CHEF FOR A DAY

Roger Villalobos

MARZO 6, 2010

Our next CfD (Chef for a DayTM) Roger Villalobos was born in Santiago, Chile. He was raised by his mother & grandmother (Mapuche) who was a chef after she moved to the city from Southern Chile. He learned many different techniques & tricks from her & her Mapuche roots. One of the procedures was to cook with rain water.

His grandmother always motivated him to learn how to cook since he was very young. Both of them spent at least three months every year in the south of Chile (Temuco), which was mastered by Mapuche culture & traditions (agriculture & cattle raisers), earth workers. He was exposed to so many things related with culinary matter. For example, bake their everyday bread in a home-made wood oven made out of oil drum. He helped to do all kind of harvest & its rituals that he would never forget his roots, we just had well water, no energy, rarely transportation, and everything was so natural & related with ñuke mapu (mother earth). Then, at the age of 13, he decided to carry on culinary art at high school in which he learned the basic knowledge before he started working in the culinary field. He graduated in high school in Chile with culinary specialty & started working with one of the top ten Chilean Chefs at that time & worked with him for three years before moving to USA.

He enrolled at Stratford University in culinary art development program. Technical knowledge mixed with natural background makes him have a very particular style to create unique dishes with a very personal touch on every culinary activity. In the last six years he has been working with high profile chefs in DC area.

He is dedicating his Chef for a day event to his Grandma, Fresia. Love you vieja.

Prixe Fixe Three course Menu Dinner: $55.00*++

*A portion of the proceeds of Roger’s Chef for a Day dinner event on March 6^th will be donated to Mary Center of Washington, D.C.

About Mary’s Center Mission and Summary
The mission of Mary’s Center for Maternal and Child Care is to build better futures through the delivery of health care, education and social services. The Center embraces culturally diverse communities to provide them with the highest quality of care, regardless of their ability to pay. Founded in 1988 by President and CEO Maria Gomez, Mary’s Center developed as a community- based, nonprofit organization focused on maternal and child care for immigrant women from Latin America who were displaced by civil wars and other life casualties. As a National Council of la Raza affiliate and a full-service Federally Qualified Health Center, Mary’s Center serves more than 16,000 families, many of whom are recent immigrants from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

We envision a day when everyone will receive the highest quality of health care, education, and social services. By working together, we help members of all communities be their own advocates and produce generations of leaders ready to contribute to their community’s growth and well-being.

Please join MIO this coming Saturday February 27th, as part of the “Chef for a Day”TM,  welcoming a very good friend, Francisco J. Astudillo of Elite Wine Imports, on an evening of new and traditional Iberian cuisine (with a touch of Urban Latin!). Originally from Castilla and educated in Valladolid, our newest guest Chef for a Day has been an integral part of Washington’s increasingly sophisticated wine market since 2000 representing several of the most promising labels in the market.
 
In addition to wine, food has always been his passion, personally striving to preserve Spain’s cultural accent on today’s global cuisine. His biggest inspirations have been his grandmother and his mother, as well as some of the Great Chefs from Spain, who taught him new techniques that help enhance the traditional recipes he learned along the way.
 
Food is his passion, but wine is his life. He considers himself very fortunate to have been able to meet some of the best wine producers in the world. His preference is the Tempranillo grape and his heart is in the Rioja region, specifically a small winery called Bodegas Exeso, whose wine embodies not only the best of the terroir, but also the honorable the character of the people behind it.
 
See you at MIO!

Prixe Fixe Three Course Dinner Menu $45usd ++

Limited seating, RSVP 202 955 0075 / Open Table

Feb 8th, 2010 by Steven Roll.

“… I ate at Mio recently and discovered a delightful new twist to Latin American food.

Iguina’s basic approach is what he refers to as Urban Latin American Cuisine, which generally involves gourmet interpretations of typical Latin American dishes.
In this interview, Iguina tells us where he believes Urban Latin American Cuisine fits in the U.S. and why its largely missed by the mainstream.”

TO READ THE INTERVIEW

Continuing on the success of our “Chef for a Day” series, MIO welcomes Guillermo Gonzalez-Arica

Guillermo is Associate Director of the Global Center for Development and Democracy, an NGO chaired by former president of Peru Alejandro Toledo.

