PHOENIX — There's a little spot on Grand Avenue, tucked up next to the retro Egyptian Motor Hotel. It's a "blink and you'll miss it" kind of venue, but the rising star cooking in its kitchen is turning heads across the nation.
Lawrence "TJ" Smith is a football player turned chef whose "new-wave" Mexican cooking with Chilte has landed him a top spot on the 2024 Food & Wine Best New Chefs list.
"The food at Chilte is courageous, ambitious, playful and bold," the publication said of Chef Smith's work. "It's Mexican at heart and global in its imagination."
If you've been following food news, you've probably heard his name before... But not where you might expect. Smith was one of the three chefs hand-picked to help Taco Bell redesign the Crunchwrap Supreme. Operating at every level of the food world, Bon Appetite named Chilte one of the best new restaurants in America last year.
"[He] is always chasing that feeling, going for that brain tingle, trying to light up people’s synapses. And it’s not just with the spicy native chiltepin chiles that end up in a lot of his dishes," Food & Wine wrote. "He conjures a free-roaming whirlwind of a menu that transcends borders, nations, and even continents."
If reading all that doesn't whet your appetite, then let the food speak for itself.
Food & Wine recommended that diners order the mole de la casa (seen above), the hoja santa quesadilla, pear shrooms, carne apache and the chef's special — currently dry-aged Duroc pork tomahawk served with lamb tallow charro beans, a tepache–fish sauce caramel, queso fresco, and Benny Blanco flour tortillas.
Yeah, we're starving too! If you want to see more of the delicious dishes that are served up at Chilte and learn more about Smith's journey from the football field to the kitchen, you can check out his full biography with FOOD & WINE here: https://www.foodandwine.com/2024-best-new-chefs-lawrence-lt-smith-8679975
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