Chef MICHELIN Guide Awards

Who is Fidel Caballero, one Michelin star in 11 months with New York's most affordable menu

by:
Asia Torreggianti
|
copertina Fidel Caballero Will Blunt

Cohesive and harmonious dishes, inspired mainly by the cuisine of northern Mexico, and an informal and relaxed atmosphere: this is what you will find at Corima in NYC, more precisely between Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Chef Fidel Caballero, trained under Berasategui's expert guidance, has managed to win the hearts of Michelin inspectors (and others) within a few months of opening, with an engaging tasting menu: that's how the restaurant was awarded a star.

Cover photo credits: @Will Blunt


The News

Fidel Caballero, an alumnus of Martín Berasategui, who hails from a binational area known as Juàrez-El Paso, spent the last fifteen years traveling the world before opening Corima, on the Lower East Side in New York City and achieving enormous success. “We opened the restaurant with the goal of getting people to understand what Mexican food is all about, I was keen to bring the specialties of the states of Sonora and Chihuahua to the quintessential American metropolis,” , he tells Michelin.

Fidel Caballero PS
@jovanidemetrie

"To have been awarded the star in only eleven months was gratifying to say the least; I felt proud of myself and my origins. This project is the result of a lot of work, during which we had the opportunity to make mistakes, learn and understand, and then improve. When you are ready to go, you feel it deep inside. And so it was".

Corima dish1 PS
 

One of the winning strategies adopted in the kitchen, which impressed the inspectors in a positive way, was definitely the decision to renew the tasting menu as the seasons go by: "We change the dishes according to the availability of ingredients and my whims, or we refine the ones on the menu, and add them later in the itinerary. This was the case with the rhubarb and hibiscus agauchile with raw shrimp. Currently, however, I suggest sampling the buñuelo with beef tartare, bone marrow and uni del Maine. If alternatively you are more inclined to the great classics, you cannot miss the lobster nicuatole and black cod with Veracruzana sauce. In general, as you may have already guessed, I prefer raw material from northern Mexico, I use Sonora wheat a lot for tortillas, and lately I have been employing it to make miso. Chicatana ants (hand-picked in the desert after the rain), on the other hand, we add them to the cecina tlayuda, along with some freshly ground Sichuan pepper. We are very excited to have added sotol among the drinks, a distillate made from a plant known as the desert sponge, and before long we will finalize a rattlesnake garum, which we look forward to keeping in the pantry, ready when needed.".

Corima dish PS
@jovanidemetrie

Fidel's restaurant does not serve only tacos, and it cannot be considered 100 percent consistent with Latin American tradition, yet that is what makes it unique.

Corima interni PS
 

Being in the Big Apple, the world's largest melting pot, somehow allows him to constantly draw inspiration from different cultures, to create freely, highlighting the nuances of a vibrant and diverse land.

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