Maximo’s government chef Adrian Torres is barely 26, however he is already executed a lot in his culinary profession.
Any accomplishment in your 20s is large. Profession strikes, perhaps a household, marriage. However what about changing into the manager chef of one in every of Houston’s hottest new eating places? Some may be deterred by taking over such an enormous function, however not 26-year-old Adrian Torres of Maximo.
When he was a toddler in Aldine, he used to take a seat in entrance of his dad and mom’ TV and watch Cake Boss on TLC. The creativity and artistry that went into every cake impressed him to get into baking.
“Any likelihood I might get, I might have my mother assist me make like a field cake, or cheesecakes and cupcakes,” Torres says. “For anybody’s get together, I might make the cake. That’s the way in which I began.”
When he entered his freshman yr of highschool, he took a house ec class, which helped him get extra of an introduction to conventional cooking, alongside different homemaking actions. Because the years went on, every class he took inside the elective turned extra targeted on cooking. Throughout his senior yr, when he had to decide on between the culinary program or band, he surprisingly selected the latter. However submit–highschool, his eyes have been set again on culinary faculty.
Whereas his friends have been making use of to universities, Torres was sending in functions to locations just like the now-closed Artwork Institute of Houston—his dream school. However his authorized standing as a Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient put a nail in that coffin, as the college couldn’t take him.
“On the time, that was devastating for me. All my mates [were] going to their dream schools, and that is what I figured was going to be my dream school or factor to do after highschool,” Torres says. “That was one of many first instances I felt like ‘OK, my standing goes to have an effect on the remainder of my life.’ However one of many stunning issues about being Latino—and one thing our dad and mom all the time instilled in us—is that if they kick you down, you rise up as many instances [as needed].”
To seek out his subsequent best choice, Torres jokes that he actually typed “public faculty culinary program” into Google. After doing his analysis, he settled on San Jacinto Faculty. Torres had two choices he might select from within the faculty’s program: culinary or pastry. Though his past love was baking, he knew that the culinary program had the very best likelihood of touchdown him a job in Houston. He might all the time return to high school for the pastry aspect if he wished.
Torres dove headfirst into his lessons. He did what he might to go the additional mile—paying shut consideration, placing in 110 % of his effort, saying sure to each occasion, and all the time being the primary to reach and final to depart. This earned him recognition from his clinic director and teacher.
“On two separate events, very early on, they each pulled me they usually mentioned, ‘I see one thing in you,’ and as a younger child who [was] nonetheless determining their life, who was only a couple weeks in the past feeling like I didn’t have an possibility—[like] I used to be out of luck due to my authorized standing—man, that put a fireplace in me like nothing else,” Torres says.
Chef Adrian Torres has a real ardour for cooking.
He excelled a lot in class that Torres’s director leaned on him to delegate duties for one in every of his lessons, a part of a course that allowed college students to cook dinner for occasions the college held. Throughout this time, he discovered simply how demanding the business could possibly be, however he’s grateful that it set him up for fulfillment and taught him consideration to element and group.
Earlier than he even graduated, Torres accepted a job at chef Hugo Ortega’s Oaxaca-inspired restaurant Xochi. This got here optimistically. Torres’s pal labored there, and in the future, the oyster-shucking particular person unexpectedly give up. The kitchen instantly started to search for anybody who might fill in on the spot, and Torres was there very quickly. He knew being in command of shucking oysters was a small function compared to the place he wished to go in life, however he proved to the cooks that he was totally dedicated.
“I used to be simply studying as a lot as I might with each station I labored,” Torres says. “However I had reached [a point] the place I couldn’t get promoted anymore as a result of I used to be so younger.”
After two years of expertise at Xochi, Torres got down to discover one thing new. He hopped round a bit, then took on a job at Stomach of the Beast in January 2020. After all, just some months later, the pandemic hit. Somewhat than this as a destructive, Torres says he took the chance to study from chef Thomas Bille what it means to take care of adversity and use your creativity to maintain pushing on.
However in July 2021 the restaurant closed. Torres was left unemployed for just a few months till he discovered his dwelling at El Topo, the restaurant previously in Maximo’s present house in West College. In August 2023, the restaurant’s chef and proprietor, Tony Luhrman, partnered with the Native Meals Group and rebranded to Maximo. At first, the kitchen was underneath the path of Luhrman, with Torres as his sous chef. Nonetheless, in October of final yr, Luhrman stepped again from the day-to-day operations whereas remaining on as a accomplice, and within the interim Torres crammed the function.
Then got here his huge break: the supply to turn into Maximo’s government chef. Not lengthy after taking up, the restaurant closed for 3 weeks to revamp the restaurant’s menu, which is now stuffed with dishes crafted by Torres. He jokes that in the event you visited the restaurant earlier than the closure, you went to Maximo 1.0. Now, it’s Maximo 2.0.
Torres says the brand new menu serves “progressive Mexican” dishes. For him, this implies maintaining the authenticity of the meals and elements however bringing a contemporary twist to it. He says the masa corn bread is the proper instance, made with housemade masa, chicatana butter, mole soubise (a mole that’s folded in a French onion sauce), hoja santa oil, and caviar. He believes it marries the very best of each worlds to create a real Mexican American dish.
The masa cornbread is made with housemade masa, chicatana butter, mole soubise (a mole that’s folded in a French onion sauce), hoja santa oil, and caviar.
Maximo’s new menu additionally options shrimp queso fundido, hamachi crudo, a crispy fish taco, a charred octopus taco, a masa-crusted halibut, brief rib mole, cauliflower asada, and for dessert, a tres leches or banana pudding buñuelo. However Torres says the very best half in regards to the menu—aside from the enjoyable he had creating it—is getting to observe diners benefit from the meals on their plates.
“I’ve been within the clouds using a excessive, [but there’s] undoubtedly been a whole lot of onerous work,” Torres says.
He hopes that the alternatives he has proper now will assist him convey different initiatives to fruition in Aldine—together with his personal taqueria. Torres says he desires to make meals like Maximo’s extra accessible for the neighborhood that raised him.
“I’m 26 years outdated, so my story continues to be form of brief, however I feel there’s much more sooner or later, too, that might be informed,” Torres says.
