Photo via Maya Ophelia's
Jack and Chase Roldan, the couple behind Maya Ophelia’s, playfully boast on their website that they’ve been “tricking adults into eating their vegetables since 2018.” With a plant-based menu inspired by their Filipino, Mexican and Puerto Rican heritages, they’re adding another layer to vegan food options in Milwaukee.
Jack and Chase both had worked in kitchens prior to launching Maya Ophelia’s. Maya was Chase’s mother, and Ophelia was Jack’s aunt. Jack and Chase have been committed to plant-based eating for more than a decade. When they started dating four years ago, Chase says there weren’t many options for plant-based dining.
“We talked about opening a restaurant and bringing more foreign, plant-based food to Milwaukee. Choices then were heavily American cuisine: burgers, sausages and nachos, which we love as much as the next person, but we grew up with very different cuisines. We wanted to bring that into Milwaukee because it wasn’t here yet,” Chase says.
They started Maya Ophelia’s with pop-up events at Cactus Club, and later outside The Mothership, in Bay View. Their food truck is now at Boone & Crockett, 818 S. Water St. Their popular pay-what-you-can dinners, held once per month, make flavorful vegan cuisine accessible for everyone.
A customer favorite is pancit, a Filipino noodle dish consumed for celebrations and special occasions. Chase says they make one with wheat noodles, as well as a garlicky, peppery gluten-free option with rice noodles. Their tempura fried “chikin” is used on sandwiches and other dishes.
Chase notes that a lot of Filipino flavors are very bold and punchy. Spices they use include galangal, a spicier cousin of the ginger root, and anise. “A lot of people associate anise with licorice, but in Filipino cuisine, it’s used in a savory way.”
Maya Ophelia’s lumpia, crispy Filipino spring rolls, contain fresh taro root and basil, giving a light, fresh favor. Their empanadas are stuffed with black beans, pink beans, pumpkin, zucchini and yellow squash. They make meat substitutes, sauces and pickled vegetables from scratch using cultural traditions. Many of Maya Ophelia’s customers are vegan but they have a significant number of customers that are omnivores.
Meat substitutes have come along way over the last decade as replacements such as tempeh, textured vegetable protein (TPV), mushrooms and lentils, and jackfruit have become more available. But Jack and Chase were ahead of the curve in using banana blossoms, the fleshy, purple-skinned flower that grows at the end of a banana cluster. Banana blossoms have a meaty, flaky texture and are appearing on foodie’s radars as a meat alternative.
“The trend is people battering and deep frying banana blossoms to use in a fish fry, but we make ours like shredded pork,” Chase explains. “We marinate it in macha, an oil-based, super-peppery salsa and smoke it for a couple of hours on the grill.” The result is a deep, fatty, rich pork flavor that’s become a favorite of Maya Ophelia’s meat-eating customers. Those meaty, marinated dishes are often served atop pandesal, a Filipino sweet bread.
Gravy Baby’s
On July 7, Maya Ophelia’s launched a new concept, Gravy Baby’s by Maya Ophelia’s, featuring Filipino fried chicken. The idea was inspired by Jollibee, a national Filipino fast-food chain. (The closest location to Milwaukee is in Skokie, Ill.)
Chase and Jack concur they really haven’t had a niche doing Maya Ophelia’s, instead using a “little bit of this and a little bit of that,” approach. “The whole Gravy Baby’s menu will be primarily the Filipino flavors that we grew up with,” Chase says. “We will still be Maya Ophelia’s, but the Gravy Baby’s long-standing pop-up will allow us to hone in a little.”
Chase says Gravy Baby’s will allow them to continue their mission of giving people access to awesome, healthy foreign food. They will continue to hold monthly pay-what-you-can events throughout the city. New rotating menus will include both the traditional and unorthodox foods they’ve introduced to Milwaukee.
For more information, visit mayaophelias.com.
