In Latin America, some of the most delicious dishes hail from humble roadside street carts. At Vancouver's Cacao restaurant, executive chef Jefferson Alverez has fond childhood memories of eating fried snapper from a local street vendor. “Many of my dishes at Cacao are inspired by my days spent on the beach, eating all kinds of tapas,” says the Venezuelan-born chef. When he wasn’t eating street food, Jefferson cooked at home for his four siblings and single mother. “I started to cook out of necessity,” he adds. “I learned early on how to cook really delicious food...I won’t serve a dish at Cacao unless it tastes like home.”
Jefferson is best known on the Vancouver food scene as a ground-breaking chef who opened Secret Location in Gastown. In 2016, he was approached by mother-daughter duo Marcela and Andrea Ramirez, of the former Epicurean Caffe Bistro, to consult on and develop a food program for their newest venture. “It was never my intent to stay in Vancouver, Jefferson recalls. "I was already set to move to Amsterdam." But after some convincing, he agreed to come on board permanently as executive chef and co-owner at Cacao, working alongside Marcela – whom he affectionately dubs the “Martha Stewart of Mexico” because of her TV celebrity status – to cultivate a menu unlike anything the city has ever seen before.
“Progressive Latin means we are always developing” Jefferson says of Cacao's innovative cuisine. “It’s Latin-American food, with a strong focus on using local and sustainable ingredients whenever possible. That means the menu is forever expanding and changing with what is available and fresh.”
