Catching up with Jose Luis Flores

Every Latin food fan worth his chile-infused salt knows the name Richard Sandoval. A name perhaps less familiar, but whose talents are no less impressive, is Jose Luis Flores.

Recently named corporate pastry chef of Richard Sandoval Restaurants, Flores oversees the desert menus for all of Richard Sandoval’s Washington restaurants, including Zengo and Masa 14 and both El Centro D.F. locations, and the Miami and Dubai outposts of pan-Latin steakhouse Toro Toro.

Among the desserts on Flores’ well-crafted menus are coconut profiteroles with toasted coconut ice cream, Manjar Blanco and chocolate sauce (at Zengo); a triple-layered deep chocolate brownie cake made with dark, milk, and white chocolate and topped with black plum sauce (at Masa 14), and Mexican style donuts dusted with cinnamon sugar and served with chipotle caramel and canela spiced chocolate (at Maya in New York).

Flores’ love of cooking, and pastry in particular, dates back to his childhood, when he watched his grandmother whip egg whites by hand to make génoise cake. She was a cook for some of Mexico’s wealthiest families and often brought home ingredients that were exotic to the Mexican pantry. Flores’ father died when the chef was just eight, after which he took over the cooking for his family. At 16, he landed a job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. It was the first step in what would become a long and noteworthy career.

In his early twenties, Flores relocated to New York City and began working at the famed China Grill. Following that, he spent twelve years working for chef Douglas Rodriguez, the man behind the Nuevo Latino movement, and helped Emilio and Gloria Estefan open Bongos Cuban Café at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood.

We sat down with Flores’ at Richard Sandoval’s Maya in New York City to taste some of his latest culinary confections – we tried 14 in all! – and to ask him a few questions about his past, his passion, and his pastries. Here’s what he had to say. 

Next up, Flores shares his sweet secrets…

How do you decide which desserts will be served in each restaurant?

Each restaurant has a different concept and we create desserts based on those concepts. For example, the [Key Lime Dessert with merengue, vanilla ice cream and almond cookie crumbs] is from Zengo. The [Chocolate Abuelita Cake] and the Mexican Ricotta Cheesecake are from Maya, which has a more Mexican flavor. So, you know, we decide based on the restaurant’s concept.

Where do you draw inspiration for creating these desserts?

Right now I get inspiration from everywhere, from many countries, because like I said, we have a lot of different concepts so I can do a lot of experimenting with sweet and savory and unique flavor combinations. 

Have you noticed any emerging ingredients within the dessert realm? 

It’s not an ingredient, but I would say that Peruvian food is very popular right now – actually, within the last three or four years – thanks to Gastón Acurio making Peruvian food upscale. A lot of people are trying new Peruvian foods, including desserts.

Do you have a prediction for next year’s star ingredient? 2014’s answer to 2013’s quinoa, for example?

For me it’s unpredictable. I don’t have one specific item that I can say I’m working more with right now because, you know, pastry is so extensive and you can do many things in many ways with one single ingredient. So it depends what’s all there. Actually, with Richard Sandoval restaurants, we work more based on what’s in season.

What tools must every at-home baker own?

A Kitchen Aid. Anything that you want to make – even if you just want to whip cream – is easier with a Kitchen Aid. For the restaurant, we have different tools and advanced machines, but for home cooking, you definitely need to have a Kitchen Aid.

Kitchen Aid is going to be happy to hear you say that.

Yes. (Laughs) I guess they will.

Next up, Flores talks about the road from dishwasher to pastry chef…

What’s on your holiday wish list?

I would like to have a very high end ice cream machine. They make ice creams and sorbets very silky. But it’s really expensive. I think this is a gift to save up for. It’s the dream, I think, of every pastry chef.

Speaking of Christmas, do you have a favorite holiday food memory?

I think all of the people that work in food, they usually have many memories of family meals from when they were a kid. That’s what brings me to cooking, being with my grandmother in the kitchen. You know, at one point, I was the only kid in the house – I was the baby, the only boy – so I spent a lot of time with my grandma and my mom and my aunts in the kitchen.

You started as a dishwasher. How has this informed your cooking and do you think it’s necessary to work your way up the ranks to become an exceptional chef?

I think that some of the best chefs, even the biggest chefs in America, started at the bottom. When you do your cooking internship you have to do the jobs that nobody wants to do; cutting the fruit, for example. And the chef can say “Wash this for me” or “Put this in the pantry for me,” and you have do it. So you have to start from the bottom. I don’t think anybody can be successful by starting at the top. You have to make mistakes. You have to have experiences. And you have to build that up. When you want to be a top chef or top pastry chef, you need to know every aspect of the kitchen so that everything runs well.

You just turned 40 this year….

Yes, September 11.

Oh wow. That must be interesting every year. Or perhaps it’s a wonderful way to remember to celebrate being alive.

Yes, it was hard for a while. A couple of years ago I would hesitate to even tell people my birthday. But now it’s fine.

I ask about age because I wonder if there is any career advice – looking back now on your culinary path from the wizened age of 40 – that you might offer to your twenty-something self.

I think I’ve covered a lot, so it’s difficult to say I should have done this or that. I think the only thing that I would change is that I would have participated in more culinary competitions. But I discovered that only a while ago. I competed a couple of times in Miami; I was named Star Chef in 2006. It’s really wonderful to have that kind of experience. It’s exciting. I love to do TV shows. I’ve done a lot on Spanish TV, and I still do, but if I were to go back I would start doing that earlier.

Next up, Flores faces TLK’s Quickfire Questions…

You’ve seen Top Chef, of course, and they have the “Quickfire Challenge.” TLK has “Quickfire Questions.” Give me the first one-word answer that comes to your mind when I say:

Favorite dessert to make?

Chocolate cake, always.

Favorite dessert to eat?

Apple pie.

Favorite song to listen to while baking?

Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.

Sweet or tart?

Tart.

Dark chocolate, milk chocolate or white chocolate?

Dark chocolate.

Coffee, tea, or liqueur with dessert?

Coffee.

Apart from Sandoval restaurants, favorite restaurant in the world.

(Laughs) I can’t deny it, I love Morimoto.