BUEN PROVECHO Chef Spotlight: Keigh Crespo
Chef Keigh Crespo, owner of Dos Abuelas
By Emily Ureste
At Chef Keigh Crespo’s food truck, one feels transported to a place far from Denver’s RiNo neighborhood. The air smells of fresh empanadas, the Puerto Rican flag waves with pride, and you can almost feel a slight island breeze.
For Keigh, food is about memory. She named her business Dos Abuelas in honor of her two Puerto Rican grandmothers who taught her the art of cooking and the art of caring through others through food. She describes the aroma of her grandmothers’ cooking as something that “hugs your soul” and seeks to create that sensation of warmth in those around her. Although the Puerto Rican population in Denver is not large, Keigh loves educating her customers about her food and heritage, and finds that people continue to return to satisfy their newfound love of Puerto Rican food. In her own words, Keigh wants to “get people to Puerto Rico without a flight!”
Dos Abuelas is located in Finn’s Manor, and with Keigh’s help it has become known as a Latin hot spot on Friday nights. A live salsa band plays while people eat, drink, and dance. “It’s like Latin Fever,” Keigh laughs, “all you need are some domino tables and some congas and forget about it!” Originally from New York City, Keigh has loved seeing this community come to life in Denver.
There is value in food that is both authentic and healthy, and Keigh seeks to prepare dishes that preserve the deep and rich tastes of her heritage while also using fresh and organic materials. She reaches the same flavors that her grandmothers’ passed down to her while also being health conscious.
The phrase buen provecho creates a sense of community for Keigh. Although her family is not here in Denver, the word fosters closeness with those around her, from her friends to the strangers at Subway. She will be making rice, habichuelas guisadas, pernil, and platanos at BUEN PROVECHO!