Flavors Unknown

The Children of Immigrants Will Continue to Feed America by Michael Diaz

Chef Michael Diaz

In today’s episode, I talk to Chef Michael Diaz de Leon of BRUTØ. His restaurant concept is a chef’s counter based in Denver, Colorado that offers an Omakase-style tasting menu. With only 18 seats, the exposed kitchen offers diners a unique perspective on his global cuisine and the open-fire cooking process.
You’ll hear about how he got his position at BRUTØ, the development of his cooking style based on elevated Mexican food with Asian ingredients and southern flair, and what it means to be a son of Mexican immigrants. He shares the importance of immigrants in the food cycle and why immigration policy advocacy is so important to him.

What you'll learn with chef Michael Diaz de Leon

The smells that remind him of childhood (3:15)
How chef Michael Diaz de Leon's family inspired him to cook (3:59)
Chef Michael Diaz de Leon early misconceptions about Mexican food (5:05)
The restaurants that shaped him professionally (6:32)
What brought him to Denver (9:05)
How he started at BRUTØ (9:47)
The worldly concept at BRUTØ (12:57)
Michael Diaz de Leon love for everything saucy (15:58)
The wide variety of chiles they use at Bruto (17:06)
How the creation process works for each dish (18:41)
Why he believes creativity comes first (20:33)
How important fermentation is to the menu (22:28)
The importance of immigrants in the US food culture (23:29)
Why he’s so passionate about immigration reform (25:33)
How to make the perfect tortilla at home (26:45)
The best places to eat in Denver (28:07)
Chef Michael Diaz de Leon guilty pleasure (30:14)
The cookbooks that have inspired him the most (30:28)
His next career step (30:43)
Kitchen pet peeves (31:01)
His home hot sauce sauce collection (31:21)
Series of rapid-fire questions.
Link to the podcast episode on Apple Podcast

Links to other episodes in Colorado

Conversation with chef Kelly Whitaker

Conversation with chef Brother Luck

Links to most downloaded episodes (click on any picture to listen to the episode)

Click to tweet

I remember pretending that I was playing chef. I would set up a fake kitchen and make fake food and then right around that time, I started to make myself food at the house. And that’s kind of how I started. 

Click To Tweet

I think if you have something very creative, and you serve it in a good way, the technique will fall behind it. 

Click To Tweet

Immigrants feed America, but the children of immigrants will continue to feed America. 

Click To Tweet

I’m obsessed with open-fire cooking. That's going to be the next step of my career after I'm done with restaurants. I think I want to just cook outside, drink good wine and cook good food.

Click To Tweet