New Food Truck Sansara Serves Cuban-Inspired Fare

A new food truck is now serving Cuban-inspired eats in Denver. Sansara is owned by Andres Vega, the son of a Cuban refugee family who was born and raised in Miami.

"I kept getting pushed into these white-collar jobs by my Cuban family," Vega says. They were like, 'Go be an accountant, it's good for you.'" That pressure led him to attend college in Boston and graduate school in Gainesville, Florida. "I have a triple major in finance, accounting and economics," he notes.

After completing his education, Vega moved to New York City for a few years and worked as an auditor for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Then, as his sister's wedding and his father's sixtieth birthday approached, he decided to visit home "and never left," he says. Back in Miami, Vega continued pursuing a white-collar career and started working for a company doing international sales and consulting, but then a two-month-long business trip to Brazil changed his perspective.

"In Brazil, I met Felipe, who had a grandfather who owned a coffee farm. He and I had the same life trajectory, but when he graduated college, he went and took over his grandfather's coffee farm. My grandfather had a bakery, and I always wanted to take it over. I just grew up in the bakery," Vega recalls. "When I was with Felipe in Brazil, I realized that there are other ways to make money that are actually fun. So I went to my grandfather and said, 'I want to take over the bakery.' He said, 'Let's do it.' I quit my job. I came in a month later, and he's like, 'Listen, dude, you're not a baker, go be an accountant.' I was like, 'No, man. I quit my job. I need a job. I've enrolled in culinary school.' He's like, 'You've got to figure it out.'"

From the moment he entered culinary school, he was hooked. "I was like, all right, I'm going to be a restaurateur. I'll find these kids that are really good chefs. I'll learn how the whole thing works. I can speak the lingo, and we'll do it together," Vega says. "And then I just kept going to restaurants and cooking. It was an obsession; I couldn't stop."

But his grandfather was right about one thing — he wasn't a baker. "I like the night, I like the flames," Vega says. "I like getting cut all the time like an idiot."

He worked in several restaurants around Miami and even did a stage at Tickets in Barcelona, staying there to work for five months. Upon returning to Miami, Vega continued to hone his culinary skills, working in various kitchens, assisting chefs in opening new locations and hosting pop-ups that marked the birth of Sansara. "I did the pop-up from 2017 to 2019. I got really close to opening a restaurant — like, I saw spaces and stuff — but the timing wasn't right for the whole project. Personally, I still had stuff to learn," Vega admits.

Then COVID hit, and the plans were put on pause. It was a vacation with his partner to see a concert at Red Rocks that led Vega to make the move to Colorado in 2022. He arrived with a list of restaurants where he wanted to work, and Hop Alley was at the top. But he ended up at its sister restaurant, Uncle. "I walked by one day and was like, oh, man, that logo is cool, restaurant looks nice. I love working in open kitchens. I looked it up and I saw it was Tommy Lee's restaurant. ... I worked at Uncle and loved it," Vega says.

Around nine months into his stint at Uncle, Vega's father passed away. After a visit home, he returned and decided to leave Uncle to pursue opening his own business. "My dad passed, and then my mom's been such a supporter of my dream for so long. I was so sad. My dad's never going to get to see me live my dream out. I want my mom to at least be able to see it. So I came back and I was like, hey, I love you guys, but I gotta go fulfill my dream," he remembers.

After searching for restaurant spaces in the city for three months, Lee, his former boss, reached out. While both agreed that running a food truck comes with plenty of challenges, Lee ultimately connected Vega with the team from Pho King Rapidos, which was selling its truck after moving into Avanti. "I went to look at it, and I was in love with it," Vega says.

Sansara's first service was at the Block Distilling Co. last weekend. The name is significant. "In Hindu, it's the cycle of life, death and rebirth. In Buddhism, it's more about the wandering on a soul takes before it reaches its end place. ... In the kitchen, the cycle of life, death and rebirth is very important. Something feeds us and nourishes us. ...The goal for the food is like the soul of Cuban food, but as if it went on a journey," Vega explains.

Dishes include Vega's spin on a classic Cuban dish, vaca frita. Traditionally, it consists of shredded beef and onions, but Vega uses lamb and serves the dish as a sandwich. "I do pulled lamb shoulder and then a hard sear on the plancha," he says. "Mix it with grilled onions and then add some potato sticks and a mint chimichurri. Originally, that was it. But after a soft opening, I decided to add a sofrito aioli. It's green pepper, onion and garlic. I cook that in oil for like four hours and then take that oil and make a mayo and that's sofrito aioli. It's awesome, I'm really excited about that one.

He also serves a version of a Cuban sandwich "with chicharrón, whole grain mustard and sweet gherkins. I like crunch in my sandwiches, so I add the chicharróns just for that," Vega notes. Other options include a vegetarian plate with enoki mushrooms, white rice, black beans and platanitos maduros, as well as a couple of salads.

For now, Sansara is operating at the Block (2990 Larimer Street) starting at 5 p.m. on Thursdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays until it sells out.

"I just want to make sure I dial everything in before I ramp up," Vega concludes. "It's just food from my heart. The goal of the food is just to be simple, beautiful and delicious. Simple in terms that I don't use more than six or seven ingredients in a dish, and beautiful in terms of respect to a culture or to a person. And then delicious. Like, if it's not delicious, what are we doing?"

For more information, visit sansaradenver.com or follow it on Instagram @sansara.denver.