Meet Eli Acevedo | Pastry Chef/Co-Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eli Acevedo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eli, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
On July 1st, 2019 my husband and I moved from Coral Springs to a tiny town in the middle of nowhere Florida and signed on the dotted line to become restaurant owners. We thought that was the biggest risk we would ever take, Then on March 17th, 2020, we found out through an article online that all Florida restaurants and bars had been shutdown. And just like that our world was flipped on its head. We had to let go of our wonderful staff which had become like our second family. We had two options, we could do to go orders and/or family to go meals or follow suit with neighboring restaurants and shut down for two weeks. We decided to take the risk and remain open, even adding a seventh day in order to make any, if at all, extra income. Our daily sales were dismal, a few times the phone barely rung and we were exhausted. But we never stopped. Never stopped paying our bills or rent, never stopped working and most importantly never gave up hope. As tired as we were, we knew we couldn’t stop. We watched our tiny town go from about a dozen operating restaurants to losing approximately 5 of them. Some were able to reopen, but just couldn’t maintain their doors open due to many key factors and had to sell. Three never had to opportunity to reopen at all. We were beyond scared, but we knew we had to keep going. Moving into a small town where no one knows you and deciding to open a restaurant in said town is hard as it is. COVID literally threw us into the deep end and taught us that we had to either swim or sink. We took this risk of restaurant owning and moving to a better place for our daughter and we knew we couldn’t fail. We could have lost everything. We never lost hope and we gained probably the best friendships and I believe that even our relationship with each other grew stronger due to this. We took a risk. And we’d do it again.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
At Morty & Edna’s, our goal is to ensure that when you eat our food, you’re eating fresh, from scratch food that is made with love. Food that will leave you feeling as if it’s grandma’s love on a plate. Food that is makes you feel like you’re being hugged from the insides. We believe in recapturing that childhood memory with every bite you take. We keep our menu small, and try to maintain it as seasonal as possible. We pride ourselves in making sure that everyone has something they can enjoy without sacrificing quality or flavor. When you eat at Morty & Edna’s we want you to feel like you’re home.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to dedicate our shout out to Lake Placid. They have shown us an abundance of support through the most insane parts of this pandemic and have never stop showing us love. They have welcomed us with open arms and we love and appreciate them for it. And lastly our daughter, Sarah. She’s been a super star of a supporter and our number one fan. We love you kiddo!

Website: www.mortyandednas.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/mortyandednas

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mortyandednas

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/morty-and-ednas-lake-placid