July 14, 2025 was a day of joy for a family in the Charlottesville food community. The owners of Arepas Steakhouse, Maria Salazar-Gil and Fernando Salazar, who recently discussed their American Dream in The Daily Progress, just saw it take a big step forward.
It was 2016 when their daughter Mafer sat them down at the kitchen table in their Venezuela home and said it was time to go. Fernando’s persecution by authorities for his opposition to the Maduro regime scared her. She didn’t care where they went – just anywhere but Venezuela. “We deserve a better life,” she said. Maria and Fernando agreed, and believed one place offered the best chance at that: the USA. They moved to Charlottesville and immediately applied for asylum – a legal status allowing immigrants who face persecution in their home country to live in the U.S. Applications can take years to resolve, and applicants may remain in the country while pending.
While they waited, they began building their life in Charlottesville, taking whatever work they could find – nanny, house cleaner, food delivery driver. But, with a love of food and hospitality, their dream was to open a Venezuelan restaurant. When they saved enough money, they bought a food truck, and in March 2022 launched Arepas on Wheels, bringing the food of their native Venezuela to Charlottesville for the first time. The truck was such a success that by the end of the year they opened an over-the-counter restaurant on Cherry Avenue. That too was a success, enabling them to open a full-service restaurant in 2024: Arepas Steakhouse. Earlier this year, it was named Charlottesville’s Best New Restaurant.
All the while, uncertainty loomed. Would their asylum application be granted? Or, might their life be upended? This year, after nine years of waiting, Fernando finally received word from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (US-CIS) that his asylum interview had been scheduled, a final step in the process. After his May interview, US-CIS said he would receive a decision from them within weeks. Since then, there have been daily nervous trips to the mailbox for Fernando and Maria. Yesterday a letter finally arrived from US-CIS, which they opened together…