JoseLuis Flores
www.olamiami.com
EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF, OLA
Joseluis Flores was born in 1973 in a small town outside of Mexico City.
His first kitchen memories are of his grandmother, whipping egg whites by hand to make a perfect génoise cake. She was a cook for wealthy families and would often bring home ingredients that were exotic to the Mexican pantry, peaking Mr. Flores’s culinary curiosity. After losing his father at the age of 8, Mr. Flores took over cooking for his family under the tutelage of his mother. At the age of 16, he decided to make cooking his career and found a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant named La Luna (The Moon).
Craving more for his professional life and his family, he moved with his wife and young son to New York City and began working at the famed China Grill restaurant in Manhattan. Through intense dedication and commitment over the next 2 years, he studied and perfected his English and, following his childhood interest in baking, ultimately became an Assistant Pastry Chef.
In 1997, during a research dinner with industry colleagues at the hot Latin restaurant Patria, Mr. Flores was introduced to Chef Douglas Rodriguez and the contagious energy of Nuevo Latino cuisine. That intense, imaginative meal prompted him to choose to combine his Latin heritage with his career in pastry. He eventually moved on from China Grill to become the Executive Pastry Chef at Patria.
Over the next 9 years, Mr. Flores partnered with his friend and mentor, Chef Douglas Rodriguez, taking on the responsibility of Corporate Executive Pastry Chef and developing the pastry programs in these award-winning restaurants:
- Patria, Chicama, Pipa & Ola New York in New York City
- Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia
- Deseo in Scottsdale
- Ola Miami and Ola Steak in Miami
- De La Costa in Chicago
This impressive list of restaurants ignited the initial craze for Nuevo Latino cuisine and has championed its spread across the country.
Most recently, Mr. Flores created the pastry program at Ola Steak and Ola Miami, which was named “one of the 50 hottest tables” in Miami and “The Biscayne Corridor’s highest-profile (restaurant) opening” by Bon Appetit Magazine. In 2004, StarChefs.com named Mr. Flores a “Rising Star Chef.”
Mr. Flores has trained at the Edwal Notter Confectionary School as well as Canainpa, the National Industry of Bread in Mexico City and he participates annually in The Food and Wine Festival of Miami.
He lives in Miami with his wife Claudia, his son Daniel and his daughter Layla. 15-year-old Daniel has his father’s drive and curiosity and spends many weekend afternoons watching the line cooks at Ola Miami and asking countless questions about the chemistry behind every artful dessert. 5-year-old Layla is the world’s youngest pastry assistant, already an expert at cracking eggs, stirring flour and kneading dough for her father’s at-home creations
