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Humble Rise Get our Health
Top chef Jose Garces is a super-nice guy on a major roll. & Wellness
supplement
B Y D A WPUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 19, W AT 08:06 AM D
N E . 2008 A R E N FREE!
Jose Garces stands tall as
Iron Chef America host Mark
Dacascos introduces him to
the nation’s insatiable Food Subscribe today »
Network groupies. Under
bright lights and the ominous ADVERTISEMENT
gaze of the show’s resident
chefs, Garces is decked out in
his signature black chef’s
coat, arms folded as he
declares Southwestern
cuisine master Bobby Flay
his competitor. The
Grilled sirloin with arroz con crema and tomatillo escabeche embodies chef challenge: to create five
Jose Garces’ Mexican panache.
dishes that include melon, a
See recipe. Photos by Steve Legato
frozen component and a
secret ingredient.
Cool as cucumbers, Garces and Flay shake hands, gather their ingredients and head to opposite
sides of the kitchen. Dacascos gives the command, and the “Battle of the Brain Freeze” is on.
For the 36-year-old Garces, this has to be a cakewalk—especially in light of everything he’s juggling
in Philadelphia right now. The mastermind behind Amada, Tinto and Distrito, Garces has a fifth
Philly restaurant, Chifa, coming in January. He’s also co-written a new cookbook called Latin
Evolution, and is featured in an upcoming Thanksgiving Food & Wine spread. And then there’s
Mercat a la Planxa, a restaurant in his native Chicago.
It took a half hour or so, but Garces’ solemn look finally gives way to his signature smile. Soon
enough, he’ll be serving up a rare defeat for Flay, who has 19 Iron Chef wins thus far. The episode
aired Aug. 17 , and for a week afterward, Garces’ Philadelphia restaurants served the winning dishes.
One, Desayuno, features fresh melon, quail egg and bacon crisp served with cream and maple and
cooled with an espresso granite.
While it’s all jelling for Garces these days, his humility is
the antithesis of the super-sized temperament seen in
many chefs of his caliber. Try to push for war stories, In the Current Issue
and he’ll play up the positives. Midway through a story
about the sprinklers going off at Amada just before January 2012
service, he shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah it’s stressful, but
I have a supportive wife who lets me be who I want to
be, and my mother and my brother are in my life every
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2. day, so I’m always reminded of what matters most,”
Once on the grill, the steak is seared on
Garces says. “I don’t worry as much about the both sides. Features
restaurants as I do about how I can be involved with
'Backwards' Stars James Van Der Beek and
—and have an impact on—my kids. I’ve worked very hard to make all this work.” Haverford’s Sarah Megan Thomas »
St. Rocco Church Welcomes Mexican
Back in Center City, a week before the airing of the Flay smack-down, Garces is preparing for a Immigrants in Avondale »
photo shoot in the sleek, minimalist kitchen of his Race Street home. It’s part of a great room that Emlen Tunnell: NFL Hall of Famer and All-
boasts floor-to-ceiling windows, a two-way fireplace and an overstuffed L-shaped leather sofa. In Around Nice Guy »
the background, a hip mix of Music Choice tunes spills out of a large flat-screen TV. There’s not a Empty-Nesters Choose Renovation Over
Downsizing »
hint of ego in the vicinity—only the satisfied aura of a man living out his dream.
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The son of Ecuadorian parents, Garces grew up in Chicago. As a young boy, he loved to cook New and Popular Cosmetic Procedures for
the Face »
alongside his grandmother, who rewarded him with a strong foundation in Latin cuisine—and lots of
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delicious treats. Earthquake »
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“I was a chubby kid,” says Garces. “I spent a lot of time Kickboxer, Mother and More »
in the kitchen with my grandmom and mom, always
saying, ‘Let me try.’” Departments
Remembering Haiti Two Years After the
Garces first pursued his passion for cooking at Chicago’s Earthquake »
Kendall College. Then he interned at La Taberna del New York Travel: Glenmere Mansion »
Alabardero restaurant in Marbella, Spain, where he
A. Roy Smith: Preservationist of the Year »
explored Spanish cooking in greater depth before
Wayne Art Center's Craft Forms 2011 »
heading to New York. This turned out to be a perfect
Slicing the meat into hearty chunks
career move for Garces, who ended up working in the
kitchens of Douglas Rodriguez, the pioneer of Nuevo Latino cooking. Under Rodriguez’s guidance,
Garces began to apply his classical training and modern techniques to traditional Latin dishes. Related Articles
At the start of the decade, Garces arrived in Philadelphia as a protégé of Stephen Starr. His first
appointment was as executive chef at Alma de Cuba, also run by Rodriguez. Two years later, he was
picked to run the kitchen at El Vez, a position that gave him the confidence he needed to start
planning his own culinary empire.
