Chef Adrian Castillo wants every dish that leaves his kitchen to be as appealing to the eye as it is to the palate.
Castillo, chef at the recently opened Elvira’s Restaurant in Downtown Tucson, prides himself on presenting a beautiful plate.
“One of the most important things that I learned coming through the industry is that plating is all about your imagination. I will go for height and color,” he said. “This last weekend I did a fish dish with purple potatoes and bright red morrita (chili pepper) sauce and a nice tall bed of spinach for the fish to lay on.
“When I was young I used to be into graffiti, and I was into bright colors and different designs. That’s how I look at my plating, like a blank canvas where you can express yourself and take what you have and make something beautiful,” he said.
Castillo learned the importance of plating at his first professional cooking job. He was enrolled in cooking classes at the Art Institute of Tucson when he took a job as a dishwasher at Lodge on the Desert. He parlayed the dishwashing job into a position as a line cook for then-Lodge head chef Ryan Clark, who now leads the kitchen at the award-winning PY Steakhouse at Casino del Sol Resort.
“It’s almost like art when you are plating,” Castillo said. “The one thing I took from day one is try to always be artistic when plating food. I can make a really basic dish look elegant when I plate it. I think that’s my thing, plating and making things look pretty and elevating things.”
Though Castillo is running his own kitchen now, he is still learning — this time from owner and chef Ruben Monroy, who opened the downtown Elvira’s in April, a fraternal twin to the popular Tubac establishment of the same name. The downtown location showcases many of the same recipes, but Monroy and Castillo are collaborating on new fusion recipes with Asian and French influences.
“He’s a very talented chef so he has a lot of input into my recipes,” Castillo said of Monroy. “He’s a great mentor.”
What about cooking do you most enjoy?
“I get the biggest joy out of seeing somebody enjoy the food. Everything I do, I try to make it with my passion, my art. When I’m happy you can see it in the food. It’s an extension of how I feel as a person. Every plate is an extension of me. When you see someone enjoy it, it is almost like a rush or a high I don’t get anywhere else. But at the same time let’s say someone doesn’t like it, it kind of destroys me a little bit.”
What advice would you give to someone who enjoys feeding people?
“I tell my young cooks, the guys who are coming up, to cook with your heart. If you cook with your heart, it will show. It doesn’t matter what it is — it could be something as simple as a hamburger or a mole with 30 ingredients — if you are cooking with your heart and it’s not just about a paycheck, it will reflect in your food. Your attitude, the way you feel, it reflects in the dishes. I honestly believe that’s the key when it comes to this business. You have to have passion. It’s a tough, tough business, but if you have passion and joy for the food, it never gets stale; it’s never like work.”
What is one skill essential for every cook?
“Resilience is the biggest thing a cook should have. A lot of times it’s hard for them to be in a kitchen six, seven days a week and not be around their families. If you don’t have that passion, you’re not going to make it. Before learning how to sauté, before learning how to grill, you have to have that certain attitude. It’s hard. At its most difficult, it can break people. I’ve seen it. Resilience is key when it comes to this business.”
