A native of Mexico City, chef grew up in his grandmother's kitchen, where he learned that cooking does not always have to be by the book. His innovative style led him to create many successful contemporary Mexican restaurants, including one of our favorites, Park Slope's —which has now has locations in Manhattan's East Village and Chelsea as well. Santibañez graduated from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He returned home to Mexico City and founded three highly acclaimed restaurants before serving four years as executive chef at Fonda San Miguel in Austin. He spent another five years as culinary director of NYC's restaurants before opening the first of his local Fonda restaurants, in 2009.Santibañez is also a celebrated cookbook author. His first release, Rosa's New Mexican Table, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Book Award. His second, Truly Mexican, was named a New York Times notable cookbook in 2011. Food & Wine honored his third, Tacos, Tortas and Tamales, as one of the best cookbooks of 2012. He graciously took the time to answer a few of our questions about the restaurant scene in NYC.
