( ENSPIRE Interviews ) Skilled Chef Alan Vargas Has Multiple Restaurants Active Throughout the City
ENSPIRE Contributor: Martin Draus
Professional and multi-talented chef Alan Vargas is a large influencer in the restaurant industry. Vargas serves top-quality modern American-style food in his restaurants throughout New York. His restaurants like The Consultant and Recette score high star ratings and are loved by many, and his menus are unmatched by other competing restaurant chains.
Alan Vargas got his interest in food at an early age in the Dominican Republic. He would help his father at a young age by cooking dishes for family dinners and events. After graduating from school in New York, Vargas began to travel around the world trying new cultural recipes and dishes. It was after all his travels that he decided the kitchen would be his life’s career. Vargas went to culinary school and after that, he worked in many restaurant and catering jobs. It was a long journey before Vargas established his restaurants in New York, but his success was well deserved.
Every dish that Vargas makes is made with his love and passion for cooking. He loves to cook everything, but his favorite dish is braised short ribs. Vargas says that cooking the ribs makes his place “smell amazing while cooking.” Every dish served is made perfect because of Vargas’s many years of practice and skill. “Everything with practice becomes easy, but I can say fish or shellfish might be hard in the beginning to cook for chefs.”
Alan Vargas may be known as a professional chef now, but there was a time when he didn’t have that plan. “Before I decided to give the kitchen career a shot, my plan in life was to enjoy every day and find the best parties to go to.” He traveled most of the world, and from all the countries that Vargas has visited in the past, “the top two countries with the best food are France and Italy.”
Once Vargas knew he wanted to become a chef and he graduated from culinary school, he took many different job opportunities. He worked in multiple different restaurants across the city and catered to many different people of different social statuses. “Out of all my previous jobs, my favorite has to be when I was a private chef because I got to meet lots of celebrities and fly on private jets.”
After all of his different careers, Vargas chose New York as the base for his restaurant chain. “It is the capital of food & restaurants and I knew it was the place I needed to be. I tried living in Miami for a few years but knew I needed to go back to NY.”
Vargas has worked most of his life in the culinary industry and he has gained incredible knowledge to share. He stated that his most important advice to younger chefs is that “you never know who you could learn something from, there is always something new to learn.” Vargas continues to learn new recipes, and he makes new specials every day at all of his restaurants. “That is what I have become known for. So every day there is a new one to reveal.”
Alan Vargas is a true role model for chefs and cooks around the world. He is full of passion for his culinary work and he has put forth a lot of hard work to achieve his success. Vargas is far from done with sharing his recipes with the world and inspiring more young chefs to rise in the culinary industry.
