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Dining Guide: Change for the better by Mike Roberts
MySouthEnd.com ContributorWednesday Mar 3, 2010 New Executive Chef Nuno Alves keeps it fresh and fun at 33 and STIX
Some of the most successful, progressive companies of our time, like Apple, Zipcar and Netflix, pride themselves and thrive by following a fluid business model. They constantly experiment, innovate, and alter current and prospective products to better satisfy their customers. Nuno Alves, the newly hired Executive Chef at both 33 Restaurant and STIX, employs a similar strategy in the kitchen.
With a genuine and zealous excitement for food, Alves explained how the restaurants’ owners sought him to revamp their entire menus with his imaginative, bold cooking style. He credited his distinctive techniques to his family and upbringing, where at a young age his culinary interest was sparked and his development began.
"I come from a very big family-very foodie. We used to butcher our own meat and cure it. We grew our own produce and raised our own chickens," he said, joking, "People are surprised when I say I grew up in Cambridge."
Born off the coast of Africa and Portugal on the Island of Açores, Alves immigrated with his family to the United States at the age of five. As one of 11 children, he grew up in East Cambridge surrounded by food at all angles-learning recipes and techniques from his mother and the aspects of butchering from his father. The young aspirant took his first job as a butcher, which was followed by a nine-year cooking stint at Cambridge City Hospital where his inventiveness started budding.
"Working at the hospital and trying to create dishes that tasted really good for all the patients with different dietary limitations was a very tough thing to do," he explained.
Foregoing any formal training, Alves subsequently took an entry-level position at Harvard Square’s Rialto, where he studied under acclaimed chef Jody Adams. After nine years of absorbing information, his skills improved to the point where he held the position of sous-chef.
Greg Den Herder, Managing Partner of 33 Management Group, explained that because they were redefining their restaurants’ images and menus, they would need a particular type of chef to take on the task. 33 Restaurant will continue to offer contemporary American cuisine, but STIX is taking a different angle by now offering a menu consisting of half contemporary vegan food and half organic meats.
"We heard of Chef Alves through a friend and we had him come over and cook for us on Thanksgiving. He cooked half conventional foods and half vegan foods and people were eating the vegan foods more than the other foods. We knew we found our chef," he said.
After the meal, the owners hired Alves and he has since been tirelessly developing new dishes and slowly implementing them into the menu. By combining recipes he learned from his family and his own creativity, he experiments with new plates and offers them as daily specials to customers or tests them on the owners. The new menus should be completed by April.
"With a little deconstruction of the traditional dishes, I want to make clean, intense, and bold flavors, but emphasize the product most. A piece of beef is a piece of beef, no masking flavors," said Alves.
In an effort to assure freshness, he has been working closely with regional farmers and purveyors to incorporate local ingredients into the dishes.
"They tell me what is in season and I plan my menu around that," he said. "For instance, if eggplant is coming out I’ll go eggplant heavy. If a hog is being slaughtered, we’ll get ready to use it head-to-tail, like mom always did."
Outside his professional life, Alves stays involved with cooking with nonprofit organizations, including The Food Project and Future Chefs, among others.
"You get a big smile after they get to eat what they picked and cooked themselves. I bring the protein, they supply the vegetables and the kids," he said, explaining The Food Project.
After being a judge at Future Chefs, a competition for high school students, he was so impressed with one participant’s skills that he decided to hire her to his staff at 33 Restaurant.
Karla Figuerla-a Malden-native and Future Chef champion-has been working closely with and learning from Alves daily.
"We learn a lot of techniques and make good food with good people. It’s fun," she said.
To which Alves replied with a big smile, "If you can’t have fun, you shouldn’t be in the industry."
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