The Chefs
Chef Douglas Rodriguez, globally acclaimed Godfather of Nuevo Latino Cuisine, has been taking the nation by storm, opening award winning restaurant across the United States. His culinary creativity has changed the image of Latino food in America. His restaurants are featured in some of the most cosmopolitan cities including his home town Miami, Philadelphia, Arizona, and the most recent, D. Rodriguez Cuba at the Astor Hotel in Miami Beach.
Chef Rodriguez, 41, a son of Cuban immigrants, was raised in Miami. He grew up with the sights, smells and tastes of Cuban/American cuisine and developed a passion for food early on. By the age of 13, he had a collection of cookbooks, pots and pans, and was developing and preparing original concepts. At 14, he landed his first restaurant job as a summer apprentice at The Four Ambassadors Hotel in Miami. After high school, he gained more experience at the prestigious Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel in Miami Beach before honing his skills and techniques at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, RI.
Returning to Miami, Mr. Rodriguez worked at the Sonesta Beach Hotel and Wet Paint Cafe. In 1989 he opened Yuca, an upscale Cuban style restaurant in Coral Gables. Yuca was a success, and at age 24, Douglas was a celebrated Miami chef, winning the "Chef of the Year, Miami" award from The Chefs of America and receiving his first and second "Rising Chef of the Year" nominations by The James Beard Foundation. While Yuca served distinctly Cuban cuisine, Douglas constantly studied new flavors, ingredients and ideas from his staff, which hails from United Nations of Latin American countries. Soon after that Douglas headed straight for New York City.
Mr. Rodriguez became the executive chef and co-owner of the phenomenally successful Patria, which opened in 1994 in New York City. It was the laboratory for his new cuisine, which he called "Nuevo Latino". Patria received a three star review in the New York Times and accolades from The New Yorker and Gourmet among others. After Patria, Mr. Rodriguez opened Chicama, a Peruvian Ceviche bar, to 2 stars in the New York Times followed by Pipa, a Tapas bar that became one of the favorite spots for New Yorkers.
Recently, Newsweek selected Douglas Rodriguez as one of the 100 Americans that will influence the coming millennium. People magazine featured him in an article titled "Douglas Rodriguez - Super chef Makes Latin Food Haute Haute Haute." In 1994, the Fine Beverage and Food Federation elected Mr. Rodriguez as the Culinary Master of North America and the New York Culinary Master. He received the prestigious 1996 James Beard Foundation's Rising Star Chef of the Year Award.
Mr. Rodriguez is the author of Nuevo Latino (published in October 1995), Latin Ladles (published in November of 1997), and Latin Flavors on the Grill (published in 2000) and has been signed by a major publisher to complete a four book series. In March 2003 he released his fourth book, The Great Ceviche Book. Mr. Rodriguez has been featured in myriad national publications including Food and Wine, The Metropolitan Home, Esquire, and Bon Appétit, and has made numerous television appearances including Late Night with David Letterman, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and CBS Weekend This Morning. Mr. Rodriguez is a member of the Chef Conclave for American Airlines. In May 1998, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from Johnson and Wales University.
Biographies
Jose Luis Flores
Jose Luis Flores was born in 1973 in a small town outside of Mexico City. His first kitchen memories are of his grandmother, whipping egg whites by hand to make a perfect génoise cake. She was a cook for wealthy families and would often bring home ingredients that were exotic to the Mexican pantry, peaking Mr. Flores’s culinary curiosity. After losing his father at the age of 8, Mr. Flores took over cooking for his family under the tutelage of his mother. At the age of 16, he decided to make cooking his career and found a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant named La Luna (The Moon).
Craving more for his professional life and his family, he moved with his wife and young son to New York City and began working at the famed China Grill restaurant in Manhattan. Through intense dedication and commitment over the next 2 years, he studied and perfected his English and, following his childhood interest in baking, ultimately became an Assistant Pastry Chef.
In 1997, during a research dinner with industry colleagues at the hot Latin restaurant Patria, Mr. Flores was introduced to Chef Douglas Rodriguez and the contagious energy of Nuevo Latino cuisine. That intense, imaginative meal prompted him to choose to combine his Latin heritage with his career in pastry. He eventually moved on from China Grill to become the Executive Pastry Chef at Patria.
Over the next 9 years, Mr. Flores partnered with his friend and mentor, Chef Douglas Rodriguez, taking on the responsibility of Corporate Executive Pastry Chef and Chef de Cuisine developing the pastry programs in these award-winning restaurants:
• Patria, Chicama, Pipa & Ola New York in New York City
• Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia
• Deseo in Scottsdale
• Ola Miami and Ola Steak in Miami
• De La Costa in Chicago
• D Rodriguez Cuba
This impressive list of restaurants ignited the initial craze for Nuevo Latino cuisine and has championed its spread across the country.
Mr. Flores created the pastry program at Ola Steak and Ola Miami, which was named “one of the 50 hottest tables” in Miami and “The Biscayne Corridor’s highest-profile (restaurant) opening” by Bon Appetit Magazine. In 2004, StarChefs.com named Mr. Flores a “Rising Star Chef.”
Most recently, he publish his first book named “Dulce”
Mr. Flores has trained at the Edwal Notter Confectionary School as well as Canainpa, the National Industry of Bread in Mexico City and he participates annually in The Food and Wine Festival of Miami.
