Yeni and Leo Pena
Leo Pena is what you might call a born entrepreneur.
When he was young, he helped manage his family’s many grocery stores in his home country of the Dominican Republic. Later, he ran a restaurant in New York City. These days, he hustles from sunup to sundown, serving customers at his Allison Hill store and food truck patio.
It’s hard to believe that Leo and his wife Yeni opened QuisQueya Grill & Delights, on 13th Street, near Chestnut, only six months ago. Customers already walk in and know the couple and call Leo with special, off-menu food orders.
The place is busy, and Leo has mostly handled things solo. He mans the cash register, he keeps things clean, and he works the grill, cooking everything from New York-style chopped cheese sandwiches to Dominican fried pork belly, chicharron, and his self-proclaimed “best burgers in town.”
“I make everything. I’m here every day,” he said. “I want to do it right—you know? I make sure everything’s perfect.”
While the shop has been open for months, Leo began his food truck, parked in the adjacent courtyard, on Labor Day weekend. The truck offers a fusion of cuisines from different Latin cultures in a colorful, welcoming outdoor space. Painted bottles, lights and plants hang from a pergola shading several picnic tables. Bright umbrellas suspended above the patio bring a fun flair to the space.
Leo said he has an eye for décor, and customers have noticed the attention to aesthetics.
Patrons can order breakfast, lunch and dinner inside and choose from dinner options outside at the truck. Everything is fresh and made with quality ingredients—a point that Leo stressed. The pastrami sandwich is a crowd pleaser, as well as stuffed and fried plantains and empanadas. There are seafood, soup and taco options. They even make their own juices with flavors like passionfruit, guava and mango.
“It’s hard to find something like this,” Leo said of the grocery store/food truck hybrid concept. “When people start work early, like 7 or 8, I’m open. When they finish work in the nighttime, like 11, I’m still here.”
Yeni said that people are responding well to the store, even taking pictures of the décor and spreading the word around town. Some may even hang out to play Dominican-style dominos on the game table outside.
“People come here and spend hours sitting and eating,” Yeni said. “We want them to feel happy like we’re family.”
Extra Mile
For Dominican Republic natives, QuisQueya will especially feel like home, even just from the name, which Leo said roughly translates to “beauty,” and which many natives lovingly call their country. The shop also sells many Dominican treats, like ice creams and baked goods shipped from oversees.
Harrisburg resident Arlienny Hernandez is from the Dominican Republic and has lived in New York City, just like the owners. She loves that, at QuisQueya, she can get dishes that hail from both places. The new food truck and courtyard remind her of places she went to in New York.
“The food tastes good, and it feels like home,” she said.
As business has kept growing, Yeni decided to transition from her previous job to work full time at the business with Leo. The couple is grateful that the community is excited about and supportive of the shop.
Ultimately, Leo and Yeni want QuisQueya to be a fun family spot where people can sit outside and join in on karaoke nights and let Leo know how they want their steak cooked when he’s manning the grill.
It’s a vision that he’s had since he first saw the vacant storefront and gravel lot.
“I said, ‘This is what I want. I’m going to fight for that,’” he said. “Everything you see here, it was in my plan. It’s amazing because it was a lot of work.”
That willingness to put in long hours and hard work is what can make or break a business. Leo has the passion and determination and plans to keep the momentum going with future additions and upgrades.
He believes his success is a testament to young people of the value of hard work.
“They’re surprised when they ask me, ‘Who’s store is that?’ and I say ‘mine.’ They’re thinking like, they can do it,” he said. “I say, ‘You can do that. Just focus on what you want. You gotta work hard; you gotta go the extra mile.’”
QuisQueya Grill & Delights is located at 34 S. 13th St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit their Facebook page.
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