Byron Gómez, that’s the name of the Costa Rican chef who dreamed of becoming a policeman and a lawyer.
Recently, he was awarded a star by the prestigious Michelin Guide. He is the first Costa Rican chef to do so.
The Michelin Star is an award given to restaurants that offer exceptional cuisine. It is awarded every year and is based on the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavors, and consistency.
This recognition is proof of 20 years of a gastronomic career that has been full of professional and family sacrifices, not-so-good moments, and rewarding ones that can never be missed.
Byron was born in the hospital in Heredia province and grew up in Santo Domingo, Costa Rica. At the age of 8, he left with his parents for the United States.
He lived for many years in New York, then moved to Colorado, where after some time, he took the reins of a restaurant: BRUTØ of which today he is a partner and executive chef, the creator of all dishes, who manages the staff, and is in charge of the design of the ceramic plates to the music, the colors and the website.
It was through BRUTØ restaurant that Byron won the Michelin star.
It is worth noting that, the prestigious restaurant previously “wore different faces in the sense that it opened in 2019, in 2020 it passed Covid-19, many restrictions and all that.” It went from being a restaurant that served oysters, oysters, and pizza, to one that served Mexican food, and currently, “BRUTØ presents the tasting of 11 times, an experience of 2 hours and very high caliber in gastronomy worldwide speaking, let’s say in the sense of the Michelin star”.
READ MORE
Today, BRUTØ’s menu is characteristic of Byron Gómez’s cultural essence and history. While in New York he got to know a little of each country, “for me, eating oriental dishes from Africa, eating Asian and European gastronomy, that was something very normal, which is part of the cuisine that I do, without forgetting my Costa Rican essence, the techniques and also the flavors, all reflected in 11 dishes” he emphasized.
Among the dishes are: “Pejibaye with achiote, we have blood sausage, a recipe from my mother, and we have a dish called Furiseca, which is influenced by the people of the Bribri tribe of Talamanca. It is with techniques that they have used. I try to bring all that into the experience of the restaurant.”
During and after the Michelin star
Normally, the prestigious gastronomic guide takes a year to evaluate a restaurant when a new chef is announced, but BRUTØ received it in nine months.
“When there is a change of chef, the Michelin organization takes back the star because they have to see the stature of the chef, the food, the history if it is at the caliber, at the Michelin level. When I took the reins last year in March, the awards were in September, let’s say that from March to September was the moment when they (the gastronomy experts) arrived here, being able to verify that the food was of high class”, said Gómez.
The evaluation process is very discreet, the restaurant managers don’t even know about it, because they use different names in different restaurants.
Several aspects are evaluated: the presence of the dish, its history, the taste, the consistency, the service, the music, the ambiance, absolutely everything.
Byron’s past, present, and intentions
While we were talking with Byron Gómez about his roots in Costa Rica, those memories of his childhood in Heredia came up, “I had a very nice childhood in the sense that I had cousins, uncles, aunts, my family, they were always there on Sundays, they would come to the house and we would cook, share, eat arracacha, rice with chicken, things like that”.
Why did they leave Costa Rica and which country initially received them?
As we mentioned earlier, Byron was 8 years old and the option was of course to leave with his parents for the USA.
They left Costa Rica because an opportunity presented itself in New York, the city that welcomed them and where Byron grew up. “The focus of migrating was to have a better life, even though we didn’t live so bad in Costa Rica; my mom was a teacher, and my dad was a sales agent.”
His mom traveled first in 1995, eight months later his dad left and they both worked together, and then they were able to take both Byron and his two sisters with them. They went 16 months without seeing their parents.
Regarding his education…
He studied elementary and high school, when it came time for college Byron stressed, that there were no opportunities to attend one in the U.S. “because our legal status here did not allow us at that time to make those arrangements and have those opportunities, so that’s when I practically decided to embark on the culinary arts”.
As such he never attended any training center to receive a formal education, life and his experiences in different restaurants, and influences, led him to where he is today.
Everything he has achieved is thanks to his efforts, strength, the motivation of his parents who have always believed in him, “although sometimes they did not understand what I was doing, and I also sometimes doubted myself, I did not know why I was in those places, why I had opportunities, but everything has paid off and I feel very proud”.
