How did your career as a chef begin?
I grew up cooking a lot with my mom, and when I moved to Austin for college, I really enjoyed throwing dinner parties for friends. Around that time, I realized I wanted to cook professionally. and once I graduated I applied for culinary school (the CIA Greystone). From there, I moved to New York City, with the sole intention of working at the amazing restaurants here and have happily been cooking here for the last 13 years.
As fellow diner lovers, we love that your current project is updating a classic diner while maintaining its quintessential diner features. How did you find the perfect balance between new and old?
It was really important to me when I came on to this project that my work honored the spirit of the diner, a place that welcomes all walks of life, and ensure that whatever menu I created read as welcoming and approachable. While that may seem like a limitation, I read it as an exciting challenge and an opportunity to make this a place that the community could turn to for a tasty and affordable meal, while still being able to scratch my creative itch.
Tell us about how your upbringing in Texas informed the new Kellogg's Diner menu?
I was elated when Louis Skibar, Kellogg's owner, asked me to feature some of my own culinary experience on the menu. There are so many really delicious, small Mexican restaurants where I grew up in South Texas that I frequented with my family, and putting things like migas, huevos rancheros and nachos (the flat ones, of course) was a direct nod to that part of my upbringing. Mexican food has been such a huge influence on my cooking style.
What’s your favorite part about the New York culinary community?
There are a multitude of facets about the New York culinary community that I love, but I think the main reason is just that New Yorkers love food! New Yorkers value the expansive culinary landscape the city has to offer and take a lot of pride in it. It fun to be in a city that gets as excited about food as I do. That's why i'm here! There are definitely a lot of cities that simply don't have much good food to offer and New York is the antithesis of that.
Do you have a favorite tex-mex restaurant in NYC?
Hands down, Yellow Rose. They do it so well and they keep it fresh and exciting, too! It's so great to have a Tex Mex restaurant that is so consistently delicious but also doing exciting things with the cuisine. People don't really tend to deviate or get creative with Tex Mex and I love to see how much fun they're having with it.
Follow along:
@killerjackalope
kelloggsdinernyc.com