[su_slider source=”media: 28762,28763,28764,28765,28766,28767,28768″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider]<\/p>\n
An apprentice in his mother Josefina\u2019s hole-in-the-wall restaurant nestled in the small desert city of Nazca, Peru, Carlos Altamirano\u2014then 23 years old\u2014had a decision to make: stay in his mother\u2019s kitchen, or chase his own culinary dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a child, I was always watching movies. [I thought] \u2018One day, I want to be there. One day I want to be in America,\u2019\u201d remembered Altamirano, who would routinely help his mother in the kitchen preparing traditional Peruvian stews and dishes, like Aj\u00ed de Gallina and Lomo Saltado, among others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, \u2018Mom, I love to cook. Maybe it\u2019s time for me to move on\u2026to America. Maybe I can do my career over there.\u2019\u201d
\nIt was the start to a culinary career rooted in humility, with Altamirano leaving his native homeland to start as a dishwasher at Restaurant Lulu on Folsom street in the SoMa in 1994.<\/p>\n
A decade later, he would open his first Peruvian restaurant, Mochica, in San Francisco, beginning what is today a Peruvian Bay Area restaurant empire that spans across the Peninsula to the East Bay. Chef Altamirano\u2019s latest venture, Parada in Walnut Creek, debuted in June 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cI [have] to thank my family first for the education that they gave me. So when I got the first job, I guess I just focused on what I was doing: just washing pots,\u201d said Altamirano, now 44. \u201cThat\u2019s where I met this excellent chef. He taught me a lot. He\u2019s just amazing. He inspired me to be something like him in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
That chef was the nationally renowned Reed Hearon, who nurtured Altamirano\u2019s talents, the same ones Altamirano had honed in his mother\u2019s kitchen in Peru.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw I was focused, and he said, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t want this kid just to be a dishwasher, I have to do something for him,\u2019\u201d said Altamirano, who became a chef under Hearon\u2019s guidance. \u201cHe saw that in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others saw it too. Working in various restaurants in the mid-1990s, Altamirano studied under numerous accomplished San Francisco chefs, borrowing a bit from each to forge a style completely his own. His talent growing, it wasn\u2019t long before Altamirano was faced with yet another decision: whether or not to venture out once again and start his own business. It was a decision that brought him back to his roots.<\/p>\n
It was late in 2003 when Altamirano took a month-long trip to Peru, visiting different cities while exploring the different foods and ingredients of his homeland, the ones that would eventually make his new San Francisco business a success.<\/p>\n
Mochica opened on Harrison Street in 2004, the name being a tribute to the ancient Moche civilization and culture of Peru. Altamirano\u2019s tapas bar, Piqueo\u2019s, in Bernal Heights followed in 2007, and La Costa\u00f1era\u2014the contemporary restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean just north of Half Moon Bay\u2014opened in 2009, earning a Michelin star three years straight in 2011, 2012 and 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have to say it\u2019s unreal,\u201d Altamirano said. \u201cBecause you\u2019re coming from Peru. You\u2019re coming from the bottom. And for me to achieve what I have right now, it\u2019s something unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Altamirano also founded Sanguchon, a Peruvian food truck and catering service, and is looking to expand his empire with another establishment in Emeryville, on which construction is scheduled to begin late next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not done,\u201d said Altamirano, whose passion for continuously exploring the hidden secrets of Peruvian cuisine while exposing people to food they\u2019ve never had hasn\u2019t waned. It\u2019s the same passion that was fostered in his mother\u2019s kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s very proud of me,\u201d said Altamirano of his mother. \u201cI\u2019m a mama\u2019s boy. I\u2019m very thankful she taught me back home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 28762,28763,28764,28765,28766,28767,28768″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] An apprentice in his mother Josefina\u2019s hole-in-the-wall restaurant nestled in the small desert city of Nazca, Peru, Carlos Altamirano\u2014then 23 years old\u2014had a decision to make: stay in his mother\u2019s kitchen, or chase his own culinary dream. \u201cWhen I was a child, I was always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":28762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7467,7469,7471,7473,7475,7465,7463,7477,7461,7479],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-28761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-carlos-altamirano-en","tag-la-costanera-en","tag-mochica-en","tag-nazca-en","tag-peru-en","tag-peruvian-cuisine","tag-piqueo","tag-reed-hearon-en","tag-restaurant-lulu","tag-soma-en","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n