Gastronomic experience
The first restaurant in which the Costa Rican chef worked was Burger King when he was 15 years old; the second was Friday.
Then he worked at the Sheraton Hotel. He spent approximately 10 years cooking in normal restaurants or non-haute cuisine restaurants.
At the age of 25, Byron decided to work in a restaurant that had one Michelin star, then he worked in another one that had two stars, he even became sous chef (second in command in a professional kitchen), in a restaurant that had three Michelin stars (the highest they can give worldwide), it is Eleven Madison Park, also named the best restaurant in the world in 2017 by 50 Best.
Let’s say that’s where his career in haute cuisine began.
He has been part of the Top Chef program and created the Pollo Tico project, in Avanti Boulder.
He is also considered the first Tico to participate in Top Chef in the United States, specifically in season 18; he is part of other television shows as a contestant and as a judge.
How does Byron define himself, according to his virtues and defects?
He says that, although the public today sees all the triumphant and everything he has achieved, he still feels that he is just starting, “I have not even finished in my career, as well as I am successful, I have my doubts about the actions to take”.
He emphasized the positive fact that it is to maintain balance in life, “if the balance is pulled too much to one side or the other, pride can come and one can get lost, or depression can come. The secret is to be in the present at all times”.
Of the positive things he notices about himself, is the Costa Rican joy, “the happiness of being a member of some civilization here in this world, of being able to make a difference, of being able to influence, to inspire other generations, all this fills my heart”.
The longing to return to Costa Rica
Byron has not returned to Costa Rica because of his current immigration status he is still a migrant in the United States. “I have not been able to go and celebrate with my people, so I am grateful that platforms like TCRN are allowing me to tell my story with the people I cannot see personally, my people.
I would like to go to Costa Rica, to Guanacaste, to do events so that people can know that it is possible, that someone who left his country won all this and I want to give the best to my people. “Another of my desires is to share a table with my family, with friends, with the press, with everyone, having a good gallo pinto or a good arracacha, I hope to have that opportunity someday in my life”.
How does Byron envision himself in the future?
In addition to going to Costa Rica, the chef envisions himself with a culinary school in the country that has his name and surname: Byron Gómez, so that his legacy is maintained over time.
His purpose is to offer his knowledge to the Ticos, make exhibitions, and express words of motivation to someone, “maybe you think you can not leave here, because of your economic or social situation, but you can, because if I did it, you can do it, I can educate you to become a great chef because that will benefit the whole country, not only your family and yourself”.
Gastronomy today
Gómez referred to the gastronomy of his beginnings in this world, as the very technical one, “the gastronomy of several restaurants in England made its mark based on many techniques of the future, scientific in the sense that cooking, gastronomy itself, are reactions of chemistry and physics, a lot, a lot of science”.
He likes the current gastronomy, which focuses on places like Costa Rica and Peru, “these countries that are very rural are having their voice and their moment right now in the history of world cuisine”.
For him, the cuisine of these times is based on the origins and histories of localities. “A great friend of mine, Pablo Bonilla, the chef-owner of the Sikwa restaurant in Costa Rica, works with the indigenous people and brings that ancestral gastronomy to San José, something that has inspired me a lot.
An exemplary team
For Byron, the ideal in all this time of work has been to have a team he can trust. “I have a team that I have built in different ways, in the sense of my palate, in the sense of the culture of the cuisine, in the sense of the vision. I have a chef who has been with me for 10 years, he knows everything about me, he knows how I like things, he’s the one who takes over when I’m not around because I travel a lot for TV commitments here in the U.S., I do interviews, dinners, things like that. There is a level of trust with the employees, in the sense of giving them opportunities, with no problem that they can in a few years do better than me because competition -I consider it a very healthy thing-”.
Without a doubt, it was a pleasure to talk with Byron Gómez Chacón, the Tico chef who has achieved so many things and has never forgotten his land, and his roots.
At other times he never imagined he would be an haute cuisine chef, but as he said, “that’s life, sometimes what you think is not what will come true, but the nice thing is that you can live this life and can accommodate, adapt to what God gives you”.
Follow Byron through the different digital platforms: Instagram @chefbyrongomez @brutodenver; LinkedIn: Byron Gomez; Facebook: BRUTØ and website: www.chefbyrongomez.com
