Non-Latino Chefs Making Awesome Latin Food

Across New England, chefs in Latin restaurants welcome the opportunity to embrace new flavors and to inspire their palates. The long winter nights of the low tourist season make for the perfect time to reawaken senses easily dulled by the day-in-day-out intensity of working the line. 

While many chefs sample their colleague’s establishments, read books, watch food television, and play with recipes and new ingredients, even more take the time to travel and immerse themselves in Latin culture. Vacations, homestays, and internships are the vehicle for education – not to mention a welcome warm-weather break. Here's how Maine chefs Bob Hoyt, Janet Strong, and Shannon Bard take their off-season education and inspiration seriously.

Next, an extended trip… [pagebreak]

Robert Hoyt and his wife Janet Strong are the chef owners at XYZ Restaurant. The name is derived from Xalapa, Yucatan, and Zacatecas: the three locations from which the pair seeks much of their culinary inspiration. The restaurant is located in Southeast Harbor, an island town in the heart of an area called Downeast Maine. Though the area is the jewel of the wild and rocky coast and businesses thrive on a short summer season of tourists, in the winter, the area is brutally cold.

Hoyt and Strong escape the freezing temperatures of their island home for the warmer climate of Mexico. This transient relationship began in the 1980s. The duo bought a house in Guanajuato, the geographic center of Mexico, to be in what they describe as, “the mix of things.”

“The cool thing about going to Mexico is that once you cross the border, it’s as though your world goes from black-and-white to full color,” said Hoyt. “We are day-trippers and love being able to drive from there to anywhere in the country.” Road trips for food adventures occur regularly; from day visits to farming communities and stone houses in Oaxaca, to overnights in order to watch adobo chile production in Chihuahua.

Hoyt and Strong’s Mexican house came with the employment of a long-time housekeeper, Juana Perez. “Juana just started working with us the same way she worked for the previous owners. She didn’t ask if she could be hired- she just kept going like she had always been there. She has become my cooking teacher and friend,” states Hoyt. Perez has been an important influence for Hoyt when it came to developing his sazon. She stated to Hoyt, “I can give you the ingredients, but you have to develop your own intuition about how to use them together.”

As Hoyt and Strong’s love for Mexico and its food grew, they knew they wanted to bring that passion back to the coast of Maine. “We love the flavors of the regions around Guanajuato and wanted to focus on the kind of real food we were eating when we visited Mexico,” says Hoyt.

Hoyt most recently learned about carne molido from Perez. “People were talking about carne molido and I just thought it just meant, ‘ground beef’,” said Hoyt. “We had been hearing about it for years and had not actually had it. In the heat of the day, Juana ground up fresh tenderloin of beef and mixed it much the same way you do with a ceviche. It was outstanding, like a beef tartare Mexican-style! It was so refreshing and easy to make. We knew we could make it back in Maine with local seafood and that people would love it.”

Each season, the trek to Mexico is a source of inspiration. But capturing what is authentically Mexican can be a challenge at times: “Mexican food is so diverse and modern now, it is always changing," said Hoyt. "The constant thing is the Mexican people. The best compliment I get in Mexico is when friends and even strangers tell me that I cook like their grandmother." 

Next, a study abroad… [pagebreak]

“I couldn’t believe I actually had a chance to do this!” explains Shannon Bard about her recent internship at Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain. Bard is no stranger to throwing herself into a culture and cuisine wholeheartedly. As the inspiration for her first restaurant, Bard completed the CIA’s Latin Food Intensive in San Antonio, Texas. Bard soaked up everything she could: ingredients, recipes and kitchen management, along with loads of chiles and spices. The result of this study was the opening of Zapoteca in Portland, Maine and shortly thereafter, Mixteca in Durham, New Hampshire.

Four years later, Bard is on the cusp of opening her newest Spanish-inspired venture called Toroso, also located in Portland. Bard is legendary for her energy and passion. She “goes big” when it comes to food and her own education. She and her husband and business partner Tom deliberated on their next move: The pair decided Bard needed a hands-on experience to grasp not only the recipes but the spirit of Spanish food in order to infuse Toroso with a heaping measure of authenticity.

“I knew it had to be in San Sebastian, Spain for the food history and pinxtos (tapas)," Bard said. "There is so much to Spanish food and I needed a focus. I knew it had to be an internship at Arzak." 

Arzak has three Michelin stars and has been lauded as one of the top restaurants in the world since 2003. Its chef owners (father and daughter duo Juan Mari Arzak and Elena Arzak Espina) are praised by patrons and culinary professionals alike. 

“It was a huge deal for me to step away for three weeks and go to Spain," Bard said. "It meant time away from my family and from the line at the restaurants. I knew I has to squeeze every bit out of it.”

Bard departed for San Sebastian this past Spring and camped out in a small apartment. Her days were spent on the line starting in the early morning and ending after dinner service.

“Arzak was intense and I saw the artistry and chemistry of the food they were making," she said. "It was incredible. After I left there at night, I would wander the streets of San Sebastian, looking for places to drink and to eat."

She found that there was not short supply of victualers serving up Basque’s famous small plates. “My time there was short. I did not want to sleep. I just wanted to learn as much as I could. I ended up asking these bar owners if I could come in and work. They all said, ‘Yes!’ So there I was, working late at night after a long day at Arzak, making Basque tapas,” Bard said.

And it's this mix of hard work, travel, and lots of taste testing that keeps Main chefs sharp and their restaurants authentic.