Latino Foodways
Smithsonian Con Sabor! 2007

 

 

Celebrity Mexican Chef Zarela Martinez

"From my childhood on, cooking meant sharing and security and a way of "speaking" to people. When I grew up I found that cooking grew also to be a means of celebrating and honoring those who would eat meals that I'd carefully prepared from scratch. Over the years as I lived and thought and learned, cooking grew even more to embrace nearly every aspect of culture and human relationships. I have been lucky to make my career as chef, consultant, and businesswoman an never-ending source of joy and fulfillment."

 

The Smithsonian Latino Center’s featured chef for the ¡Smithsonian Con Sabor!2007 gala…Zarela Martínez.

 

Zarela Martínez, one of this generation's leading U. S. restaurateurs, was born and raised in Mexico but began cooking professionally during the late 1970's in El Paso, Texas. With the encouragement of Paul Prudhomme and Craig Claiborne, who had been impressed by her exquisite Mexican food, she made some nationally noted guest-chef appearances and in 1983 moved her business to New York.  Here she quickly made her mark as menu-designer and later executive chef for Cafe Marimba, the city's first serious attempt to recreate regional Mexican cuisine with local resources.  A loyal following of diners and food writers responded eagerly when in 1987 she decided to start her own restaurant, Zarela.

 

"Zarela Martinez and her namesake restaurant, Zarela, are Manhattan institutions, responsible for exposing this city's diners to a Mexico more multifaceted than most Mexican restaurants visit."
New York  Times 2006  

 

To learn more about our celebrity chef…click on link below:

http://www.zarela.com/aboutzarela.html

 

Read more...My Roots by Zarela Martínez

 

 

Featured Recipe

 

Menu for ¡Smithsonian Con Sabor!2007[Coming Soon!]