He was our guest “Chef for a Day” on December 12, a hugely successful event that left many of our friends wishing for an encore. By popular demand, MIO is glad to invite Guillermo back to our urban Latin American kitchen where he and the MIO staff will once again prepare Peruvian favorites and innovative urban interpretaions. This event is scheduled for Saturday, January 30th. We will also have our house artist and Peruvian Miki Fernandez, as well as Machu Pisco, all part of the official second Peruvian Night at MIO.

Additionally, please join us as we party at Noche Peruana II and raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

We will love to share this event with you…

For Menu Details follow this link: Prixe Fixe Three Course Dinner Menu $50usd
 
Mio, Mine, Yours, Ours, SALUD!! 
 
 
Limited seating, RSVP 202 955 0075 / Open Table

In celebration of Puerto Rico’s renowned street festival “Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián”, MIO is proud to showcase our good friend and Chef for a Day TM, Leonardo San Román.  Accompanied by his friend and Sous Chef for the evening, Gilberto Rosado, these two D.C.-based Puerto Rican professionals will recreate, for one special evening, the passion and excitement felt every year in the streets of Old San Juan during the remembrance of the patron saint San Sebastián. Their culinary repertoire of Puerto Rican classics and urban Latin American cuisine will showcase Puerto Rico’s 500 years of culinary fusion of African, Taíno and European cooking traditions and ingredients.

Leonardo San Roman is the Special Assistant of the Director at the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Small Business Programs.  Leo’s distinguished federal career also includes high level financial positions with the Department of Defense. Accompanying Leo in MIO’s kitchen will be Sous Chef Gilberto Rosado, principal of MG Green, LLC, a provider of civil and green engineering services for residential and commercial projects in the DC Metro area.

MIO is also proud to announce that a portion of the evening’s proceeds will be donated to The Manuel Candamo Memorial Scholarship Fund. Established to recognize the contributions of Manuel Candamo, a Puerto Rican veteran, entrepreneur and philanthropic leader whose “can do” attitude changed the lives of many in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., the Fund provides college scholarships to students in Puerto Rico, who, like Manuel, are committed to making an enduring contribution to their families and their community.

$55 Prixe Fixe three Course Dinner Menu
Limited seating, RSVP 202 955 0075 or  Open Table

YOUR Beat.
YOUR Passion.
YOUR Pulse.

YOU made MIO a part of your lives in 2009, unleashing our passion for Urban Latin American Cuisine and opening D.C. to the unrelenting vitality of a food that celebrates Passion, Conviviality and Amistad. We want to thank you for your friendship and support in 2009 and for sharing your best moments with us. Whether opening our kitchen doors to those “Chefs for a Day”TM that live inside our souls, or trotting through our proud culinary metropolises of Lima, São Paulo, San Juan, Ciudad de México or Buenos Aires in our signature menu, MIO is proud to be home to your love for food and life. 2010 will be OUR year. Expect a MIO  where Urban Latin American tastes continue to assert themselves in our menu. A MIO always opened to OUR shared experiences, where carefully conceived urban Latin American dishes, smartly paired wines, passionate drinks will carry us into our new experience. A very Happy Holidays from us at MIO to you and your loved ones!

Washington DC,  8 de Diciembre 2009.

La cocina peruana pondrá este sábado en Washington DC el broche de oro a un año extraordinario Embajada de Perú en Washington, el Consulado General de Perú y la representación de Perú ante la OEA auspician Noche Peruana en la capital norteamericana.
 
El restaurante Mio (Urban Latin American Cuisine) ofrece la oportunidad de disfrutar este sábado en Washington de una “Noche Peruana” inolvidable durante la que se podrán paladear algunos de los platos más típicos de una gastronomía con creciente presencia y reconocimiento internacional.
 
Cerca de dos centenares de personas han confirmado ya su asistencia a la velada culinaria, auspiciada por la Embajada de Perú en Washington, el Consulado General de Perú y la representación de Perú ante la OEA.
 
El menú de tres aperitivos y tres platos fuertes incluye tapas peruanas en base a la salsa a la huancaína, el famoso ceviche peruano con fusión nikkei  y camarón crocante en salsa de maracuyá y base de patata dulce.
 
El festín gastronómico culminará con corvina en crema de ollucos, arroz con mariscos y seco de carne en crema de frijoles.
 
Mio acompañará cada plato con una original selección de cócteles elaborados a base de pisco  de la marca Macchu Pisco.
 
