The New Latinos in the Kitchen

CHEFS: Ricardo Zárate, Jacques Gautier, Roberto Santibañez

One only needs to pass by a lunchtime line at Chipotle, or consider the popularity of top TV chefs like Aaron Sanchez or Dasiy Martinez, to gather that Latin cuisine has by now gone mainstream.  But in the slightly more selective world of the country’s culinary elite? Not so much.  When Food & Wine announced the finalists for this year’s Best New American Chefs Awards—a leading national arbiter for emerging industry talent—only one Latino (Ricardo Zarate, from LA’s Mo-Chica ) made the cut. 

In our not-so-humble opinion, Food & Wine should re-consider its criteria.  The fact is, when it comes to food, we are in the middle of a micro-revolution, helmed by chefs who favor local over large-scale, diversity over density, and are as activist as they are artistic.  And at the forefront of that revolution are many Latino chefs.

 

Just consider Brooklyn, a leading national arbiter for emerging industry trends:  the hottest and hardest ticket in town is a seat at the 3 Michelin-starred table of chef Cesar Ramirez at Brooklyn Fare.  Ramirez is a first-generation Mexican American, and cites his heritage as the impetus behind his passion for food, but his influences run far more haute: Ramirez’ $185 tasting menu is an eclectic and unconventional mix of flavors and techniques inspired somewhat by France, and somewhat by Japan (though the inspiration behind his game changing jalapeno-infused langostinos is unquestionable!)

A little further into the borough, Jacques Gautier—another first-generation American of Puerto Rican/Dominican/Haitian/Cuban descent (with a little bit of Spain thrown in for good measure)—spent an entire year traveling and apprenticing throughout South America before opening Palo Santo, with a menu that is entirely Latin, and ingredients that are entirely local.  And not too far away, at Fonda, Roberto Santibañez has created an authentically fresh and vibrant menu featuring recipes from his native Mexico, with a stated mission to show his clientele that Mexican food is “about more than just pouring hot sauce over everything.”

According to Mariana Suarez, a cultural promoter and co-founder of Gourmet Latino (@GourmetLatino), Latino chefs are just getting started: “The ones in the kitchen now, the sous-chefs, the ones learning to cook, they are predominately Latino.  And not just from Mexico: they are from Colombia, Peru, El Salvador, Brazil, and each are bringing their own family recipes and culinary traditions into the mix.  In the next 5 to 10 years, Latino cuisine in the U.S. will come of age, in much the same way Italian cuisine did a few generations ago.”

Makes sense.  We mean, just consider: from where can more than a quarter of U.S. citizens now trace their heritage?  Certainly not France.

Rivera Returns

After 80 years, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York has welcomed back one of Mexico’s greatest masters. Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art has unveiled an unprecedented body of work by the legendary artist, which offers a “succinct portrait of Rivera as a highly cosmopolitan figure who moved between Europe, Mexico and the United states, and a fresh look at the intersection of art making and radical politics in the 1930s.”

Between 1931 and 1932—at a special invitation from the newly opened MoMA—Rivera came to New York to paint five “portable murals” in an empty gallery of the museum, all depicting dramatic scenes from Mexican history.  The resulting work included the iconic Agrarian Leader Zapata, currently part of the museum’s permanent collection, as well as The Peasant Leader, Indian Warrior, The Rising, Frozen Funds and The Electricity—all of which the show will bring together for the first time since the original exhibition.

Inspired by his stay—and in keeping with his commitment to themes of revolution, class and inequity—Rivera immediately followed up with three more murals representing images of the Great Depression, all still addressing the artists’ favored themes of revolution, class and inequity.   Versions of these additional murals will also appear, alongside a collection of sketches, photographs, letters and other archival material related to Rivera’s time in New York, including his work on the controversial Man at the Crossroads mural first commissioned for Rockefeller Center.

MoMA estimates that the exhibit, which runs until May 2012, will attract close to 2 million aficionados: more than 60% of the institution’s annual visitors.  Click here for more info: and get in line when you can. 

Casting Light in an Entirely New Design

Brazilian designers are big on crochet.  From ball gowns to bikinis, tank tops to flip flops, the lace-like handicraft has, for many a homegrown fashion and design brand, come to represent a signature national style. 

Now, the artisans at COOPA-ROCA, a selective women’s design cooperative based in the Rio favela of Rocinha, have taken the art a step—some would even say light years—above: Luz de Cristales (Crystal Lights) are, literally, globes of light sheathed in hand-crocheted cotton covers, which serve to etch on the smooth industrial surface of each lamp a layer of intricate detail and eye-catching depth.  When hung from above, and viewed from a distance, the lights appear as kaleidoscopic moons or stained glass planets, but the story behind their creation is in fact just as inspiring.

