HAMILTON HEIGHTS, Manhattan (PIX11) -- It's gained a worldwide reputation in a very short time, but Cocina Consuelo is still a local neighborhood restaurant that started out in a couple's tiny living room.

They've now transferred most of their living room furnishings into a brick-and-mortar restaurant they opened together, but more importantly, they've also transferred the culinary skills they've honed over the years.

Those skills are inspired by a beloved grandmother and by the couple's own love story.

Karina Garcia and Lalo Rodriguez are the co-owners of Cocina Consuelo. Every Wednesday through Sunday, the married couple makes sure the restaurant is up and running -- she as the chef, he as the maitre d'.

They've come a long way from their humble beginnings, as Garcia pointed out in a

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