Nation’s Restaurant News
Aarón Sánchez Continues Family Culinary Tradition
by Erica Duecy
August 1, 2005
Fine Mexican Cooking runs through the veins of Aarón Sánchez. The son of well-regarded New York chef Zarela Martinez of Zarela restaurant, Sánchez, too, has become an ambassador of Mexican cooking, now with two restaurants in New York. Paladar, which opened in 2000, is a pan-Latin destination, while Centrico, his new project with restaurateur Drew Nieporent, focuses entirely on regional Mexican dishes interpreted with modern flair.
Previously a host of the Food Network's "Melting Pot," Sánchez will go head-to-head in battle with Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto in "Iron Chef America" July 31.
Title: chef-owner, Centrico, and chef-owner, Paladar, both in New York
Birthdate: Feb.12, 1976
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Career Highlights: working with Paul Prudhomme; opening Centrico and Paladar
What made you interested in becoming a chef?
From a very young age I was surrounded in that environment. Being Mexican and the way I was brought up, food is a focal part of our lives. Food and family and home are very important. My mom grew up in a cattle ranch in Northern Mexico, where there wasn't tons to do, so my mom and aunts and my grandmother were very active in the kitchen, experimenting with different styles of cooking from around the world. We moved to New York when I was an adolescent, and she was very busy trying to forge ahead with her career. In order to spend time with her, I'd have to go to the restaurant. I was an incorrigible young man, very difficult to handle at times and not very disciplined, so a kitchen is a good place for a kid like that because it gives you structure, and there are rules. I thrived in that environment, so it was a logical path to take.
What was your first restaurant job?
I worked on and off in my mom's kitchen, prepping and washing dishes. One of my most important stops along the way was working with Paul Prudhomme at K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans. I worked there at 16 [years old] and 18. Not only did he serve as a mentor to me as a young cook, but he also was a father figure and helped form my views as a man. He was an extremely integral part of my life. That was where I was a bit with the bug. Then I came back and worked with Douglas Rodriguez at Patria, and that was a really exciting environment, where I learned about the elegance and sophistication that Latin cuisine has. It transformed this grassroots family food I was eating into something really special.
How does Paladar's cuisine differ from Centrico?
At Paladar we do things with the sensibility of a Latin bistro. It's a very fun neighborhood restaurant that does well-priced, creative, global Latin food. I give and take from the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Mexican, but it's more of a Neuvo Latino style. At Centrico I'm 100-percent focused on fresh, refined versions of regional Mexican dishes. It's the food I've always wanted to cook. I've felt that this restaurant is great for so many reasons. I'm so fortunate to be involved with Drew [Nieporent] and the Myriad Restaurant Group. They have given me support, and we really see eye to eye on so many things. It's really seldom that you have that kind of understanding.
Which regions of Mexico do you focus on at Centrico?
What I want people to understand about Mexican food is that it's like any other culinary superpower. As in France, Italy or Spain, people cook regionally. They cook what's grown there. The food has enormous amounts of influence from all over. You have a pre-Hispanic, indigenous foundation in Mexico before the Spanish came. You have enormous amounts of German and European influence in the north of Mexico, a lot of Afro-Cuban influence in places like Veracruz and Lebanese influence in the Yucatán. The places I focus on most are Michoacán, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Mexico City and Yucatán.
What advice do you have for aspiring chefs who want to be on TV?
You have a lot of fantastic chefs out there who want to be on TV. To be very honest, I don't think it's learnable. You have to be very multifaceted. You have to be charismatic; you have to have presence. You have to connect with the camera and with your audience; you have to have a genuine sincerity in the way you come across. And not everybody is likable on television. People are different in person than they are on television, and that's really it. It's tough. When you're molded into being a television personality, there's a certain authenticity and genuineness that's not there. They say the camera never lies. I've been fortunate because I'm not an actor; I'm a chef. So I'm not overly concerned with my performance, and I just act natural.
Describe your culinary style.
I try to support local farmers and seasonal produce as much as I can. I'm very involved in the slow food way of thought, supporting sustainable agriculture. I subscribe to the whole garden-to-the-plate style of cooking with as little manipulation as possible I'm a firm believer that you have to get very good ingredients and do very little to them. Mexican cuisine really lends itself to that philosophy. You can create big flavors in Mexican cuisine without doing too much to it. I like reinterpreting classical dishes. There's a reason classic dishes stand the test of time.
What's an example of a reinterpreted dish at Centrico?
A mojo de ajo is something I do. It's a whole fish or shellfish dish that's roasted with olive oil, tons of garlic and some chiles. In my version I've added shellfish stock, butter, cilantro, parsley and mint, and added some tomatoes to add a little different contrast of flavors.
It's a misconception that people think Mexican cuisine is heavy, that it's all about cheese and tortillas. Mexican food in its essence is very light, very dependent upon chiles and herbs and nuts and spices. So the food tends to be very light when done the right way.
Do you think Mexican cuisine is evolving in the States?
Absolutely. People want a more heightened experience from Mexican cuisine. You can do a very marginal Mexican restaurant and be successful. It's the restaurants that are working hard to break away from that, like Centrico, that are going to be sought out.
As America becomes more "Latinocized," people are becoming more educated about Mexican food. The ingredients that Latinos and Mexicans cook with are becoming more available--stuff like epazote, oja santa, cuitlacoche. Before it was a challenge to get people to eat this food. Now people are seeking it out, so there's a bigger interest in eating Mexican food prepared well.