Chef Rafael Palomino, born in Bogotá, Colombia and raised in Queens, New York - current resident of Bedford, New York - is in the midst of expanding his restaurant empire!
Since the beginning, Chef Palomino’s restaurants have been a hit. In 1998, he opened his sophisticated midtown Manhattan restaurant, Sonora, (222 East 39th street); it was immediately proclaimed by New York Magazine as one of the best places to eat in New York in 1999. In 2000, Chef Palomino brought his cuisine to Westchester County, and opened Sonora in Port Chester, New York, followed by Pacífico, also in Port Chester. Today Chef Palomino’s roster of restaurants includes: Greenwich Tavern, in Greenwich Connecticut; Pacífico in New Haven, Connecticut; Pacífico in Center Valley, Pennsylvania; as well as Blackrock Tavern opening in October 2009 in Fairfield, Connecticut. Chef Palomino, who has worked with such culinary greats as Larry Forgione, Charlie Palmer at the River Café in Brooklyn, New York, and Michel Guèrard in Eugènie-les-Bains, France, has plans to open in several other locations.
Though he travels incessantly between his restaurants, runs a successful catering business - and teaches cooking, Chef Palomino has also been quite active outside the kitchen as an educator, spokesperson, and television personality! Most recently Palomino was a spokesperson for Splenda, for whom he was also a judge in the highly acclaimed contest, Chef Splendido - a competition that shares Palomino’s mission of supporting young Latin chefs. He was also the leading chef spokesperson for the Latino market for Alli (Glaxo, Smith, Kline’s weight loss program), for whom he did presentations and demos around the country on the topic of healthy Latin-style cooking and eating. Chef Palomino was also chosen to represent Heineken light in a summer 2007 tour. Prior to that, he was selected as spokesperson for the Avocado Association in 2003, and has done the same for both Goya and Hoffman La Roche. In September 2009, Chef Palomino will be the celebrity chef at the American Diabetes Association New York based Feria de Salud, an outdoor community event that is intended to reach thousands of local Latinos with the important message that they may be at risk for diabetes.
Chef Palomino has also been quite active at the keyboard - and will soon have his fifth cookbook published! His first cookbook,
Bistro Latino, (William Morrow, 1998), presented home cooks with his brand of Nuevo Latino cooking. Since then, he’s written several books that embrace his brand of cooking - and love of entertaining. These include,
Viva la Vida, Nueva Salsa, Fiesta Latina, and the forthcoming
Palomino’s Latin Grill, all published by Chronicle Books, and with coauthor Arlen Gargagliano.
When he’s not in the kitchen or at the keyboard, Chef Palomino can most likely be found on the soccer field - with one or both of his two children, and his wife, in Bedford, New York.
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