COOPA-ROCA was founded almost 25 years ago by social entrepreneur Maria Teresa Tetê Leal to broker profitable partnerships between low-income female artisans living in Rio slums and prominent global designers—among them Cacharel, Paul Smith, Tord Boontje, Ernesto Neto and Christian LaCroiux.   In less than a decade, the handiwork of the women of COOPA-ROCA was regarded around the world, and had received international acclaim in the pages of Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle and their ilk. 

The Luz de Cristales are part of an entire line of home and fashion accessories launched under COOPA-ROCA’s own label in 2010.  But this season the lamps in particular have been generating a ton of buzz abroad, first as a featured product at the +55Brazil exhibit at the Barnsley Civic Gallery in London, as well as as part of the Cooper-Hewitt curated Cities exhibit currently occupying UN Headquarters in New York.   At the moment, unfortunately, these are the only spaces outside of Brazil where one can view the beauty of COOPA-ROCA’s craftwork in action, but an online store on the cooperative’s website is under development, and the display at the UN will last until early next year.  So try to get there, before the lights go out. 

The Raw Fish Revolution

Most trend spotting New York foodies, by now, have likely made a pilgrimage to La Mar, the super high-end, world-renowned cevicheria recently opened by Peruvian celeb-chef Gaston Acurio, his first foray into the mercurial Manhattan market.  Heck, even the Godfather of supersized New York City dining, Mario Batali, has dined there, and declared it “spectacular”. 

La mar

La Mar, so far, has received mostly encouraging reviews from critics and customers alike, with positive commentary on the creative cuisine, top-notch service and jaw-dropping design (A texture wall and chandelier made from over 10,000 kernels of Peruvian corn? Impresionante!). But while La Mar may finally have put ceviche on the metropolitan map, the South American staple has been on the menu at a number of New York establishments for some time now, and not just at those old-school, Queens-based joints like Pio Pio  or El Anzuelo Fino which have been known to lure hipsters to that other outer borough in their quest for culinary authenticity.

Today, in fact, hipsters don’t really need to travel far to find quality ceviche: the dish has been popping up in places as unexpected as East Village wine bars, British style beer pubs, and low key Brooklyn gems.  And the trend, it seems, is not just limited to New York.  At state fairs this summer there were reports of shrimp-based Mexican style ceviche representing right alongside Midwestern bratwurst and Southern fried chicken, and Karen Chavez, a food writer in Ashville North Carolina, recently compared the dish to barbeque in its similarly wide range of regional variation.

El anzuelo

State fairs? Bar menus? Carolina Barbeque?  Pretty hefty American cred for a food which—even in its most extreme incarnations—can never ever be deep fried.   But no doubt there are still some hipsters out there in whose eyes the dish has not yet completely arrived. That would happen at the point when there’s a ceviche truck along Bedford Ave., and it’s the breakfast of choice after a long night out.  Served, of course, with an ice cold can of PBR.

Havaianas, Re-Souled

By now, cool kids everywhere know that, when it comes to flip flops, the wildly popular Brazilian brand Havaianas pretty much perfected the formula a long time ago.  For almost half a century their iconic foam-like, industrial strength, rubber-soled slip-ons—crafted in an array of styles and shades that are now acceptable attire with everything from bikinis to ball gowns—have kept up with trendsetters around the globe, and have more than outlasted some far less attractive upstarts.  (Like, when’s the last time you saw a cool boho model chick hanging out in Soho or Punta or Malibu wearing Tevas?)

 

Yeah, when it comes to the competition, Havaianas’ attitude pretty much mirrors that of the country from which they hail:  When we can’t beat ‘em, we’ll just join ‘em.  And when we join ‘em, we won’t have to work too hard to show ‘em how much cooler we really are.

 

This November, Havianas will introduce entirely new styles to its Soul Collection of urban footwear—sneakers, espradrilles, even buck-like suede booties—all designed around the brand’s signature sturdy rubber sole that, like the flip flops, come in a range of specialized styles that incorporate chic cultural twists:  eco-friendly designs in natural jute fiber, espradrilles woven in strips of brightly colored canvas, vibrant vulcanized sneakers in the distinctive Amazonian green and yellow of the national flag.  (Top that Tom!)

