"From 12 p.m. to 1 a.m., every day, the four of usmy sous chef, chef de cuisine, line cook, and Icook over a Japanese-style grill in an open kitchen that probably shouldn't be a kitchen, wedged into the back of a Brooklyn brownstone. We're precise and skilled, but it's not intense or quiet. It's never a scramble. It's an elegant show."
"When I put a dish together, it has to make sense. There has to be intent for what's on the plate. It should evoke a memorynostalgia from a flavor that you've forgottenwhich comes from flavor and texture. We eat with our eyes first. But it's only memorable if it tastes far better than it looks. Clover Hill Working in the kitchen at Clover Hill. That's the point of Clover Hill."
"For guests to pause and think about what they put in their mouths. From the kitchen, I get a good view of their reactions. It's like cooking at home for my family. I look for that moment when they eat something and think, Damn, that tasted good. I grew up with food just being food. It was about sustenance and nutrition. I lived in many places, from Bolivia to Argentina to Brazil to Miami, so food became a bonding mechanism for my family."
The Clover Hill kitchen operates from noon to 1 a.m., four cooks working over a Japanese-style grill in a compact, open brownstone kitchen. The team presents a Latin-inspired tasting menu using ingredients like amaranth, chayotes, and hominy with precise, elegant execution and relaxed showmanship. Dishes are constructed with intentionality to evoke memory and nostalgia through flavor and texture, aiming to taste better than they look. Dining room guests watch and react to the performance, creating a homey atmosphere. The chef's multicultural upbringing in Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and Miami shaped food as family bonding and influenced cooking instincts and techniques.
Read at www.esquire.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]