Marisol Borrego, also known by the artistic name Mari Borr, knows her grandmother’s arepa recipe like she knows her own name. When asked the ingredients, Borr can recite them instantly and with ease.
White corn, cheese, salt and a little bit of sugar to balance the flavors. Pan fried with “whatever you want” for toppings, she said. That recipe has made it from her home of Bogotá, Colombia, to Savannah’s Forsyth Farmer’s market.
And now, the recipe will make it into Borr's first brick and mortar endeavor—Maizal in Savannah’s bustling Starland District. Maizal, Spanish for cornfield, will be a Colombian café by day, with hopes for an event space run by Big Bon Bodega founder Kay Heritage at night.
“We basically want to bring a little bit of Colombia
here to Savannah,” Borr said.
Borr first moved to Savannah for an internship at the J.W. Marriott to complete her J-1 exchange program. It was there she met Shahin Afsharian, now Big Bon’s executive chef.
When Afsharian moved to Big Bon he brought Borr over to work as a production chef. Afsharian recalls Borr’s sharp attention to detail—a keen focus on how meals should taste, how they should look and how ingredients “dance” together in any given dish.
“In the Big Bon brand, we are very cautious and very intentional with the ingredients that we use, and (Borr) is too,” Afsharian said.
Afsharian also learned of Borr’s arepas from the beginning, instantly falling in love with them, he said. That made them an organic choice for a pop-up through Big Bon’s Ghost Kitchen program.
The group hosted a Colombian pop-up at the Bull Street location with the arepas as the main event. The event sold out, and Afsharian said he had never seen so many people line up for arepas before.
Borr took that success and grew their dreams for selling to a stand at the farmer’s market. Afsharian and Heritage helped with securing a space and permit for the market while also offering Big Bon’s kitchen for production.
More success followed and when the Big Bon team found its new opportunity at 2018 Habersham St., they knew what they wanted to do. They approached Borr, and then the plan for Maizal was born.
“I always wanted to create something, so absolutely this was my dream,” Borr said.
In addition to the arepas, Maizal will feature specialty coffee and other drinks. Maizal partnered with the Inzá region of Colombia to develop the signature coffee.
The coffee is aimed at being the “main character” of its drinks. The group received multiple samples from coffeemakers in the region, playing with the roasting until they found the right flavor, Borr said.
The entire menu will also be gluten free with a focus on wellness. Offerings include the arepas with various toppings, empanadas, cassava waffles and various bowls inspired by different regions of Colombia. The cafe will also feature smoothies with ingredients such as collagen, protein and Colombian fruits to enhance the wellness focus.
“The intention is not just to sell coffee or to sell food,” Afsharian said. “The intention is to really bring the identity of another culture, to really bring that hospitality and that warmth behind it.”
The café will open this fall and occupies one of the Thomas Square Neighborhood’s latest mixed-use buildings. Apartments will occupy the space above the café and other ground-floor retail spaces neighbor Maizal.
Heritage, who is leasing the space occupied by Maizal, said that the event space idea grew out of deciding how to maximize the space. Having a dual-concept business is something seen in larger metropolitan areas such as New York City, Heritage said.
Maizal has an accompanying patio and Heritage saw how it could accommodate smaller gatherings such as rehearsal dinners. The event venue still awaits a special use permit from city council to allow the use after members continued the item at its Sept. 24 meeting.
“If we combine the outdoor space, we can have a really beautiful gathering,” Heritage said. “That’s how I was thinking of being able to have a multi-use, multi-purpose space instead of just one thing.”
Heritage has also been around to see the neighborhoods boom since Big Bon’s opening in 2019. She said the neighborhood’s beauty, walkability and community spirit have made it an ideal location for new businesses.
Borr wants Maizal to contribute to that community feel, envisioning it as a community gathering space and cultural hub, they said. And as Maizal joins the neighborhood's booming growth, Heritage says “the more the merrier.”
Evan Lasseter is the City of Savannah and Chatham County government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at ELasseter@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Maizal Cafe to bring a slice of Colombia to Savannah
