What Makes A Great Chef. (Part 2 of 2)

"Outside of what is on the surface, I wouldn’t have enough time to tell you what makes a great chef, but I could tell you that when you see that greatness you simply sit back and applaud it for all of the work that led up to that moment."

I want to go back to the start of this piece, but I promise, I am going to talk more in detail about the above. When I was asked the question, (what makes a great chef?) I couldn’t help but to think of my own people leading our restaurants – Chef Juan at Lilia, Chef Dani at De Noche, and Chef Lalo at República. These three could not be more different from one another.

When I go back through that list, the one about their characteristics; drive, curiosity, energy, passion, humility… etc. they all share that. Looking at it from above, it's easy to see where one stands out from the other. I can tell you what I love about each one of them in great detail just as well as I could tell you about what drives me fucking nuts about the things they should be better at. But they are human, far from perfect, and I am okay with that. When Chef Lalo came to República he was just a kid. At barely 21 years old, what we loved so much about this young man was the way he composed himself around us.

He had all the characteristics you can ask for, especially at that age. Little by little, we all watched his development grow ten times by the day.  Outside of his lead (a young Chef Juan), Lalo began to move up the ranks faster than all of the other cooks. Every day he was given more and more responsibility and with it came more exposure to themes, conversations, and techniques that were new to him. Within only the first few months we knew that this young man was going to play a big role in the future of our organization. 

By the end of summer of 2022, we had parted ways with our old business partner, the late, great Chef Lauro, a story better left for another time. At that same time, our chef de cuisine (Chef Juan) who had been spearheading and completely changing the course of República over the last few months, was set to open his very own restaurant, Lilia. To Olivia and I, the future of República was simple: give it to the young chef who had outworked everyone else had rightfully earned it. And so, by the start of fall of that year, just months after joining República, we gave him the keys to shop. The next three months of República were pretty special. A combination of the vision of what we had set out to build from the start of it all, shaped by the beauty of what Chef Juan had created in only a matter of months, now being led by a hungry, driven, young chef at the most important stage of his professional life.

I will tell you for as much as we had going on during that time, more specifically opening seven different concepts in the span of eight months and being flat broke and in debt because of it, knowing that the future of República was in good hands was as good a consolation price as one could have.

By the start of 2023 we had no choice but to move República to a different location, it took 49 days from our last service at the old República and into the new space. I’m not sure how, but during that period we sent Chef Lalo to Japan, Oaxaca and Puebla, all with the idea of giving him as much exposure to new ideas before we launched the new space. Somehow, during that time he, Chef Olivia, Chef Lalo, and others in the team managed to spend the time side by side building out the new space. This is what was necessary to get it open in time. Much of the República that you see now stands there because of the work and sacrifice of this young man and the people in this organization… literally. 

And so we launched the next phase of República, a 10-course chef’s tasting dinner. I’ll be the first to say it, we were not ready for this. It didn’t matter how much we prepared or what our projections were, we were not ready for this. As an organization, Chef Lalo pushed República and himself into the deepest part of the water, only at the time we didn’t have a raft nearby, let alone flotation devices to keep us from a slow and painful drown.

We were not ready for this. 

Watching this city and the future of its hospitality industry become more unstable and uncertain by day as we attempted to go bigger instead of safer was not our best move, in retrospect. Watching this chef attempt to build the most progressive Mexico-forward restaurant in the history of this city while those in this city rejected its progressive ideas,  just wasn’t what we had on the cards; the mental, physical, and emotional beat down to this young chef as we watched his life's work overshadowed by an uncertain economy and the idea that the Portland of old was all but dead. The days of 64-70 average covers per night from the old concept was now but a miserable 22-25 on a good day, 30+ on special occasions… How was this even possible?!How is it that as an organization we had evolved to the greatest vision of what we set out to be; from the service, the food, the people, the narrative, the legacy… and yet, people aren’t taking notice?

We were not ready for this.

But then, one day, we just were. Look, I am skipping through and leaving out a lot of the story, because at the end of the day, how we got there isn’t as relevant as where he took this version of República.  

By 2024 we watched him settle into who he wanted to be. The story was a lot more linear, only with twists and turns along the way. Believe me, he will be the first to tell you that there were one or two misses that never quite came together during that period of growth and experimentation, but at the end, I like to believe that those misses were worth the lessons.

I’ll be honest, it wasn’t always easy working around this young man, maybe it’s the gap in our age or perhaps we are far too apart in personality… or maybe we are too much the same, who knows. Right now, the only thing that matters is that República continues to be the greatest Mexico-forward restaurant in the history of this city. During his tenure as Executive Chef he has taken the name and the vision to new heights, as a Chef and as a consummate professional. We are nothing but grateful to have been part of this journey, watching him grow and mature through the years was truly a privilege, collectively not just for us but for the rest of this community.

I have many great memories that I will keep to myself for now, eventually I’ll write a memoir or a screenplay about it all, who knows. If you heard me talking about República then certainly you’ve heard me say one thing loud and consistently: Chef Lalo is one of the great young Chefs in the country and one day, others will agree that he is one of the great young Chefs of our time. I mean this genuinely and wholeheartedly. I look forward to the the day far down the road, when I can look back with great admiration and pride and think to myself, “this is the same kid that came in on his days off to prep and experiment new ideas. The same kid who once argued with me across the table about how the accolades meant nothing to him if he wasn’t considered one of the best Chefs in history.” None of it made any sense and at the same time, all of it made sense, I just wasn’t listening well enough.

Before I wrap this up, I have to be truly honest about something. My greatest disappointment during his tenure didn’t come from him, not by a long shot, my greatest disappointment came from many of the people in this city; writers, foodies, press. For much of his tenure, our little hospitality group was plagued by the rumors perpetuated by a number of individuals within this city.

Truth is, I will never forgive or forget those who tainted this period of Chef Lalo’s brilliance, more specifically the period where he came into his own; his persona, his artistic vision, as a mentor, as a chef… much of it overshadowed by what I can only describe as a group of second rate mean girls whose sole purpose was to destroy everything that we stood for as an organization. Over 3 years of watching these people attempting to further their own broken, jealous, and tiresome narrative when they should have been focusing on the quality of their own careers, establishments, and character. Shame on them for attempting to rob him and most importantly his team of a greatness you have never or will ever experience on your own.

But… I digress.  

Look, I feel that I know this Chef well enough to say that when we look back at his career, much of his work will not reflect the style or direction he had during his tenure here. The good ones don’t recycle time periods of their life. Which is why, I will always feel that he should have received a lot more respect and attention for his brilliance than what he got in return.

Moving on 

So… this is it. To Chef Lalo this is where we say thank you, goodbye, and good luck. Unfortunately, I am not at good at this sort of stuff, so instead I’ll leave you with something someone once said to me:

"The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice"

Thank you for making us all better.

Thank you for being patient as we watched you execute your vision of greatness.

Thank you for choosing continuum over contentment.

Here’s to the next phase of your already incredible career.

Love,

República & Co.