Filomena Diaz, daughter of Francisco Diaz, the owner-operator of El Padegon Restaurants in Colombia, played a pivotal role in the culinary success of the business. She served as the Chef de Cuisine and Front-of-House Manager at their largest restaurant in Barranquilla, catering to hundreds of people daily from the middle-class Colombian workforce.

A dining area at Juancho’s Fonda, a new Colombian fusion restaurant on Sweeten Creek Road in Asheville, September 24, 2024.

Juancho’s Fonda’s Bandeja Paisa comes with pork belly, steak, chorizo, rice beans, plantains, avocado and an egg.