We always love a good sip and a bite and there’s no one better to talk to about this than with a chef. We met Chef Chris Valdes during last year’s Food Network’s NYC Wine Food Festival and we have seen a number of his videos making incredible dishes that are full of flavor! We took some to ask him about how he got into the industry, his passion for food, and his martini and dish pairing that we should be putting into rotation as the days get longer and we settle into Spring.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so great to connect with you. We actually briefly met you last year at Food Network’s Food Festival here in NYC. You had some amazing Tostones – so tasty and it was cool to see you doing your thing.

CHEF CHRIS VALDES: Oh nice! You were at Foodie Con!

AM: Yes! We could see the building but couldn’t remember the event! It’s always a good time covering the food festival and that was a huge series of days and although we have covered this festival over the years, we had never done Foodie Con before.

What dish made you fall in love with food?

CHEF CV: I think that the first dish that made me fall in love with food was my mom’s Boliche! It’s a Latin style roast that is stuffed with chorizo and then you have to sear it and then you have to cook it for 4 hours, then you have to let it cool, slice it up, then you have to make the sauce for it which is peas and carrots and tomato sauce and red wine – then you have to cook it again!

So, if someone is making this for you in Latin culture, that means that they love you! This means that they think that you deserve the very best! My mom would make this for us for every birthday, every celebration, and I was always fascinated with how much work it takes, but it is so rewarding. She would serve it with rice and fried Hawaiian plantains and this little salad. When I think of childhood, when I think of falling in love within cooking, comfort, and love – that’s where my mind takes me right there.

AM: That sounds amazing and we have not had lunch yet, we want someone to make that for us!

When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef?

CHEF CV: At the age of 10, we lost everything. We lost our restaurant. My dad went away for 19 years and it was just all over the place. My mom and I moved into a small apartment building and I remember that we found out what satellite TV was and we got that and I was flipping through the channels and what seemed like a million of them, I stopped on one channel to see this guy go, “Bam!” I started having a vision of myself cooking, of myself clapping, feeding people, being with other people and cooking for them as well as seeing them happy. I didn’t know how to describe all of the things that I was seeing in my head. A few days later, I kept watching the same show which was Emeril Live and that took me to create my first dish which was Arroz con Pollo. Long story short, my mom and I sat down and ate my dish as we were watching Emeril.

AM: What inspires you in terms of the dishes that you create? Where are you pulling from and where do you get that inspiration from?

CHEF CV: I think that it just runs in my blood. I was born into a family who owned restaurants and food has always been part of my culture, my story, and my upbringing. Growing up next to my mom, she was always cooking so I would ask her why she added in things, why it smelled that way, and if I could help her. Mom took the time to always answer my questions, to help me, to let me cook with her, and to let me taste. She would let me see the ins and outs of running a family owned restaurant and how the clients would be so happy. They were always excited and asking for certain dishes to be made for the next day and to see that love and interaction was so important to me! It comes from that and I am Latino so it just is in our blood. I’m so grateful to be one of the fortunate ones that it runs in me.

AM: You recently partnered with Tanqueray and there is nothing like a good martini to pair with your favorite dish! With National Cocktail Day coming up, what is your favorite martini and what do you pair it with?

CHEF CV: Tanqueray has a martini for every occasion and whether it is a classic one like a Dirty Martini or something more trend forward like a Dirty Spring Gibson which is a take on the classic Gibson, it’s the perfect transition into warmer weather. I just love an Old Fashioned Martini. I don’t think that you need to mess around with it too much like a good gin such as the Tanqueray London Gin. A bit of that olive juice and a squeeze of lime and of course, the olive. You need the olives!

AM: Of course!

What dish would you pair with that?

CHEF CV: So, the dish that I would have with that is the one I did in collaboration with the South Beach Food and Wine Festival which is the Salchipapas con Salsa Rosada. For the Salchipapas, you’re going to fry the French fries and you’re going to grab some beef links and you’re going to cut them up and you will fry it in the same oil as the French Fries. So when the French Fries are cooked, they are going to absorb the beef link flavor – so you’re already starting on a good note. You’re going to bring them out of the fryer and you’re going to season them with a little salt and black pepper and you’re going to load it up with some Salchipapas Sauce which is the Salsa Rosada which is ketchup, mayo, pickle juice in there and you just mix it up and your pour it over the warm crisp French Fries. My doctor always asks me if I am eating my greens so I ad a little scallion just for color.

AM: Wow! That sounds amazing.

It’s been 5 years since One With the Kitchen came out. How has that been for you and can we expect another cookbook from you?

CHEF CV: I’m going to be celebrating shortly with a few national appearances and to do something with the book. It has been a love story to my culture and my heritage. I call it the book that just keeps on giving. The more I link to it and reference to it, the more I realize how much love I put into it. We were going through COVID and that was at a time where half the time I was donating 50,000 meals to people here in Miami and the other time I was doing the book. When I was doing the book, I was so focused and I was choosing the recipes, tapping into my childhood memories and I was going back and forth. It has been so special to me celebrate 5 years since this book dropped and I can’t believe that 5 years has already passed. We’re going to be celebrating in a nice and special way.

I’m also celebrating which is going to sound so weird as it has taken me 9 years. I have 100,000 subscribers on my YouTube channel and when I looked at how many I have uploaded, it has been well over 200 so it’s not a surprise. I had fallen asleep on it and it wasn’t until YouTube emailed me and said to claim my silver plaque award.