Mexican chef takes Florida by storm

Pablo Salas

, one of the fantastic 13 of Mexican cuisine , is taking the spotlight at Fort Lauderdale 's with Lona , a Mexican restaurant with cuisine from the State of Mexico.

"Fort Lauderdale needed a restaurant with authentic Mexican food ," said the chef from Toluca .

Salas

opened Lona at the Westin Hotel Beach Resor t last January, just three months after opening Pueblo in Chicago in October 2017, yet he still lives in Toluca , where he and his family run Amaranta , and visits South Florida monthly to monitor the new restaurant.

Salas

, 38, is one of the young Latino chefs dictating the industry by taking it to a higher level with international flavors and techniques.

Like many other chefs , Salas love affair with cooking began at home, when he helped his mother cook or suggested some recipes.

"Something that my mother told me is that she read her recipe books every day to do different things and not get bored with food," the chef recalls.

After rejecting his father's suggestion to become a lawyer, Salas studied two and a half years at the Ambrosia culinary school and then he set up a dessert workshop, to start the Amaranta restaurant , along with his family, which has become one of the best restaurants in Mexico .

The chef emphasizes that Lona 's proposal is a 100% Mexican concept, with original products such as mole and chiles .

"What people like the most is salmon with mole, as well as guacamole with bacon and crab ," says the chef .

"Besides the mole enchiladas that are very popular, we also have the “tail of fire”, which is cabbage served with red pipian and a cauliflower puree ," he explains.

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