Carlos
Alferez
Managing
Partner
Carlos joined the Frontera family in 1997. Born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Carlos has lived in Chicago since age ten.
What is your favorite natural setting?
The view of the Uxmal ruins at dawn. It’s
just beautiful.
You have landed yourself on a desert island. What book
and piece of music/album would you bring with you?
Aztec by
Gary Jennings, music by Gustavo Cerati.
What is your fantasy profession, something you might
not have the ability to do, but would thrill you?
To play baseball for the Chicago cubs… I want to be
able to hit a 95mph fastball over the wall onto Waveland Ave.
Which of Oaxaca’s
moles best captures your personality?
Mole Negro - complex, pretty intense... and its damn good.
If you could have one, and only one, indulgent
beverage - wine, tequila, or coffee - which would it be?
Beer. Definitely.
What are your indulgence foods, the stuff you can’t
say no to?
Carnitas.
When did you know the restaurant world was for you?
What is the moment you decided you needed to be in this environment?
Way back, the first day I
worked in the restaurant of the Holiday Inn.
What is your most embarrassing moment working at
Frontera?
Seeing Jen
Fite’s boobs my second day on the job (she claims it was an accident, but no one’s really for sure).
What is your most rewarding?
Winning the James Beard Award
for Outstanding Restaurant in 2007.
Outside of Mexico and your professional life,
what is your most memorable meal?
Eating at Balthazar in New York after the Beard
Awards this past May was one of the best of my life.
Brian
Enyart
Chef
de Cuisine -
Topolobampo
A native of the Chicagoland area, Brian joined Frontera in 1997.
What is your most embarrassing moment working at
Frontera?
I broke the bathroom on my
first trip to New York
with Rick. I was 20. We ended up in this insane room, Presidential Suite at the
Plaza (it’s a long story how we got there) and I broke the bathroom - the hot
and cold valves came of the wall, water was spilling out - there was standing
water. The whole thing was a mess. The room below started complaining that
water was leaking into their room. I had to get the hotel plumber into the suite to
fix it before Rick woke up. We had to leave for the airport early, but the
plumber fixed it, we got it cleaned up, and I snuck the plumber back out. I got
him out just when Rick walked out of his room, and said, “So, are you ready to
go?”
Rick didn’t find out until 6
years later. It was a story I was telling people after enough time had past.
That trip, it was all of my firsts, in NY, staying in The Plaza, and I broke
the bathroom in a $5,000 a night
room. We were sitting around at dinner, and I told the story to the crowd. Rick
had never heard it before. He was floored.
What is your most rewarding?
When I was invited up on
stage by Rick, Deann, and Carlos at the Beard Awards to accept the Outstanding
Restaurant Award for 2007. It’s something 20 or 30 people have ever done. It
was the most thrilling moment of my professional career. Rick asked me to go up
there with him, and that meant a lot to me.
You are starving and you have only 20 minutes to put
something together. What is your go-to meal?
I always branch out when
cooking at home. So, I’d say quick-cook stuff like couscous or curries. A toss
up between those and cheese, paté and bread. I like to always have those things
around.
If you could have one, and only one, indulgent
beverage - wine, tequila, or coffee - which would it be?
Five gallons of coffee
everyday. I will kill people if I don’t have it. I’m known round the world for
drinking more coffee than anyone should. I drink it before I go to bed.
You have landed yourself on a desert island. What book
and piece of music/album would you bring with you?
Siddhartha
by Herman Hesse. Either that or the Divine
Comedy. My fall-back would be something by Nirvana – In Utero or Bleach.
“Floyd the Barber” just brings me back to high school. Or! Carmina Burena by Carl
Orff. I’m very attached to that piece of music.
What natural gift would you most like to possess?
To be able to function on
less sleep – if I could get by on 3 or 4 hours of sleep a day, I would be
really happy.
What is your most memorable meal outside of Mexico?
Why does it stick with you?
We went to Poilâne, in Paris, – a really famous
bread shop, beautiful baguettes and the most obscenely gorgeous croissants. We
bought a couple and walked a few blocks and stood in front of this tree. It was
me, Rick, Deann, their daughter Lanie and Carlos. We passed around one single
croissant, each took a bite, and then passed around a napkin to wipe our
mouths. It was a really special
experience, we have all known each other for so long, it just made sense,
nobody needed to say anything. A pure shared moment of a perfect preparation.
When did you know the restaurant world was for you?
What is the moment you decided you needed to be in this environment?
I think food was always subconsciously in my mind. The way
I grew up all of our important events were around food. Instead of going to
Walt Disney World, we went to a nice restaurant. It was central and important,
and I couldn’t think of anything else I would rather do with my life.
Jen Fite
Community Outreach
and Promotions
Jen started at Frontera in 1987. She is
originally from Momence, IL.
What is your most embarrassing moment working at
Frontera?
