Born about a year ago at Foodie Labs, the commercial kitchen and restaurant incubator, Carúpano Kitchen is a Venezuelan restaurant “born out of family, heritage, and a love for sharing food.” Building on its success at Foodie Labs, the restaurant is now preparing to launch its first brick-and-mortar restaurant. It’s set to open in November at 1040 Fourth St. N., “in a 1,070-square-foot space previously occupied by a catering kitchen and Urban Canning Company before that,” says coverage by St. Pete Rising.
The new space will be largely devoted to the restaurant’s kitchen, owner Andrea Osorio told What Now on Friday. It will be a counter-service restaurant with limited seating, designed to serve lots of guests on the go.
Do you see the menu expanding with the new space? What Now asked Osorio.
“We are going to expand our menu a bit,” Osorio said. “But we are firm believers that, sometimes, the bigger the menu, the more mediocre the food. It’s really hard to do everything well.”
Named in honor of Osorio’s hometown (Osorio founded the restaurant with her mother, Diann Cedeño, and wife, Lauren Haley, St. Pete Rising adds), Carúpano will maintain its focus on the arepa. Where expansion can be expected is in breakfast and lunch.
“The vibe is going to be Carúpano, Venezuela, an elevated version of that,” Osorio says. “We want a design that feels like home, that feels like us.”
Osorio says Carúpano Kitchen was born out of a desire to share her family’s Venezuelan culinary heritage with St. Petersburg.
“St. Pete is homey, and very unique. We’ve seen all the growth that has happened in the last few years, and we wanted to be part of that growth. We want to be one of those scrappy, small women-owned businesses.”
As growth in St. Pete continues, Osorio adds that support for small businesses—both among consumers and business owners—is crucial for keeping the city’s culture alive and thriving.
“Support small businesses, Hispanic-owned businesses, women-owned businesses,” Osorio says. “It’s our job to keep St. Pete local. We want to be a small business that makes a big impact in this beautiful town.”
You can keep up with all things Carúpano Kitchen by following @carupanokitchen on Instagram.
