‘Home away from home.’ Restaurant brings Puerto Rican food and culture to Columbus
Columbus business owner Federico Veguilla hopes the restaurant he opened in June will provide a piece of home for other Puerto Ricans living in the region.
La Garita Restaurant & Bakery, located at 1230 Fort Benning Road, sits next to Benning Tire Services, the shop where Veguilla first tried his hand at selling food. Patrons of La Garita are welcomed with white rocking chairs sitting out front and Puerto Rican flags hanging on the tan building.
The feel of Veguilla’s home continues inside with the left side of the L-shaped counter stocked with Puerto Rican snacks and sodas alongside the typical cash register and a black chalkboard hanging high on the wall with a menu written on it.
The other side of the counter showcases both hot food options and pastries that are available to order. Another menu advertises sandwiches such as el madrugador, guavate, mortadella, and the best-selling Cuban sandwich. The bakery side offers quesitos, flan vainilla and mayorca.
A display full of baked goods sits at the end of the counter showcasing the sweet treats.
On the back wall of La Garita there is an almost completed mural featuring elements of San Juan that was painted by Veguilla’s daughter, Janiece.
“It shows our history,” Veguilla said.
Elements of the mural include the flamboyant tree, a yellow, Puerto Rican-style home, a roasting pig and a coqui frog.
There is a man from the countryside, known as a jibaro, playing a guitar-like instrument called a cuatro. Next to the image of the countryside, there is a garita, which is the lighthouse portion of a fort where Spanish soldiers would use to look out for attackers, Veguilla said.
The last part of the mural that needs to be completed will represent a street in San Juan, he said. Puerto Rican history and culture comes from the indigenous Taino tribe, Black enslaved people and Spaniards, Veguilla said.
“In Puerto Rico there are a lot of murals,” Janiece said. “This is what we have that is the closest to home — drawn as a picture.”
‘I saw home’
Veguilla, born in Puerto Rico, lived in Boston from the time he was 7 years old until he was 21. As a young adult, he went back to the island.
“I loved it,” he said. “There was no way I was going to go back to Boston.”
He met Janet there, and the two raised their family together in Puerto Rico for 17 years. Janiece’s birth in 1999 was a miracle for the couple, who had lost their first child. She would be their only child because Janet could not have another pregnancy.
During their time in Puerto Rico, Veguilla supported his family by working as a paramedic and selling kebabs. Janet also liked cooking, and had grown up in a “cooking family.”
“She was a missionary,” Veguilla said. “So, she would go places and cook. Her dream was to have a restaurant here in the States. She’s living that dream.”
In June 2011, the family moved to Columbus following some of Janet’s family members who had recently moved to the city. Veguilla and Janet had come to visit previously and decided they liked the area.
Living in Georgia was an adjustment for the family, and Veguilla found himself feeling homesick for Puerto Rico.
One day he was feeling particularly lonely while he was driving through Columbus, and he saw a sign advertising Cuban sandwiches. He pulled into a store that he later learned was owned by Harold “Lefty” Encarnacion.
Veguilla broke down in tears when he stepped inside.
“I heard the music,” he said. “I saw the little flags. I saw home.”
‘Home away from home’
In 2016, Veguilla was working his full-time job with METRA Transit and detailed cars at Benning Tire Services.
One of the reasons he moved his family was so they could realize Janet’s dream of opening a restaurant, he said, but it cost money he didn’t have. Veguilla asked the owner of the tire shop if he could sell kebabs in the parking lot on Saturdays to supplement his income.
The first Saturday, he set up a grill and prepared 40 kebabs to sell. He sold out. The next week he brought 60 kebabs and sold those as well. This continued every Saturday.
At Janet’s suggestion, they began selling sweets along with the kebabs before expanding their menu to include empanadas as well.
“We went along each Saturday,” Veguilla said. “It grew into what you see now.”
When Veguilla realized that the building next to the tire shop where he was setting up his trailer every weekend was vacant, he contacted the owner, Linton Porter, about opening a restaurant in it. Porter was open to the idea, but the conversation was held in 2020 when COVID began spreading.
“Well, listen, let’s wait until this pandemic thing goes by, and then we’ll talk,” Porter told Veguilla.
Veguilla was persistent. He stayed in touch with Porter throughout the pandemic, determined to get the space that was so close to where he’d already built up a clientele.
“That’s going to ours,” Veguilla told Janet, trusting in his faith in God.
When the restaurant opened in June, he was excited to create another space in Columbus for other Puerto Ricans to feel at home in. He hopes La Garita provides comfort to others who may be homesick like he was, especially the young soldiers who came to Fort Benning.
The family also wants to educate others on people of Puerto Rico, and show how their food and culture is distinct from other Hispanic cultures.
“We’re trying to create something,” Veguilla said. “A home away from home for our people.”
