Chef José Luis Chávez arrived in the United States ten years ago. But he did not do it like the great cook he once was in Peru, where his name and reputation were sky high.
Instead, he came to live in the house of his mother-in-law. him, upstate New York. His first jobs were at a Denny’s and a pizzeria.
After a year, he and his wife moved to Brooklyn and he started working at a Tommy Bahamas restaurant on Fifth Avenue, where he was a line cook.
In that place she met the chef who would be a turning point in her life, because when that chef went to another company, helped Chavez get a job at the prestigious New York Palace hotel. Then came the opportunity to work as a sous chef at the now-defunct Bagatelle restaurant, where, although Chavez says he worked hard, the pay wasn’t good. “But it was the school he needed,” he said.
Three and a half years later, the company sent Chávez to France for a culinary project in Cannes, and it was there that he met Brice Mastroluca, his current partner in Mission Ceviche, the project he has led to the top of the world of cuisine to this 37-year-old chef.
Chavez’s restaurant –who was born and raised in Venezuela until the 21 years–, serves Peruvian food in a modern style, although ceviches are still the specialty. The venue, located in the heart of Manhattan, is considered one of the best in the city.
Last year this place had a record number of diners, between 400 and 500 daily.
Mission Ceviche also is included in the coveted Michelin guide, which placed it on the number 44 site in all of New York.
In the six years since the chef opened his first restaurant – he opened three small premises before that no longer exist in different parts of the city – this is the first time that his company has made a profit for him.
“And a bigger project is coming yet”, said the chef, without offering further details.