Filipino Chef Maynard Llera on his James Beard award, being chosen as the Gold House Gala guest chef, and more

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Filipino chef Maynard Llera is the guest chef at the Gold House Gala, taking place on Saturday in Los Angeles, California. That means cooking for — and presenting Filipino food to — a powerhouse crowd of 600 people, among them big Hollywood stars and leaders across industries. 

But the Lucena native is unfazed. In an exclusive interview with GMA Integrated News, Llera tells us about becoming a 2024 James Beard Awardee, opening his successful restaurant Kuya Lord, and Filipino cuisine.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

First of all, the James Beard Award for the best chef in California. A belated congratulations!

I'm not the first to win this award and I'm sure I won't be the last but it has a huge meaning for me, to win the award, and to represent Filipino cuisine. Ngayon, nakikilala na ang Filipino food all over the world, ang Filipino cuisine na-accept na. In other words, we got their interest in trying our cuisine and exploring our food. Hopefully, maging kasing level na siya ng Chinese cuisine, Japanese cuisine where lahat ng tao na-a-appreciate yung culture and yung food.

And ito pa lang ang umpisa, na talagang makilala ang Filipino cuisine sa buong mundo. It's an honor for me na isa ako sa mga naging parang isang inspiration for young Filipino chefs to pursue this career. 

Isang magandang karangalan dahil hindi mo ini-expect na isang Pilipino magiging ka-level ng mga napapanuod mo sa TV, sa Food Network, but nakakatuwa lang para mag-purisege pa tayong lahat.  

You have a powerhouse gig coming up on Saturday as the guest chef of the Gold House Gala!

It is a major honor to cook for huge celebrities and respected Asian artists. Parang, this is an opportunity for me to highlight our cuisine especially sa mga [banyaga]. What I do is southern Tagalog cuisine. Hopefully they will like it.

What dishes are you planning to present?

So what I going to do here is to  focus on kung ano yung alam ko. And also for me, I'm really proud of what I do so I focused on yung pagkain natin. I used modern techniques and used the best quality ingredients around the world. I just want them to try and experience our food.

My first course is, I call it ensaladang talong. Actually, it wasn't in the initial menu when I was doing the tasting with Gold House but sila mismo ang nag-request nito, meron kasi ako dito sa menu [ng restaurant]. It's ensaladang talong — my take on the Italian panzanella. It has eggplant puree, tomatoes, and then I used our toasted pandesal for the bread. That's the ensaladang talong for the first course.

For the second course, I'm serving a smoked and braised bone and short ribs. Humba. But instead of traditional pork pata, I used short ribs para maiba naman. I will serve it with Chinese long beans — sitaw with the humba sauce na nilagyan ko ng fermented black beans, shiitake mushroom and sweet adobo sauce.

For dessert, I did my version of calamansi pie. It's calamansi cake pie. It's very simple and delicious. 

Is it your first time to do such a big event?

It's is not my first time to do a huge gala event — we're serving 600 people and this is not my first time to cook for this much people. But it is my first time plating Filipino dishes. 

Usually I serve my Filipino dish family style or catered kasi yun yung ating — duon tayo kilala. And Filipinos when we eat, we share everything.

But pumayag ako this time because this is a different event.

Who among the awardees are you excited to meet?

To tell you honestly, I'm focusing more on the execution of the food. Like I said, it's an honor to cook for this kind of crowd. I wanna make sure I give the best representation of our food. 

I haven't been paying attention on who's gonna come. Obviously shaking their hands and saying hi to them will be great but right now I'm focused on how to represent our food well.

Being an immigrant, what does being selected as the chef of the gala mean to you?

It means a lot, especially cooking for these big personas, celebrities. I opened this restaurant with a passion. It's not because — obviously I want to live in America, I want to showcase our culture. But I want to show the world that there's a Filipino cuisine that is different from other cuisines.

Could you tell us more about that.

My Filipino cuisine focuses on southern Tagalog food. I want to show non-Filipinos or Americans that different regions in the Philippines have their own specialties and for them to explore, try, enjoy, and appreciate.

You grew up in Lucena. How did that experience influence you?

Coming from a small town like Lucena in Quezon Province and coming into America and living in California or New York — it's a big culture shock. I'm just really proud of who I am. I'm proud of being Filipino, of coming from the Philippines, of coming from a small province. I want to represent and showcase my food.  

Who was your first mentor in the kitchen?

First of all, I never cooked or worked in the Philippines. I've been telling that in my interviews. My major influence in the Philippines, especially at home, is my dad. 

He grew up as a farmer, nagsasaka. So sa province you need to learn everything so he knows how to cook. My mom, we have a business so she's more focused sa business.