The Soul Collection for now is only available online, but considering that Brazil is, at the moment, somewhat unstoppable, it likely won’t be too long before the line is available at a hip retail outpost near you.  And we bet you’ll see cool boho model chicks everywhere wearing them even earlier than that.

From Puerto Rico to Peru, con Amor.

Calle 13, the hugely popular Grammy-Award winning Puerto Rican urban pop duo is known, in large part, for their scathing, satirical commentary on poverty and social injustice.

But their latest video “Latinoamérica,” from their recent (Latin Grammy-nominated) album Entran Los Que Quieran, takes a slightly more heartfelt turn, paying visual tribute to that which unifies: the varied cultural ecosystems, awe inspiring landscapes and authentically beautiful people that so many countries throughout Latin America share.

Filmed mostly on site in Peru—yet still capturing the rich range of faces, colors, voices and vistas that could, really, be found anywhere on the continent—“Latinoamérica” stands on its own as a socially conscious travelogue depicting the sheer diversity that, also, underlies the regional ties that bind. 

The journey begins in a typical highland bar with a Quechua-inflected introduction by a DJ from the folkloric station Radio Inti Raymi, and also features soulful solo turns by guest artists like Peruvian grand dame (and Minister of Culture) Susana Baca, Colombian icon Toto la Momposina, and rising young Brazilian singer Maria Rita.  Regardless of where you stand on the song's message, the “Latinoamérica” video, more than anything, represents a unique endeavor of creative class collaboration, one that showcases everything that makes the region strong, special and worthy to stand apart.

Brazilwood?

Director James Cameron (he of the triumvirate Terminator, Titanic, and Avatar) may consider himself the King of the World but he certainly is not the King of Brazil, at least not when it comes ruling the Box Office.  In Brazil, in fact, that honor is actually held by a Brazilian—a quaint notion, perhaps, in this era of the Hollywood Empire— but the position was well earned the old fashioned way:  tight script, reasonable budget, character-driven action, and a story that reverberated with audiences everywhere in one of the world’s fastest growing and most socially diverse markets.

José Padilha is certainly not (yet) a household name anywhere outside of his native country, and neither is he half as well known as his compatriots Fernando Meirelles and Walter Salles, both of whom have received Oscar nominations and have long moved back and forth between directing movies here (in the U.S.) and at home.   But Padilha’s Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad)—which won the grand prize at the 2007 Berlin film festival—and its recent follow up Tropa de Elite 2— which had its US debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival series and is Brazil’s official entry for this year’s Academy Awards—both stand out as the highest grossing films in history in Brazil, and Tropa de Elite 2, released in 2010, easily surpassed Avatar at box offices throughout Latin America.  Based on the real-life experiences of local police officers, both films follow the activities of an elite SWAT team fighting in the trenches of Rio’s drug wars, and depict controversial incidents of corruption and violence that, many say, had a hand in influencing more recent government crack drowns in the city’s most dangerous favelas. 

 

Mr. Padilha’s next project in Brazil seems (one would hope) decidedly less graphic—he is slated, along with Meirelles, to direct a segment of Rio Eu Te Amo, the third in the series of city anthologies begun by Paris Je t’aime and New York I Love You.   But, not surprisingly, Hollywood has already beckoned, and in a big way:  earlier this year Padilha was handpicked by executives at MGM to replace Darren Aronofsky on the upcoming reboot of Robocop, the 1987 classic about a cyborg cop super hero, with Michael Fassbender reported to star.  It’s a bold move but, in the throes of the Empire, trusting an unknown foreign director with the reboot of a superhero classic is the ultimate sign of respect, the equivalent, one would think, of a credit from King Cameron himself.  And what will the newly knighted Sr. Padilha do once he finally has his hands on a big Hollywood studio budget?  Simple: Spend it, he says.

 

A Category All his Own

There is a scene in “A Better Life”—the touching drama about an immigrant father and his son directed by Hollywood hotshot Chris Weitz (“Twilight”, “About a Boy”) and out on DVD this week—in which the gardener Carlos Galindo (played by Mexican actor Demián Bichir), while watching a Charreada in a makeshift arena in East LA, conveys in a single silent shot a complex sense of hope, longing, struggle and conviction that is no doubt universal among many immigrants—undocumented or not—in the U.S.  It is a powerful moment in a small, understated film, and places Bichir in the company of respected contemporary Hollywood leading men like George Clooney and Brad Pitt:  and not just because they all, this year, are sharing Best Actor Oscar Buzz. (Compare Bichir’s moment to Clooney’s silent taxi shot at the end of “Michael Clayton” or Pitt’s reigned-in indignation in “Babel” to get what we mean).

