Oct 20 2022
Olé - Meet Our Top Chefs From Spain: from East to West Coast
Spanish chefs are the new celebrities in the making. So, to celebrate International Chef Day, let’s see who’s rocking it in restaurants - from the east coast to west coast.
Chefs are the rockstars of the restaurant scene. So let’s see who’s cooking up a storm Spanish style right now, from the east coast to the west coast.
Bilbao-born Eder Montero (nicknamed the “King of Tapas”), along with his chef wife Alex Raij are leading the New York City Spanish dining scene at the moment. With several restaurants under their belts, including Michelin-starred La Vara and El Quinto Pino, they’ve got Spanish fine dining covered.
Photo credit: NY Times
More chefs to mention hailing from the Basque country that have also made their mark on the Big Apple are Luis Bollo at Salinas and Mikel Treviño de Luis at Haizea. And you can’t talk about Spanish chefs in New York City without mentioning Nico López at Little Spain and Albert Carballo at Casa Dani. These are the chefs working the open-concept kitchens of high profile chefs like Dani Garcia and José Andrés.
Meanwhile, down south, Luis Roger landed in Houston, Texas, with two decades of culinary expertise earned in Barcelona and beyond in Catalonia. His time working under Ferran Adrià at El Bulli changed his life and his approach to food, inspiring the taste and tradition of BCN Houston.
Although he grew up in a cooking family - with a restaurant in Valencia - Perfecte Rocher wasn't always a chef. It was only after working in a Michelin-starred restaurant that he picked gastronomy over punk rock music! He and his wife, the creators of Tarsan i Jane, are now running foodie pop-ups in San Diego, CA.
Photo credit: Tock
And, finally, a little further up the west coast, meet two exceptional chefs that came to be in Portland Oregon. Javier Canteras, another Basque native with deep roots in his homeland, Urdaneta - he even runs culinary discovery tours of the region. His restaurant of the same name, Urdaneta PDX, explores seasonally-led pintxo tapas, featuring spherified olive and fresh tuna. And finally José Chesa, a well-known chef of Spanish dining in Portland, has since been welcomed to New York City so keep a look out for his next moves there!
To all the Spanish chefs bringing flavor to our nation - we salute you on International Chef Day!