In the spring of 2004, Garces left Starr to try a concept he’d been dreaming about since his last year
of culinary school, when he conceived the blueprint for Amada, a true Spanish tapas restaurant. He
recalls the flood of worry that consumed him during the early stages of Amada. “My brother and I
were standing amidst a pile of rubble with a million dollars of our and others’ money on the line,” he
says. “The excitement over breaking ground was mixed with extreme feelings of being
overwhelmed. We both shared a few tears, scared to death.”
At the time, the city hadn’t seen anything like Amada, and it got high marks for its authenticity,
quality of food and excellent service.
“I had no idea Amada would take off the way it did,” Garces admits. “We were busy, but it took some
time to build up a clientele. Although I had a lot of exper-ience, having your name attached 110
percent made things seem tougher. If the restaurant had a night of bad service, it took an emotional
toll. Keeping the big- picture view went a long way.”
For Garces, his triumphant return to Chicago was a
“total win-win.” For Mercat a la Planxa (Off the Grill), he
partnered with the Sage Restaurant Group to create the
fun, modern Catalan-inspired tapas restaurant. His name
is on the marquee, with full creative rights and minimal
obligations.
“This is my home,” says Garces of Philadelphia. “But it’s
always been a dream of mine to go back to Chicago.”
Introducing audiences to different cultural influences
—and doing so with genuineness, originality and a
healthy respect for nature—is at the core of Garces’
culinary success. Fresh, simple, authentic ingredients
reign at his restaur-ants, whether it’s the tapas at Amada
and Mercat a la Planxa, the modern Mexican fare at
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3. Distrito or the Basque-style small plates at Tinto. Clever
combinations, juxtapositions and unexpected twists
elevate every dish to a level worthy of an esteemed Tuna toro with migas and Serrano-verdial
James Beard nomination. escabeche
With his new book, Latin Evolution (co-written with Philadelphia magazine’s April White), Garces
hopes to inspire both professionals and ambitious home cooks to go Latin at home. The
“evolution,” says Garces, involves bringing American ingredients into the mix.
“You don’t have to make the entire recipe; you can take snippets,” he says. “The recipes are not so
hard and fast, although each dish does have several components. There is an extensive list of
sources and substitutions, which hopefully will ease any intimidation.”
Lately, Garces has been in hot pursuit of Latin cuisine with an Asian flair. Following this fall’s book
tour, he’ll be traveling to Peru and China to sample the flavors of Lima, Hong Kong, Canton and a
handful of other cities. He hopes to incorporate what he
learns into Chifa, his fourth and final Philly fling.
“After Chifa, I’m closing up the Philadelphia concept so I
can focus on maintaining and managing the
restaurants,” Graces says. “I’ve seen what happened to
Stephen [Starr]; it’s easy to cannibalize yourself by
putting so many restaurants in the same market. You
push yourself out.”
And besides, he says, “Everything after Amada is gravy.
”
Main Line restaurateur Scott Morrison has the utmost
respect for Garces’ culinary vision and staying power.
“Going from three to four [restaurants] is a lot different
than from one to two,” says the man behind Nectar,
Tango and Maia. “Jose’s proven there’s room for more
Dungeness crab guacamole with Belgian than one key operator, and he’s established himself as a
endive and garlic chips person with a following and the ability to build people
around him. He also understands and knows how to give people what they want—and do it without
being intimidating.”
Ultimately, Garces contends, it’s not about creating the perfect dish. “The fun comes from creating
an interest in an unfamiliar cuisine and getting people to be excited about eating—not just for
sustenance—and making them feel taken care of,” he says.
The day before our interview, Garces and his family had just returned from a weekend away
—something most multi-tasking chefs of his stature can only fantasize about.
“The stars are in line and balanced right now,” says Garces. “There’s a lot going on, and I’m still
working a 60-hour week. But I am at the point where I can take a weekend off.”
Family is important to Garces, and he aspires to give that same quality of life to his chefs. “It’s easy
to burn out in this business, so I tell them, ‘Go be with your families,’” he says. “You just don’t
know. You could walk out the door and get run over by a bus.”
Jose Garces’ Local Empire:
Amada 217 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, (215) 625-2450, amadarestaurant.com
Tinto 114 S. 20th St., Philadelphia, (215) 665-9150, tintorestaurant.com
Distrito 3945 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, (215) 222-1657 , distritorestaurant.com
Chifa 7 07 Chestnut St., Philadelphia (coming soon)
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