Fermentation

Chicago native Victor Martinez, who worked his way up from his father’s bistro as a teen to some of the most respected kitchens in the country, is now bringing fundamental teachings to the culinary internship program at UHCHI. Victor’s upbringing in the kitchen is where he honed his love for cooking. After culinary school, Victor’s resume quickly took shape within the hotel Food & Beverage world. After positions at Hyatt, Sofitel, Renaissance, and Four Seasons, he started to look at cooking as an art form. Victor continued his career helping run the show at the luxurious Conrad Chicago, Hilton Oak Brook Hills Resort and The Drake Hotel downtown Chicago. During this time he was introduced into the world of teaching, assisting at Purdue University’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program. He became passionate about imparting the knowledge he had acquired through his 25 years experience to the next generation of chefs. Now he continues sharing his culinary knowledge and industry experience with his students at UNITE HERE Chicago Hospitality Institute’s Chef de Partie Apprenticeship Program.

I cook the food of the Upper Midwest with a Basque grandmother looking over my shoulder. Eighteen years in professional kitchens took me from a garde manger station in Milwaukee to opening three restaurants in Chicago, and the thing I care about most has not changed: a dining room that feels like somebody's house, with cooking that could only come from this place. At Marrow & Ember we run a live-fire hearth, a small farm program with four growers in Michigan, and a kitchen where every cook rotates through the whole line within a year. I also consult on menu development and kitchen operations for opening teams who want a program that can survive its second year.

Nigerian-American cooking that does not apologise for itself. I run the kitchen at Ìsàlẹ̀ in Bed-Stuy, where we build a nightly tasting menu around West African pantry staples — egusi, iru, smoked catfish, scotch bonnet — using technique I picked up in French kitchens in Manhattan. I came up through fine dining and spent four years wondering why nothing on those menus looked like the food I grew up eating. Ìsàlẹ̀ is the answer to that question.