Q & A with Josh DeChellis

Josh DeChellis is a jack-of-all-trades in the food world.  He was born in Colombia, got his first job in an Italian joint in New Jersey, and has since cooked everything from French to Asian to tempura.  DeChellis trained at the CIA, then went on to work with such notable chefs as Wolfgang Puck, David Bouley, Jean-Georges, and Charlie Trotter.

DeChellis had dinner at Rocco DeSpirito’s Union Pacific and and decided he wanted to work there.  Following Union Pacific,  he went on to opened a few restaurants of his own, including Sumile, a Japanese restaurant, and a modern American tempura spot called BarFry. 

These days, Josh DeChellis is tackling modern Spanish cooking at the newest incarnation of La Fonda del Sol.  His bar room menu features  tapas, like patatas bravas and black mission figs with serrano ham and goat cheese.  In the more formal, back dining room, there’s cochinillo (suckling pig) paired with Marcona almonds, brussels sprouts, and smoked dates. 

Single/Married/Divorced?
Married

How are you and the new baby
doing? 
Very well!  He is loud, doesn’t sleep
at night and eats like an ox…I thought that was the adolescent years!

What did you want to be when you
grew up?
Happy

You were born in Bogota, Colombia.  Have you ever considered opening up your own
Columbian restaurant? 
I have no memories of Bogota seeing as how I
was only a resident for about 30 days..as in 30 days old. I don’t really have
an interest in Columbian food as a professional endeavor.

What was your first job in food?
What did you learn?
My first job was washing dishes,
bussing tables, prepping food and waiting tables at a little Italian joint in
NJ run by two hippies. What did I learn? That food can be beautiful, that there
is alternative to wearing a suit to work, and most importantly I made the
realization that making people happy through food is very satisfying.

After working under Wolfgang Puck at
Postrio, he sent you off to France to study French cooking.  What is the most important lesson
you’ve learned from that time, and how have you incorporated it into your own
cooking?
He sent me (I figure) to learn not
only technique but to understand the relevance of gastronomy and how a country
that is known for it nourishes those who excel at it. The most important thing
I learned was the modern application of France‘s life long love for
gastronomy as told indirectly through very important figures of the time, Alain
Passard, Alain Senderens and Pierre Gagnaire. 1997 was a very good time to be
in Paris:
technique was still French classical more-or-less, which was awesome to see
before anyone had even heard of foam. The favorite dishes I saw seemed proud,
modern yet timeless and that set a standard for me to strive for.

You had previously worked in both San Francisco and New Jersey
– what drew you to New
York?
I was drawn to the Big Apple because
at the time hearsay dictated that some of the best food was happening here, and
it is the most gastronomically diverse city that was accessible to me. I wanted
to work at Daniel more than anything in the world…until I had dinner at Union
Pacific.

You went from Japanese at Sumile to tempura at BarFry – now you’re cooking modern
Spanish cuisine at La Fonda del Sol.  
What inspired such sharp changes in culinary concepts?  What would you have done differently
to keep Bar Fry afloat?

I have a big heart I guess, with
lots of room to love many cuisines and I love the idea of sharing some of my
unique experiences through restaurants. What would I do different… ha that’s
funny, a lot for sure but without seeing the changes it is hard to know if any
would change the way the public would or would not embrace a tempura shop.

You worked with Rocco DiSpirito at
Union Pacific when it was at its prime.  However, what has its closing
taught you about operating your own restaurants?

I was not at Union Pacific when it
closed so it’s hard to make a comparison. I learned tons of positive things
gastronomically and operationally that have stayed with me even today. I think
the opening of Rocco’s Italian nightmare diluted the focus and street-cred of
Rocco’s involvement of UP and we have all learned from that

You also spent time not only traveling through Singapore, but working in a few kitchens –
what kind of restaurants did you cook at?

I spent about 2 weeks there cooking
with Rocco at the Raffles Hotel and we took his food and integrated local
ingredients with it. We started out doing one menu and by the time we left it
had changed based on our learning curve of local ingredients and
technique.  It was amazing.  I learned what real Chinese food was and how
it is done at the sick Chinese spot in the Raffles. I learned about Malaysian
food from the Malaysian cooks in the kitchen and the hawker centers eating
chile crab till the wee hours. The best thing was to envelop myself in that
culture, see the highbrow and lowbrow of the local food there and its
influences by touring the markets to get to know the ingredients intimately.

You’ve worked in numerous kitchens
around the world.  Are chefs elevated to celebrity status in other
countries as they are in America? 

No, or not as much as they are in
America.

How has your experience been at La Fonda del Sol?  Do you think you’ll ever revisit Asian cooking?  You certainly have a flair for it…
I am so happy right now at La Fonda
del Sol learning more about Spanish food that I have not even considered it.

How do you think Spanish cooking has
evolved in America? 
How about Colombian cuisine?
Spanish food has historically
evolved very much due to its occupants at any given time throughout the
country. Spain obviously harbors some revolutionary chefs that have made a very
large impact on cooking techniques, and the country embraces that. However the
traditional foods of Spain’s
many different places are deeply loved and when looking at Spain from
outside it makes for a wonderfully diverse study of old and new.

La Fonda del Sol started out as a New York City Latin “theme restaurant” in
1960.  Do you ever try to cook the restaurant’s original dishes?
No. 
This time around the restaurant is focused on Spain,
not Latin America in general.  It would be hard to some of those dishes from
the 1960s La Fonda on the menu today.

What culinary trends do you
embrace?  Any that you wish would just die already?
I embrace the trend among truly
innovative chefs, who share information. The one I despise is the trend of
chefs not trying to find their own paths.

What is your favorite dish on the
menu at La Fonda del Sol?
Oh geez… that’s tough.  Right now the Summer Salad.  It takes some of the best ingredients from
the best gardens, mixing them judiciously. 
It has over 30 ingredients, like ambrosia melon, salad burnet, green
coriander seeds, flat beans, beets, sugar snap peas- it’s just a full sensory
experience.

What is your least favorite (and
yes, you must pick one)?
Jamón Iberico, only because I’ve
eaten so much of it that it’s added an inch to my waistline.

What is your favorite kitchen tool?
Microplane

Where do you like to go for a
delicious meal in New York City
(other than your own restaurant)?
Blue Hill, hands down.

Any new projects on the
horizon?  Spill the beans…
No, all my focus is into La Fonda
right now.

Address: 200 Park Ave.
Phone: (212) 867-6767