 

Bichir may finally be gaining traction in Hollywood, but in his home country he—his entire family, in fact—has been quite something for quite some time. (In 2003, the Mexican version of the MTV Movie Awards created a separate category for “Best Performance by a Bichir,” to honor the prolific output of Demián and his fellow actor brothers Odiseo and Bruno. Demián won).  Refusing to rest on his laurels at home, Bichir’s move to Hollywood in 2004 was bold simply due to his age at the time (41!) alone.  He was quickly cast by another heavyweight, Steven Soderbergh, to play Fidel Castro in his epic biopic of Che Guevara, which led to a recurring role on the Showtime series “Weeds” as Esteban Reyes, the ruthless, dangerously charismatic mayor of Tijuana and sexual foil for Nancy Botwin, the show’s drug-dealing, suburban American mom. His role as the downtrodden and, ultimately, tragic Galindo in “A Better Life” was such a departure from his standard trove of larger-than-life characters, that “Weeds” co-star Mary Louise Parker was moved to revere his performance as “Holy.”

 

In the (highly-likely) chance that Bichir receives a Best Actor nod, he would be the first Mexican-born actor to be honored in the category, for a movie that in a very humane way adds much to the current conversation around immigration in U.S.  And considering that he’s next slated to work with yet another Hollywood icon—Oliver Stone, in his upcoming project “Savages”—it’s safe to say that Demián Birchir has, by now, crossed over for reals. 

Start-Up Chile: Everybody’s Hired

So, how’s this for a reality show: young entrepreneurs from around the world are invited to converge on a small, somewhat exotic, relatively isolated country on a continent far far away, and compete to grow their digital start ups.  Contestants are provided with $40,000 in seed capital, an eager pool of young creative talent at their fingertips, and access to some of the country’s most innovative minds, powerful public officials and vaunted venture capitalists.  

 

Start-Up Chile is a one-of-a kind production, brought to you by the (highly non-socialist) government, which awards $40,000—equity free—to any worthy team of entrepreneurs from any part of the world, with the condition that they agree to live in Chile, boot strapping their business, for at least 6 months.  Six months, with reimbursable housing, elite access, great food, even better wine, and the chance to work in what is fast becoming one of the most dynamic hubs of digital development in the Southern Hemisphere.  

Start-Up Chile’s founders recognize that, more than anything, the contest represents an opportunity for them to plant the seed for the one thing they think the country lacks to fully pull off their quest to become the Silicon Valley of the South. "Nationally, one of our characteristics is that we like to play it safe,” explains Jean Boudeguer, Director of Start-Up Chile.  “Our hope is that by inviting entrepreneurs from around the world, and having them interact with our digital class, we can create an open, international culture of innovation right here at home, and cultivate in our young people the appetite for creative risk taking that is vital for creating a world class economy.”

 

The risk, so far, seems to be working.  By the end of 2011, close to 300 start ups from as far afield as Israel and India, Canada and Croatia will have set up shop in Santiago (the majority of the participants, so far, are from the U.S. and other countries in Latin American) and next year Start-Up Chile will open up applications to Chileans living at home. Clearly, they’re fast learners.

 

Want to learn more?  Click here. 

New York Hearts Americano

New York’s cosmopolitan and creative spirit is constantly enticing like-minded souls the world over. This is a city that attracts immigrants from all walks of life,  all carrying a unique hunger for transformation. It’s also a place that brings millions of traveling souls from throughout the world over to sip a dose of its dreamy potion. These travelers need a hotel.

New York’s newest hip hotel comes from another global mega-city, Mexico City. Hotel Americano brings a sexy dose of south of the border sensuality to the big Apple. It’s the latest concoction from hip Mexican hotelier group Habita Hotel of Habita and Animal fame. Hotel Americano serves the perfect combination of style and substance that has made those two hotels must-stops for the international jet-setting crowd.

Hotel Americano is designed by renowned Mexican architect Enrique Norten and his Ten firm. The spatial experience is highly modern yet warmly minimalist, giving you a sense of peace and comfort which often lacks in what are supposed to be sanctuaries for the traveling kind.
 

The space is both sensuous and soothing through its use of wood, light and clean lines. A swanky rooftop restaurant, retro-modern lounges, and simply elegant rooms add to an overall relaxed style. The hotel’s namesake restaurant seals the package with a delicious mix of French and Mexican through the culinary statements of chef Olivier Reginensi, of Daniel fame. Franco-Mexican in New York never looked so good.
 
For more on Americano
www.hotel-americano.com