Al frente de los fogones estará Guillermo Gonzales-Arica, “Chef for a Day”TM y ex secretario de la presidencia de Perú. Le acompañará el doctor Elmer Huerta, ex presidente de la Sociedad Estadounidense del Cáncer.
 
Los asistentes podrán deleitar no sólo el paladar sino también la vista con las obras del pintor peruano Miki Fernández que se exhibirán en el restaurante.
 
Mio (www.miorestaruant.com) está ubicado en el número 1110 de la Avenida Vermont. El teléfono para hacer reservas es 202 955 0075. El menú tiene un precio fijo de 40 dólares por comensal.
 
Durante el acto se recaudarán fondos para la Fundación de Prevención del Cáncer.

Continuing on the success of our “Chef for a Day”TM series, Mio welcomes Guillermo Gonzalez-Arica and Sous Chef for a Day Dr. Elmer Huerta

Mr. Gonzales-Arica is a journalist with a legal background and experience in the communications media and in political campaigns.

He worked as Deputy Legal Representative in the Presidential Campaign of Javier Perez de Cuellar, former Secretary General of the United Nations. He was part of the Presidential Campaign team of former President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo. He held different senior positions in the Office of the President of Peru: Press Secretary, Chief of the Staff and Advisor for Human Rights matters.

He was a journalist for seven years with Caretas, the main political magazine of Peru. He also worked as a political advisor for Members of Congress in Peru, like the former Prime Minister and current Peruvian Ombudswoman, Beatriz Merino, and the former Dean of the Peruvian Bar Association, Jorge Avendano, as well as Anel Townsend, a current member of the Board of the Latin-American Parliament.

Currently he is Associate Director of the Global Center for Development and Democracy an NGO chaired by former president of Peru Alejandro Toledo

He has an alter passion – Cooking.

We will have our favorite artist Miki Fernandez & Machu Pisco and Toro Mata as part of the official Peruvian Night at Mio.

We will love to share this event with you…

MIO is proud to open its house doors to PERU as part of its philosophy and Urban Latin American Cuisine.

Prices:

• 3 Courses Prix Fixe $40 per person ++ 
• Macchu Pisco Cocktail Pairing $10 ++
• Suggested Donations to Prevent Cancer Foundation

 Dress Code:   Casual Attire 

ONLY A FEW RESERVATIONS ARE STILL AVAILABLE

202-955-0075

The wait is finally over for authentic Puerto Rican lechón in D.C.! 

By overwhelming popular acclamation, MIO is kicking off “Navidades de Puerto Rico” this coming Friday, December 4th! MIO will celebrate with authentic Puerto Rican cuisine every Friday with a comprehensive and typical Puerto Rican holiday menu a la carte that will include classics such as Lechón [whole roasted pig], Arroz con Gandules, Pasteles, Serenata de Bacalao and many other favorites.

We have painstakingly recreated all original recipes with authentic ingredients such as “culantro” for that soul stirring nostalgic taste found in Puerto Rico’s “sofrito” and towns like Guavate. Your friends at MIO, as part of its unique urban Latin American cuisine, strive to bring you closer to those special food memories that make these cold days a bit warmer and celebrate our philosophy of Pasión, Conviviality and Amistad. Feliz Navidad from our hearts!

Continuing on the success of our “Chef for a Day”TM series, Mio welcomes Nate Hill.
Mr. Hill has been the General Manager for the Entertainment Industry division of Thomson CompuMark, a Thomson Reuters company.  His work in media doesn’t compare to his love for food, wine and travel.
Nate interprets the intense urbanism palpable in Buenos Aires cuisine next Saturday, December 5th, 2009, in MIO’s on-going series of “Chef for a Day”TM, which celebrates the growing influence of urban Latin American cuisine in Washington, D.C.
Both urban and provincial, Creole and European, Nate reminds us that Buenos Aires cuisine asserts itself beyond a meat-centric cliché and delivers layers of complexity mirroring its vast history of European immigration now expressed in Southern Italian, Basque, Galician, Middle Eastern, even Russian Jewish accentuations in its cuisine.
MIO is proud to open its kitchen doors to a friend and sincere gourmand, a friend of Argentina and a Washingtonian fan of urban Latin American cuisine.
Enjoy 3-course signature dinner hosted by local Guest “Chef for a Day”TM

RSVP 202 9550075