22 April 2024
Venezuelan ceviche at Origen.
Origen draws on former Mucho Más chef Julio Machado’s Venezuelan heritage, dishing up fresh ceviche, cachapas, and spit-roasted carne en vara
Chef Julio Machado has spent much of his New Orleans career cooking Mexican food, making his name at Zocalo, Tacos del Cartel, and eventually, Mucho Más, where he served a menu of rice-wine cured steak ceviche, Mexican ramen, and rich queso fundido, among other dishes. He loved learning about Mexican cuisine, and found a “family” at Zocalo, he says, having emigrated from his native Venezuela in 2018. “But at some point, I had a feeling that I can do better, that I needed to move closer to my roots,” Machado says. “It’s not the same when you learn something as when you grow [up] with something. For me, the understanding of Venezuelan food is 100 percent natural.”
After Machado left Mucho Más, he opened his first Venezuelan restaurant, Como Arepas, a casual, counter-service spot where he slings arepas stuffed with asado negro and avocado chicken salad. Business has been good, he says — he’s already looking for a bigger location. But in the meantime, he’s expanded his reach in the restaurant scene with the opening of Origen, a Bywater bistro serving brunch spreads of tequeños, tostones, and cachapas; Venezuelan-style ceviches; and spit-roasted carne en vara.
Origen offers two menus: all-day and brunch. The best way to approach brunch, Machado says, is to order a range of small plates — cheesy tequeños with black beans and rice; tostones with a fried egg and avocados; cachapas (a Venezuelan corn pancake) with cracklings on the side. The cachapas, he says, develop a delicate sweet-savory flavor when the corn hits the flat-top grill.
The all-day menu delves even deeper into Venezuelan cuisine, offering ceviches, a cheese fondue served with mini cachapas and arepas for dipping, chupe (a hangover-curing chicken noodle soup), and a “warm salad” of grilled peppers and zucchinis toasted with olive oil and cilantro. “Ninety-nine percent of the Venezuelan restaurants around the world, outside of Venezuela, limit the menu only to street food,” Machado says. “What I want to do is take our real and authentic heritage to the table — what we really eat every day.”
Machado will also be serving carne en vara, meat that’s skewered on a spit and roasted over a green-wood-fueled open fire for eight to 10 hours. “We are barbecue fanatics,” Machado says. “lt’s a long cooking time, and the meat comes out really tender and flavorful. It actually comes out red, because of the smoke, like corned beef.” Much as he likes barbecuing meat, Origen also offers a number of vegan options: grilled eggplant, pineapple, and cauliflower steak — one of Machado’s personal favorites.
Here’s a peek at Origen’s wood-fired menu.