On her love of cooking
It started with my mother and the women in my family. They always loved to cook, and my mother always wanted to be a chef. When I was growing up she was taking some cooking classes but her parents wanted her to be a lawyer. My grandma managed a bakery. Every time she took care of me, she took me there. My sisters didn’t like it. I was the only one to pick up the love of cooking.
On growing up in the industry
When I was 14 [after moving to Houston from Mexico City], I was in a special academy that focused on careers. Chefs would come and talk about their lives and careers—everyone was so discouraging of becoming a chef. One day [chef Robert Price] came in, and he was so inspiring. I started [working in his kitchen at the Woodlands Waterway Marriott] when I was 15. Ever since then, I haven’t gotten a check not from a kitchen.
On meeting now-boss, chef Enrique Olvera
I would write letters to people I admire and one of them was sent to Pujol [Olvera’s flagship restaurant in Mexico City]. He answered the next day. [Around the same time], I came to New York for a James Beard event and during a dinner at Empellon Cocina with chef Alex Stupak, [I met Olvera]. The next day I was on a plane for one weekend at Pujol. I moved to the U.S. when I was 12, and I didn’t go back to Mexico to live until I started working at Pujol. I went there and fell in love.
On running the show as chef de cuisine at Cosme, Olvera’s 2014 New York debut
It’s always been a team effort. Without a team you’re literally nothing. That’s something I let anyone know in the kitchen. We started as a team and now we’re family.
On winning the 2016 Rising Star Chef of the Year from the James Beard Foundation when she was 25
I had no idea it was going to happen; it was truly a surprise. I still don’t believe it. That just means more pressure, but it’s incredible.
On always being the youngest person in the kitchen
Sometimes I would lie about my age. You’re a sous chef, and you can’t legally drink with the people you cook with.
On keeping her skills sharp
It should never be easy. It should be natural, not easy. You don’t know everything. Enrique is always putting me in my place. I like that.
A view of Cosme’s dining room, designed by Micaela de Bernardi and Alonso de Garay. Photography by Daniel Krieger.
On Cosme’s design, by architect Micaela de Bernardi and Alonso de Garay, one of Cosme’s owning partners
We like simplicity; we like clean. Much like the design, the food also should speak for itself.
On finding inspiration
I go on a bike ride or to a museum. Part of finding inspiration is having hobbies outside your comfort zone.
On what the future holds
I want to have a Mexican charcuterie bar. But my dream is to do what my mom did in Mexico [where she taught after school cooking classes] and to open a culinary school for kids.
