chefs du jour - Winter 2001

Chef de Cuisine Ramiro Velasquez Carlos' Restaurant Highland Park, IL 60035 (847) 432-0770 By Nancy Ross Ryan

From the cradle, Ramiro Velasquez was destined to be a great chef. He was literally born in his mother's kitchen at his home in Guanajuato, Mexico. His mother was a talented cook, and one of his brothers is a pastry chef. His first job in the United States was in a Mexican restaurant, but after working therefore a couple of years there was no more for him to learn, "And I was doing the same things every day. I wanted to do something different." Backward Step, Upward Climb So 12 years ago he took a big step down jobwise -- and a big step up professionally -- when he took a job as a dishwasher in the kitchens of Carlos', an haute cuisine restaurant in Highland Park, Illinois, that just celebrated its 19th anniversary. Velasquez wasn't a dishwasher for long. He moved rapidly up the kitchen ladder to garde manger, through the different kitchen stations and cooking lines, to become sous chef four years ago. He trained during this 12-year period with some of Chicago's finest chefs who took their turns as Carlos' head chefs: Gabriel Viti, Don Yamauchi, Jacky Pluton, Eric Aubriot, and Alan Wolf. When Alan Wolf left in 1988 to go to Florida, Velasquez was named Chef de Cuisine. He is now 26 years old. Although the restaurant (open for dinner only, six nights a week) is closed on Tuesday, more of than not, Velasquez is in the kitchen. "Seven days a week is o.k. with me," he says, "I love the kitchen, I love the action, I love everything about it." New Menu, Familiar Finesse During his tenure as chef, he has subtly and gradually changed the menu from dishes of the previous chef to his own creations, but still in the context of Carlos' fine dining style. Some of his signature dishes have become extremely popular, for example, crab salad wrapped in organic cucumber strips, on a bed of herb salad that is lightly tossed in a truffled vinaigrette with an accompanying remoulade sauce garnish with roe. Another signature is John Dory with scales of crispy potatoes on a bed of baby arugula and oven-dried tomato risotto, kalamata olives with a brown butter tarragon sauce. The John Dory, a luxury fish short in supply, is delivered whole and he fillets the fish himself, usually in the morning before his kitchen crew of nine cooks, two pastry chefs and three dishwashers arrive. When asked if it was difficult for a 26-year-old chef to manage crew members who were his senior, he replied, "We work as a group, and when somebody -- anybody -- is backed up, we all pitch in to help out. We're a team." Meeting at Carlos' Carlos' main dining room eats 60 and two intimate upstairs dining rooms can seat from two to 30 people. Event menus are one-of-a-kind and carefully planned by the restaurant. Desserts, made fresh daily, are offered either from the pastry cart or specially created and plated for the party. To book an event at Carlos', call (847) 432-2047. Other special options to consider are cooking classes and being a chef-for-a-day in Carlos' kitchen. Pictured above is the main dining room at Carlos' where the tables are set with antique one-of-a-kind display plates from proprietors Carlos and Debbie Nieto's private China collection.

	CARLOS' DINNER MENU FOR A HOLIDAY EVENT Farmers Market Soup Steamed White and Green Asparagus Salad with Mushroom Ragout, Garnished with a Purple Potato and Lentil Dressing Choice of main course: Rice Paper Wrapped Salmon on a Bed of Leek Spaghettini with Black pepper Port Beurre Rouge, Garnished with Watercress Chestnut-Encrusted Pan-Roasted Breast of Guinea Fowl with Leg Confit, Petite Vegetable Tower, Blood Orange Glaze and Tarragon Sauce Striped Bass sauteed with Black Olives, Eggplant Cake and Carrot Juice Combination of Veal Loin and Veal Sweetbreads (Pan Roasted Sauteed Veal Sweetbread with Ginger and Tomato Ragout, Shallot Confit with a Smoked Fig Sauce, Veal Loin with Basmati Rice, Black Trumpet Mushrooms with a Lightly Smoked Yellow Tomato Sauce) Mushroom and Marrow Encrusted Grilled Australian Beef Filet Mignon on a Bed of Fingerling Potatoes and Baby Spinach with a Rosemary and Roquefort Cheese Reduction Farmers' Market Vegetable Platter Symphony of Desserts

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