People
of The Institute

 
    Instructor Profiles
     
Dave Ramirez   Juventino Avila
Chef-Instructor
 
  ICE®’s newest culinary arts instructor, Juventino Avila, brings a wealth of experiences and a prestigious resume to the school. He’s also a former work-study student and 1996 graduate, so it gives us particular pride to welcome him back to the Institute.

During his career, Chef Avila has nurtured a passion for Latin cooking and worked with some of the leading names in the industry, including Richard Sandaval and Douglas Rodriguez. He received kudos at his own Brooklyn restaurant, Moho, and was nominated for “Best Latin Chef 2001” by Time Out magazine during his time at Isla.

Born in Puebla, Mexico, Avila immigrated to Brooklyn with his family at an early age. Although his father was a restaurant worker, as are many new immigrants form Puebla, Avila began his career as a supervisor in the city’s Family Court system. But attending recreational classes at ICE® to expand his home cooking repertoire, and learning more about the school’s culinary arts program, opened his eyes to the possibility of cooking as a profession. By 1995 he had enrolled as an evening work-study student and was spending weekends at Patria under Nuevo Latino pioneer Douglas Rodriguez.

After graduation, Avila started at Richard Sandoval’s Maya, a restaurant that integrated traditional Mexican ingredients with French techniques. He moved on to top-rated Greek seafood restaurant Estario Milos, where the purity of ingredients and flavors made a big impression on him. Avila added hotspots Asia de Cuba, Chicama, Isla, and Norman’s in Coral Gables to his resume, and opened his own restaurant, Moho, in 1998, receiving a three-star review from The Daily News.

Despite all these successes, Chef Avila is thrilled to be teaching at ICE®. “Nothing compares to being shoulder-to-shoulder with the students who will be running the industry one day,” says Avila. “I was the kind of student who just couldn’t ask enough questions, and now I’m the one answering them.” Chef Avila is currently working on a behind-the-scenes memoir and cookbook based on his experiences in New York City restaurants.











January, 2004