Chef Diego Oka: Meet the Man Behind Gaston Acurio’s La Mar

Not many chefs can say they are using their three weeks vacation time working under the foremost authority in Peruvian food to go stage at the number two of The World’s 50 Best restaurants in the world. Yet that’s exactly what executive chef of La Mar Diego Oka is gearing up to do come the first of September. “Out of all the restaurants in the world, it’s number two,” he excitedly says of Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy. “I want to know why it’s number two.” And what better way than by stepping into the line of fire firsthand? 

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The fearless and outgoing chef got this opportunity of a lifetime the same way he began working with his now longtime boss Gaston Acurio at the age of 19: by simply asking. “I met Massimo in Milan and asked if there was space for me?” he says nonchalantly. As for his beginnings with Acurio, Oka spotted the esteemed chef at a supermarket and approached him. “I told him I wanted to work for him and he gave me an internship.” [pagebreak]

Thirteen years and four La Mar’s (Oka opened outposts in Lima, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Colombia) later, the Japanese/Peruvian chef brought his talents to Miami for the opening of the revered restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental. A year and couple of months in, La Mar has evolved from a destination restaurant to a prolific locals spot dishing out innovative and unexpected Peruvian fusion, and Oka is to blame.

“When we opened people assumed we were this elegant and occasion only restaurant because we’re located at the Mandarin Oriental but now they know that La Mar is a convivial place to have fun without any of that fine dining or pretentious stuff.” Case in point: Oka’s off-menu KFC (Korean fried chicken) that’s seasoned with aji Amarillo, rocoto, aji limo y gochujang (Korean aji), sesame, scallion, and cilantro, and breaded to golden perfection. “I wanted to do something fun for people in the know.”

Of course La Mar’s claim to fame is its traditional and deeply rooted Peruvian dishes, and Oka executes those just as well. Take Miami’s signature plate, the chaufa aeropuerto. Served in a sizzling wok and mixed at the table, the amalgamation of Chinese sausage, roasted pork, pan-fried rice, shrimp omelet, Nikkei sauce, and pickled salad is to typical go to meal for Peruvians on Sunday.

“It’s the one dish we can’t take off the menu.” The other, contrary to Oka’s pre-hypotheses, is the veal heart anticuchos. “Originally we thought Miami wasn’t prepared for interiors but the heart is the most sold,” he admits. “As a chef you learn to adapt to what the market wants and Miami is definitely developing and learning to be adventurous.” As a result, Oka is having even more fun with the menu and introducing Miamians to new flavors and risqué ingredients. “We recently put sweetbreads on and I was skeptical but people are eating them.” [pagebreak]

But offal isn’t the only thing Oka was skeptical about; prior to his first chef job, he doubted his career choice. “In a way I chose to study culinary because I was lazy.” While his first memories of food consist of going to the market with his father to buy fresh fish and live scallops and then helping clean them as a kid, Oka’s full disclosure didn’t come till much later. “I definitely took it – having a dad who was a fisherman and would bring home tuna every night for dinner — for granted. ‘Fish again?’ I would say.”

The changing point came after culinary school when Oka got to work in real world kitchens. “I asked myself do I want to cook? Do I want to work every weekend? Do I want to miss out on vacations while all my friends are traveling? With any career you don’t know until you start, and once it wasn’t till I had the first taste of what life in the kitchen was like that I became hooked.” [pagebreak]

But even with all of Oka’s accomplishments, the 32-year-old chef remains – like his boss – humble. “He is a beast cooking and is truly the father of Peruvian cuisine,” he says of Acurio. “The tact and first impression he gives to everyone is always promoting other people and not himself. Humbleness is his secret to success and he taught me that in order to get there you need to share.”

That passed down philosophy explains why, when the executive chef informed his culinary chief of his upcoming three-week stint at Osteria Francescana, Acurio was elated to have a piece of the La Mar family cooking up a storm elsewhere. “Now is the age to do this kind of stuff,” declares Oka. “One sometimes gets used to being a boss but I think in life you need ups and down and this forces me to be a line cook again.”