Our Roots
From Latin America to Cincinnati
From a Cuban/Brazilian & Puertorican friendship with a shared passion for food, science, and business MashRoots was born. Having moved to Cincinnati 15 years ago we often dreamt of bringing a bit of our culture to the Mid West and sharing the diversity of Latin America. In early 2017 during a snowboarding trip to Canada and after making lunch a delicious mix of leftover “mofongo” and leftover “borscht” soup we decided to put our dream into action.
Building from the family recipes we grew up loving we partnered with Findlay Kitchen to build our concept into a start-up pop-up restaurant. In a matter of 5 months, we went from concept to our first pop-up event in May of 2017 and we haven’t looked back since.
Now we invite you to come to experience the magic that is Mofongo.
Meet The Team
Co-Founder
½ Cuban, ½ Brazilian, 100% Miami
Music, food and soccer sum up his upbringing and from a very early age he found himself intrigued and always helping around the kitchen as his parents cooked. Favorite things to make are always anything involving meat with my mantra being the bigger the better.
Guillermo Vidal
Arnaldo was born and raised in Puerto Rico near the south region of the island. His mother Lucy, being a stay at home mom cooked delicious meals every day, sparked his interest in cooking. Cooking was an easy way to bring friends together, have a good time and make Cincinnati the new home away from home.
Arnaldo Vazquez
Co-Founder
Matt has a passion for cooking that started as a little kid. He grew up in Cincinnati learning to cook with his Puerto Rican grandmother. He has a long history of working with Latin
American restaurant in town like Che, Alfios & Butcher & Barrel and most recently he was a lead Chef at Sacred Beast.
Matt Handleton
General Manager