Yung Tatay ko, pagkawala kaming cook, he's the one who's cooking in the house. So duon ko nakikita yung mga kunwari, nagluluto siya ng adobo sa puti — cooked in vinegar, no soy sauce. Or like, bistek na kalabaw or kalderetang kambing. He's the one who's cooking so I learned those flavors from him and yung mga nagluluto sa amin sa bahay.

Nung andito na ko sa America, I worked in a French restaurant, and then an Italian restaurant. Ginamit ko yung mga techniques na yon and incorporated filipino flavors na natatandaan from before.

You took up business administration in San Sebastián and then studied at the Culinary Institute of America.

Talagang I planned to move to the US back in 2004. Nung time na yon, I was thinking, what am I going to do in America? I wanted to open a restaurant but how am I going to do that? I went to Culinar school just to be a restauranteur, not to be a chef. But when I went to CIA, I realized in order for a restaurant to succeed, I should be the one cooking and become a chef so I have full control of the business.

Going to school gave me the foundation and the basic skills but the best way to learn si through experience. You really just need to be patient and find the right time to do it.

When you were dreaming of opening a restaurant, you knew about the challenges but that didn't stop you. How did you survive and hurdle all these challenges?

I knew there's going to be challenges opening a restaurant, especially doing Filipino food. But I was decided nung nasa school pa lang. I want to open a modern Filipino restaurant. In school, 'yung reception ng Filipino cuisine was it just a melting pot. There was no such thing as Filipino cuisine, parang nahiram lang sa Chinese, sa Japanese, sa Spanish. Walang authenticity.

For me, 'yung pride ko, I got hurt. That's why I focused on regional cuisine, on southern Tagalog cooking kasi I want to show the world that there is such thing as Filipino cuisine and may mga specialities in different regions. 

Alam ko mahirap but with persistence and hard work -- kasi I always thought I am not a talented chef but I'm a hard worker. Yun yung inisip ko. Wala akong talent so I need to work and work and work and hopefully, magkakaron ng opportunity. 

At dahil 'dun, because of the hard work, of experience, duon nakita ng tao na meron akong abilidad to do bigger things.

Could you tell us about your pandemic pop-ups? 

Back in 2020, I was really preparing to open my restaurant and was looking for a space. Then the pandemic hit and the subsequent closure. Everything was closed. By that time, nagkakaron ng panic buying, scarcity ng pagkain sa supermarkets. I was working in a restaurant, so meron akong supplier ng food. 

Ang initial reaction ko nung nagkaron ng closure, sabi ko sa asawa ko, why don't I build a kitchen out of our garage? Para magka ruon ng reason makabili ng malalaking refrigerator and freezer. So I can contact my vendors and stock up.

In the meantime, I can do R&D out of my garage. I wasn't even thinking of doing a pop-up. But nalaman ng mga kaibigan ko sa culinary industry na nagluluto ako, nag-a-R&D sa bahay so they started coming to pick up. And then yun nag tuloy-tuloy na. Naging pop-up na siya.

From there, nakilala yung Kuya Lord. I didn't expect yung mga food critics sa LA Times, napansin nila. Initially I was just doing R&D. I'm selling food just to see kung along reaction ng tao. Eh naging maganda yung reaction tapos nagkaron ng write ups.  

What was the turning point to open this restaurant?

In 2021, things were opening up. Naisip ko, lahat back to zero. Sabi ko, pag-open ng mga business, I need to have my own restaurant na, not just a pop-up. Para makasama na restaurant ko when things start to go up.

Luckily, nung 2021, nakita ko tong lugar na to. Even if it's a small space, it's perfect. My focus was pickups kasi that's pandemic-proof. Magkaron ng closure, pwedeng pickup lang.

Do you plan to open a bigger restaurant or to open more?

Yes. Right now, I'm looking for a bigger space to do my modern Filipino concept. Yun naman talaga plano ko before, na-divert lang to fast casual kasi nagkaron ng pandemic.

At this point of your career, what else do you dream of?

Like I said, do my modern cuisine to showcase more about Filipino cuisine using modern techniques and classical techniques and to have this business to be self-sufficient and have more time with my family.

Right now I have 12-13 staff members. And isa sa mga tinuturo ko sa kanila is that everything needs to be perfect. Yung mindset na 'it's ok' is a lazy mindset. It needs to be done properly and it needs to be done the same over and over again para maging consistent.

And that's also why we close from 3-5pm because I like to be organized and make sure the space is clean and yung shifting ng mga tao. Pero most of all, ayoko ng bara-bara. — LA, GMA Integrated News