00 a.m. opening. Nelly, Edith and Blance begin preparing the food, while the servers, Ludi and Marly, stock the shelves and set up tables. The breakfast crowd consists of a wide range of Latin immigrants, mostly men, who stop in to pick up food on their way to work.
The breakfast business has been so successful that since our first visit in June 2018, Patricia has added a bakery-cafe section to the restaurant. New shelves are filled with bread and pastries, as well as packaged snacks and drinks for customers in a hurry. A new counter and stools provide customers with a place to sit while waiting for pick-up orders or a quick solo, dine-in option, while leaving the tables open for parties of two or more. Patricia has plans to renovate the bathroom next, and to add some American dishes to the menu to expand her customer base.
Patricia ordinarily arrives after midday with her daughter Ashley to work the counter during lunch. During a lunchtime visit we observed a steady stream of men on lunch break, but also a couple, a mother and her teenage daughter, another couple with their in-laws, and two young women, all of whom stayed longer than the men, lingering in conversation over their coffee and dessert. La Guayaca reaches a different audience on weekends, mostly families and groups who come to leisurely eat and socialize, watch soccer, or enjoy the occasional live Latin music featuring cover performances of familiar Latin American songs. The food, futbol, and musical performances (occasionally accompanied by dancers) enhance La Guayaca’s role as a home away from home for Ironbound’s Latin American community. One measure of the solidarity Patricia feels with her Latinx staff and customers is that when we first spoke with her in 2018, she told us that with Ecuador out of the World Cup she was rooting for Colombia.
Patricia Urbina’s daughter Amie, engages clients enjoying food on the counter
As second-generation immigrants who grew up in the United States, Patricia's daughters are valuable assets. Besides helping out in the restaurant, they are also in charge of digitally promoting the restaurant, managing its Facebook page and populating it with photos and videos of the music nights and other events at the restaurant. Down the road, Patricia envisions a second restaurant, and is training her daughters to take over and grow the business.
Patricia is proud of the role the restaurant plays in the community. It is a place where multiple groups from a growing immigrant community gather for sustenance and to interact. It employs women from three immigrant communities looking to make a living from food, as Patricia has always done. It provides working people a place to start their day and gather on weekends. It is a source of income, familiar food, a second home, nostalgia for what has been left behind, and connection with others who have taken a similar journey.