1	Escape Mexico City provides an intimate look into the art of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. read more...
2	Spice Two Latino chefs claim today’s spotlight: Jose Garces and Juan José Cuevas. read more...
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5	Style Mother’s Day gifts with a Latina flair. read more...
6	Salud Understanding The Hot Latin Diet. read more...

spice

marked for Greatness

Star chef in the making Jose Garces blows the doors off the Chicago food scene with the opening of two new restaurants, a book, a TV appearance and more.

By Idy Fernandez

A whole roasted suckling pig carved tableside and served with an assortment of side dishes sounds like the kind of spectacle reserved for a holiday feast, but whether it’s slices of cochinillo asado (roasted pork) or the fresh ingredients found in his unusual taco concoctions, Chef Jose Garces is all about big, bold flavors—each and every day.
The 35-year-old American son of Ecuadorian parents finds himself in a whirlwind, as he prepares for the simultaneous summer 2008 opening of two new restaurants in his native Chicago: Distrito and Mercat a la Planxa.
“I’m less about a culinary agenda and more about making food that’s just plain good,” he says. “Certainly, I want people to understand the depth and power of Latin cuisine, but beyond that, my major concern is that my food tastes great.”
At Distrito, Garces plans to dish out the foods and flavors of the restaurant’s namesake, Distrito Federal (Federal District), a moniker for Mexico City. The name of the other restaurant, Mercat a la Planxa, refers to the planxa grills of Barcelona, where handpicked cuts of meat or fish are grilled before diners’ eyes.
As if two simultaneous restaurant openings weren’t enough, Garces has turned up the speed on his whirlwind with the release of his first cookbook, Latin Evolution, also scheduled for a summer 2008 release along with a spot on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America on Sunday, July 27th.
“[The book] is really evocative of my inclination to combine my influences, the varied and diverse cultures and the ways that all these things have inspired and shaped [me], says Garces, whose paternal grandmother gave him his first culinary training. “It’s a family album, a travel journal and a bit of an autobiography all through recipes.”
Garces, who has been called the “Latin Emeril” by one food critic for his educational approach to food, completed culinary school in Chicago and went to Marbella, Spain for an apprenticeship. His return to the states was marked by another apprenticeship, this time with Nuevo Latino pioneer Douglas Rodriguez. Then things really started to boil when Garces, this year’s James Beard Foundation nominee for “Best Chef Mid-Atlantic,” took a shot at his own place: Amada, an Andalusian tapas bar in that opened in 2005 in Philadelphia to rave reviews. Two years later he added Tinto, a highly anticipated wine bar inspired by Spain’s Basque country, to Philadelphia’s culinary offerings.
Garces says developing his personal cooking style is an ongoing pursuit.
“As far back as I can remember, food has been a way of bonding with my family and the people around me,” says Garces, who seems to feed off the frenetic energy of his whirlwind environment. “My approach is really a bit of a melting pot of culinary traditions. I hope I keep growing, keep evolving and expanding—delving further and deeper into more and more culinary styles.”

Montadito de Txangurro a la Vasca

Txangurro “Salad” Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. jumbo lump crab
1⁄2 bunch chive, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
3 shallots, finely chopped
1⁄2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tbs. salt
1⁄4 cup crème fraiche
1⁄2 cup mayonaise
1/8 cup Dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced and zested

Other ingredients: Slices of baguette, lightly brushed with roasted garlic oil, and lightly toasted; Fresh tomato puree, finished with a splash of Jerez vinegar and olive oil; Sliced avocado, seasoned with sea salt, Espelette pepper

preparation: Take one slice of baguette and top with a thin layer of tomato puree, followed by an avocado slice, and then a quenelle of the Txangurro “Salad.” Top with a dusting of the Espelette pepper. Serve two slices to a plate.

Courtesy: Tinto, Chef/Owner Jose Garces

KITCHEN CONSCIENCE

Story and photos by
Maria Fernanda Hubeaut

I have always liked eating the best,” affirms Puerto Rican Chef Juan José Cuevas. It’s a trait that has lead to his cooking style, based on the principles of flavor, texture, presentation and organic production.
Cuevas, a 35-year-old San Juan native, was studying business administration, when, while doing research, he met famed Austrian chef Augusto Schreiner, proprietor of the restaurant Augusto’s in Miramar, Florida.
“There, in that kitchen, I started developing my instinct and passion for cooking,” Cuevas says. The meeting, when he was 21, inspired him to shift gears and study at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.
Cuevas also counts among his mentors and great influences Sylvan Portay, a chef at the San Francisco Ritz Carlton and Santi Santamaria, chef/owner of El Raco de Can Fabes in Catalonia, Spain. But the person who most helped establish his cooking style is his 11-year-old daughter, Alexandra, he says.
“When she was born I began to look for information in order to watch her diet,” he says. “I understood the importance of organic production. I have high regard for those that produce the ingredient, the people who have planted it and harvested it. The importance of local and seasonal products, the use of these products in my cooking, appeared to me to be the key to achieving a balance—a vital ecological and economic balance that benefits us all.”
Cuevas has developed and experimented with this concept over the last four years at the Blue Hill restaurant Manhattan’s Village.
“It has been an incredible experience to be in contact with small producers and local farmers, waiting with them for the good weather to harvest tomatoes, lettuce, broccoli and other seasonal vegetables. You notice another flavor; it brings another quality to your results as a chef,” says Cuevas.
Cuevas, who opened the restaurant 81 in Manhattan a month ago, makes it his priority to use local products. However, he is not opposed to importing delicacies such as truffles from Europe or fresh produce such as fava beans from California.
“I don’t believe there is a profession that has as much energy and passion as this one. You experience happiness, tension, rage, exhaustion, exuberance, pleasure ... You run a thousand [miles] per hour in a restaurant kitchen,” he says. “You live and breathe good food, wine and gastronomy, always seeking out camaraderie and excellence.”

Vegetable Salad

2 baby carrots, peeled and shaved
paper thin
2 Tombolini carrots, peeled and shaved paper thin
2 Hakurai turnips, peeled and shaved paper thin
5 baby romaine tips
1 baby fennel, halved lengthwise
1 baby cauliflower. Cut into both 1⁄4-inch thick pieces and a few paper-thin slivers
1 baby zucchini, shaved paper-thin
1 baby red beet, roasted and halved
1/2 peach, cut in halves and grilled
1 pickled baby spring onions, halved
5 Pickled Hoshimiji mushrooms
2 tsp. mushroom gelee

Other ingredients: Selection of baby greens such as arugula, watercress, wood sorrel, chickweed, purslane and sprouts; Selection of herbs such as parsley leaves, chives, tarragon and chervil, all torn. Extra virgin olive oil, Lemon juice, Jerez vinegar, raspberry vinegar, salt and pepper.

preparation: Roast thick slice of cauliflower and half the baby fennel.Marinate beets with raspberry vinegar. Mix carrots, turnips and raw fennel with Jerez vinegar and olive oil. Mix zucchini, romaine, peach and raw cauliflower with herbs, lemon juice and olive oil. Arrange on plate.
Yields 4 servings
Courtesy: Juan Jose Cuevas