The Cousins of Kokopelli’s
Kokopelli’s, an Italian-American-Mexican restaurant on Violet Avenue is family owned by cousins Jose Jimenez and Ricky Pinelo. Ricky and Jose were both born in Oaxaca, Mexico but moved to America when Jose was 17 years old, and Ricky was 7 years old, both settling in Poughkeepsie. During their lives both men held a strong work ethic and a love for food — working numerous jobs before opening Kokopelli’s together in May of 2015.
Jose and Ricky both worked at Tony’s Pizza Pit on Main Street and Giac0mo’s Pizza, which are owned by the same family, along with Cosimo’s Trattoria & Bar, where Jose worked as well. Jose really learned the ins and outs of the restaurant business from the family and by being a manager at Giac0mo’s Pizza.
Since Jose came to America at 17, he’s been working for 23 years at Italian pizzeria restaurants. He has traveled around the country working at numerous locations in Georgia, Virginia, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Brooklyn and more. Jose was also a co-owner of Hyde Park Pizza from 2008 to 2014.
Ricky graduated from Marist College in 2013, majoring in Organizational Leadership and Business Communication. He graduated with a 3.4 GPA. While getting himself through school, Ricky owned El Mariachi Loco, which was a Mexican restaurant on Delafield Street, and La Fonda, a Mexican restaurant near the Walkway over the Hudson. During this time, he was also a single parent with full custody of his daughter, Nicolette. Currently, and for the last 11 years, Ricky has worked with the U.S. Postal Service, along with his co-ownership at Kokopelli’s.
“It’s a good combination to be with my cousin,” said Jose. The cousins make the perfect duo bringing their past work experience as well as talent and passion to make Kokopelli’s work well. Jose has been working in the restaurant business cooking almost all of his life, so he has the kitchen side. With Ricky’s business degree he focuses more on the business aspect; he pays the bills, does inventory, scheduling, and payroll. “We have a strong bond with my partner/cousin and everything just flows very well. We communicate well and compliment one another,” said Ricky.
When it came to creating the Kokopelli’s menu, Jose was in charge of picking out the items for the pastas and pizzas since he had spent 23 years working for Italian pizzeria restaurants. “From every store, every place I went to, I picked up something, and I put it together and made my own menu, my own recipes and everything, I put it together and it works perfectly, everybody likes it,” said Jose. Ricky helped create South of the Border selection, because of his previous work experience with owning two Mexican restaurants.
The salsas and guacamole are family owned recipes, along with the honey oregano dressing, which is a secret family recipe. The pizza sauce is Jose’s own recipe. It took him 10 years to perfect his own sauce, gaining the experience from his previous pizza making for other restaurants. When asked what his favorite food on the menu was, Jose said, “to tell you the truth, everything, but the one thing I can eat everyday and never get tired is pizza.” The Bacon Chicken Ranch pizza is the most popular on the pizza menu, and in second place is the Buffalo Chicken Pizza. Ricky’s favorite items on the menu are the shrimp scampi and steak quesadillas.
“You got a lot of variety, South of the Border, Italian food, American food, pizza, anything you’re looking for, you find it here,” said Jose on what makes Kokopelli’s special.
“I’ve always loved to cook and have people enjoy our food. My mother’s strong work ethic has been a real inspiration to move forward,” said Ricky when asked what inspired him to go into a family business. Jose was visiting Seattle, Washington looking to open a place there at the same time Ricky found the location to what is now Kokopelli’s. Ricky called Jose telling him he found a nice place. When Jose came back to Poughkeepsie, they saw the place and went into business together. It has always been a dream of Jose’s to have his own place, “when you do something, you want to be your own boss and stuff, ya know,” said Jose.
Even though Jose never really liked the name, the origin of the name Kokopelli’s started while Ricky was on vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Everything in the town was called Kokopelli’s: the café’s, library, everything. It caught Ricky’s eye, he liked it and he said, “I thought to myself ‘if I ever open another business, I’m going to name it Kokopelli’s’ and so it was.”
A Kokopelli is a figure to many southwestern Native American’s. It’s known as a god of fertility and agriculture. It’s also a “prankster” god and represents the spirit of music, as you will see Kokopelli’s are normally portrayed as playing a flute. For the Kokopelli’s restaurant, Ricky contacted his digital designer and instead of having a Kokopelli play a flute, he drew him holding a pizza instead.
Now if you ever stumble into the Kokopelli’s restaurant, the prankster part of the name definitely stands true for these two cousins along with the whole Kokopelli’s team. The environment is very friendly and the Kokopelli’s crew is always cracking jokes, playing pranks on one another, laughing and truly enjoying their time. They try to make all customers feel welcome in their restaurant. “Everybody is welcome to come into the restaurant and I’ll always make sure everybody feels good in the restaurant, make everybody feel important in the restaurant, make everybody feel comfortable there,” said Jose. Ricky explained his favorite part of working at Kokopelli’s is “meeting our customers and being so busy we forget to eat. I really enjoy that part.”
Kokopelli’s is located at: 131 Violet Avenue, Poughkeepsie
Hours:
Monday-Thurday: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Sunday: 12 noon-10 p.m
