Jorge Guzman is a partner and executive chef at the contemporary Mexican restaurant Sueno, in downtown Datyon. He also spends time in Minneapolis- running his restaurant Petite Leon, for which he recently nominated for a prestigious James Beard award for Best Chef, one of the highest honors in the culinary world. This is his 3rd nomination.
Born in Mexico City and raised in Mérida and the Yucatán, before relocating to Missouri when he was five. He spent summers in Mérida, surrounded by his grandmother, aunts and cousins around the big family table, give him a deep connection to the region and its cooking traditions. “It’s hard to convey the emotion I have for Mérida over written word. It is my home.”
Jorge recently made time to answer our standard Chef 10 questions:
I don’t have a favorite ingredient to cook with but I find vegetables to be more complex and enjoyable to cook with. You can do so much with vegetables and the choices are endless.
What ingredient do you dread?
I don’t really dread any ingredient but I really hate pealing shrimp for some reason.
What’s your favorite dish to make?
Right now my favorite dish to make is Frijol con Puerco. Its a traditional pork and bean stew from the Yucatàn. I grew up eating it and I really love cooking it. The smells and flavors really remind me of home.
What’s your favorite pig out food?
I have a major sweet tooth! In Minneapolis we have a bakery thats about 2 blocks away from our current home called Black Walnut. I can’t walk out of there without a box full of pastries for me and the family.
What restaurant, other than your own, do you like to dine at in the Miami Valley?
I really don’t get out much when I’m here because I’m working most of the time but if I can snag a sandwich from Grist its always a treat, as well as their focaccia bread . . .so good.
Focaccia from Grist
What’s your best advice for home chefs?
Be ok with failing and with being scared to try something new.
If you could invite any 4 guests to a dinner party who would they be and why?
My wife’s brother, he died 6 years ago and I never got the chance to meet him
My sister who passed away shortly after birth before I was born, i think it would have been great to have an older sister
My best friend Scott who passed away while we were in college, we were supposed to take this culinary journey together and I think he’d be proud of me, to see how far I’ve gotten
Who do you look up to in the industry and why?
There are quite a few chefs and operators that I look up to in the industry.
What do you do in the Miami Valley on a day off?
Really love hiking, there are some really great spots here.
Share a kitchen disaster, lucky break or other interesting story:
I think getting the job at Surly (Surly Brewing in Minneapolis) was a really amazing thing for me. It finally gave me a platform to show people and the industry what I was capable of. I’m thankful for that I had the opportunity to work there at the time that I did.
Chef Jorge Guzman at the Brewer’s Table in 2015. Photo by Aaron Davidson
Sueño
607 E 3rd St,
Dayton, OH 45402-2120
(937) 453-0008
Tues- Sat 5-10pm
