Chef Salgado, Culinary Life and History

 Chef Salgado, Culinary Life and History

I was born in San Cristóbal, Venezuela in December 1980, a nation with great European culinary influence due to immigration after World War II.

In 2007 I graduated with a Bachelor in Political Science, thanks to this degree I had a job for a few months at the Venezuelan Embassy to the Vatican, Rome, Italy. This experience, living in the heart of the Mediterranean, led me to make the decision to study cooking. In 2010 I finished my gastronomic studies at the Zi Teresa Institute of Gastronomy, an Italo-Venezuelan House of Studies dedicated to training Chefs with skills and techniques of classic Mediterranean (Italy, France, Spain) and avant-garde cuisine.

In the following years I had a Latin-Mediterranean fusion restaurant in my hometown, and several presentations on local television shows, but in 2013 I emigrated to the USA, Miami, Florida, where I began to absorb the infinity of gastronomy in this International City. 

In 2013 I started working with one of the most interesting cuisines in Latin America, Peruvian cuisine, Gastronomy influenced by Chinese and Japanese culture, rich in flavors and contrasts of traditional Peruvian ingredients, experts in preparing seafood and fish. After two years working in various kitchen positions at Divino Ceviche Restaurant, in Doral and Coral Gables FL. and represented the restaurant in Caterings and some cooking programs on the Univision International Channel; After 2 years, I decided to learn about other food cultures, getting to work at big-name Japanese restaurants in Florida, such as Sushi Sake (Pembroke Pines) and Dragonfly (Doral).

At the end of 2017, with plans for marriage and children, my fiancée and I decided to move to a calmer city with a future like Ocala.

Arriving in a city heavily influenced by southern American food, I decided to start from the first level in my learning about the extraordinary food of the United States of America. My first step was the Spruce Creek restaurant, Golf Club Ocala where I practiced, researched, and learned about the wonderful world of "Breakfast in America", from their Chicken and Waffles, to the perfection of their fried eggs and terms, Sandwiches, and delicious ways to make grits in the best Louisianna style.

After almost two years in this experience and looking for better job opportunities, I decided to venture into another gastronomic world, "the BBQ". In November 2018 I started working and learning with great Pit Masters at Harwood Smoke House Ocala, this experience taught me the oldest and most sacred of American cuisine, smoking, the secrets to leave a Brisket or some pork ribs in a perfect and juicy term.

My Culinary experience of more than 14 years has made me a chef with a universal vision of gastronomy, with extensive knowledge of the most popular gastronomic cultures in the world, and of course an exquisite and impeccable execution of Southern American food, the Cajun of Louisiana with its fabulous sea food, and BBQ perfection.

Without limits on the palate, but always observing and pleasing the tastes of my costumers; I have traveled through various and interesting gastronomic cultures looking for new flavors, looking to contrast the classic with the innovative. In addition to this, maturity and experience has given me a global approach to the gastronomic business: calculation, cost of menus and their meals, balance of profits and losses, and the management of personnel and leadership necessary for a gastronomic business to be successful.