Coffee with the Chef: Interview with Dudley Nieto of Bartaco in Port Chester, NY

Dudley Nieto

bartaco

1 Willett Ave,
Port Chester   
(914-937-8226; bartaco.com)

Favorite Guilty Pleasure Food…Pork belly.
Favorite Cuisine…Mexican, because it is my heritage.
Culinary Hero…Ben Moy. He is a Chicago-based chef who was my mentor and taught me valuable cooking techniques and further inspired my love for food.
If Not a Chef, I’d Be a…cardiologist.
Favorite Kitchen Utensil…My chef’s knife, because I can use it all day long in many different ways, from breaking open a lobster to opening boxes.
Favorite Place to Dine Out…I grew up in Barcelona, Spain, and really do love Barcelona Restaurant & Wine Bar in Stamford, Connecticut.
I Hate It When a Diner at My Restaurant Does This…Creates his or her own menu. For example, a customer asks for a taco but further requests no meat, and just lettuce and tomato. We don’t even serve tacos with meat, lettuce, and tomato!
I Never Cook with…out passion. I love what I do.
The Craziest Part of My Job Is…ordering six hundred pounds of chicken and it’s gone the following day.
The Most I Would Pay for a Meal…Fifty dollars a person. You don’t need to pay more for a delicious experience.
Favorite Pain Reliever…Yoga and meditation.
When I Meet People at a Party and I Tell Them I’m a Chef, They Always…ask me for my recipes.
My Favorite Cookbook…Anything by Jacques Pépin.
My Favorite Website…foodarts.com.
Food Trend I Hate Most…Tacos with yellow cheese.
Most Famous Person I Ever Cooked for…Dave Matthews, while I was working at Rosa Mexicana. He’d just finished filming a segment on Saturday Night Live and was starving. He asked me to cook huevos [eggs], Yucatán-style.