OK,
so… this guy came into the restaurant one day… while I worked the front desk…
he said he wanted to buy half an avocado, half a tomato, half a jalapeno… on
and on… half of all these ingredients. You know: who does that? So I walked
straight into the office. It was a tiny closet sized room in the kitchen back
then… so I was standing there going on a on in this mocking voice to two of the
managers about this guy. After a minute, I realized, they were stoned faced…
like totally white in the face. I hadn’t realized this guy followed me back and
was standing right behind me the entire time. So, Sam McGee - one of the
managers - gives me this face, I realize that this guy is right behind me. I
turn around and say, “And this
gentleman would like the other half.”
What is your most rewarding?
The most rewarding part is
calling farmers who receive grants from the Frontera Farmer Foundation to tell
them they got a grant. They are so grateful… they cry and are just so excited…
it’s a wonderful part of my job.
What is your favorite food word or sound?
Macaroni – it makes me laugh, and there is something
satisfying about it.
What is your least favorite food word or sound?
Bloated – I know it’s not really a food word, but I
hate it.
Which of Oaxaca’s
moles best captures your personality?
Black (There is
more to this answer, but we couldn’t print it on a family oriented website).
If you could have one, and only one, indulgent
beverage - wine, tequila, or coffee - which would it be?
Wine. Definitely wine.
What are your indulgence foods, the stuff you can’t
say no to?
Flaming Hot Cheetos, anything with red dye number 40,
and yellow dye number 5… I grew up on that stuff.
When did you know the restaurant world was for you?
What is the moment you decided you needed to be in this environment?
I walked into Frontera 18 years ago, I sat down. Rick’s sister made me Queso Fundido and a salad. I took a bite. Everything was
warm. The food, all the good people around me. I knew it was for me.
Jill Gubesch
Sommelier
Jill became
Sommelier at Frontera in 2001. She is originally from Barker, NY, and has lived
in Chicago
since 1987.
What is you fantasy profession, something you might
not have the ability to do, but would thrill
you?
To be a winemaker, to live in
wine country in Burgundy,
France.
What is your most embarrassing moment working at
Frontera?
I’m too embarrassed to tell.
What is your most rewarding?
When people get what I do. When they understand that wine works with the rich complexities of regional Mexican food. That moment they realize “wow, this really does work,” is so rewarding.
How do you relax?
Cooking dinner with friends.
Which of Oaxaca’s
moles best captures your personality?
Mole Negro – powerful and
complex and intense
If you could have one, and only one, indulgent
beverage - wine, tequila, or coffee - which would it be?
Vintage Champagne, 1976 Dom Pérignon
What are your indulgence foods, stuff you can’t say no
to?
Cheese, I love stinky cheese, any kind of cheese the stinkier the better, cured meats, homemade sausages like bratwurst and sauerkraut with good mustard, I have three or four different kinds of mustard in my fridge at any given time. I grew up with a family that made homemade sausages, very Austrian, and like them all.
What is your most memorable meal outside of Mexico? Why does it stick
with you?
Places in wine country, there are so many memorable meals, overlooking the vineyards, eating in really beautiful parts of the world.
When did you know the restaurant world was for you?
What is the moment you decided you needed to be in this environment?
Having dinner with a really good friend of mine whose knowledge I respected. He thought I should get into wine as a business; I was working as a server at the time. It took me a long time before I started getting paid to work in the wine side of the business. It was after that dinner I started working towards it. It was a long process – I used my restaurant experience to hone my wine knowledge.
Richard James
Chef
– Frontera Grill
Richard joined the Frontera family in 1993. He is originally from Chicago.
What natural gift would you most like to possess?
I want knees that don’t age…
so I can dance when I need to.
What is your most embarrassing moment working at
Frontera?
The wood fire in my grill
going out during the first seating in Frontera ten years ago. Everything is cooked on that grill.
What is your most rewarding?
Two things: First getting
promoted to Sous Chef, then to Chef.
What are the five pantry items you cannot live
without?
Bread, rice, beans, bacon
(pork in general), Miracle Whip.
What is your favorite food word or sound?
The guys on the Frontera line
laughing and joking even when they are in the weeds.
What is your least favorite food word or sound?
The sound of glass breaking
on the line.
Which of Oaxaca’s
moles best captures your personality?
Manchamanteles (an almond-thickened red mole with fruit and chorizo) because its big and bold in chile flavor, with that sweetness of the fruit shining through. And also... because I've been known to stain a few tableclothes.
If you could have one, and only one, indulgent
beverage - wine, tequila, or coffee - which would it be?
Tequila.
What are your indulgence foods, the stuff you can’t
say no to?
BBQ, foie, risotto, fried
chicken, pork chops, Paydays, bacon, ham…
What was your most horrible meal?
The “Ketchup Meal” at a restaurant in Michoacan on one of our staff
trips. Seemed like every course had ketchup in it. In Mexico! Really!
When did you know the restaurant world was for you?
What is the moment you decided you needed to be in this environment?
After I had been working in
the industry… for like six years. I just thought, “I could make a life out of
this.”
