In the seventies, a culinary movida instigated by a group of the best French chefs at the time swept the western world and took hold big time. Radically altering the old classic style - cooking became lighter, mostly in fat content. That was Nouvelle Cuisine (soon embraced by Italy as Nuova Cucina - even the term Nueva Cocina was heard by some of us).
Douglas
Rodriguez, chef-owner of highly acclaimed Patria restaurant
in New York City has developed a unique style with South American and
Caribbean dishes and published a cookbook titles Nuevo Latino;
this title has become a label for his style. I have never been at Patria,
but I did attend a cooking class given by Mr. Rodriguez, and I can tell
you t hat this gentleman, besides being an excellent cook, possesses a
thorough understanding of the ingredients he uses.
In his hands Nuevo Latino is terrific!
Nouvelle Cuisine was a genuine movement, Nuevo Latino is not. What's the difference???
Nouvelle Cuisine was led by the best chefs of France, all born there, using the local ingredients they grew up with, mostly updating the classic recipes that have been around for generations. Make no mistake: plenty of poor quality food was served, usually by imitators, the unscrupulous wanting to capitalize on the trend or the inept ones who had no solid culinary foundations (i.e. they had no idea what they were doing).
Nuevo Latino, is it actually evolves beyond being a label for Douglas Rodriguez's style, can be more accurately described a fusion cooking - combining ingredients and techniques from two or more cuisines. Just a handful of cooks here in the Bay Area turn out good results combining local, Oriental and Mediterranean cuisines. Most fusion cooking however presently ranges from mediocre to abominable, in my opinion.
Other than Mexican (and only some of that), Hispanic food is not very well known in this area. Spanish has gained some popularity recently, but Central and South American cooking is still a mystery to most. We don't do "Nuevo" for an audience that is not yet familiar with the "original".
Here at Timo's we do the "real thing".
Carlos
(Timo) Corredor
May, 2000