About Chef Lupe Nanbo
A Culinary Experience, Created for You
I create refined Mexican, Italian, and Spanish cuisine, prepared entirely from scratch with organic, thoughtfully sourced ingredients and time-honored techniques.
From intimate private dinners to elegant celebrations and bespoke culinary experiences, every menu is thoughtfully designed around the occasion, the season, and your guests.
The cook
Born in Guerrero, Mexico, and raised in Queens, New York, my culinary journey began in my mother’s kitchen. It was there that I learned what would become the foundation of my cooking: respect for ingredients, traditional techniques, and the belief that the best food is made from scratch.
My mother remains my greatest culinary influence and the inspiration behind everything I create in the kitchen.
With more than 20 years of professional experience in New York kitchens, working alongside acclaimed and celebrity chefs, and throughout the United States, I have continued to refine my craft through hands-on experience and culinary training in Spain, Italy, and Mexico.
Mexican cuisine is at the heart of my culinary identity. My experiences in Italy and Spain have expanded that foundation, shaping the way I approach flavor, technique, seasonality, and menu development. The result is a style of cooking that brings together three culinary traditions through a distinctly personal lens.
I believe exceptional cuisine begins with exceptional ingredients. I seek out organic, seasonal, and thoughtfully sourced products and treat each ingredient with care. Nothing is rushed, and nothing is unnecessary. My approach is rooted in simplicity, craftsmanship, and allowing the natural character of the ingredients to take center stage.
Today, I lead a professional kitchen where we prepare everything from scratch, work exclusively with organic ingredients, bake our own sourdough, grow our own vegetables and herbs, and mill our own flour daily. We maintain a commitment to wholesome, minimally processed food and to understanding every ingredient from its source to the plate.
For me, cooking is more than preparing a meal. It is about creating an experience.
Every private dinner, celebration, and gathering is an opportunity to create something personal — a menu thoughtfully designed around the occasion, the season, and the people at the table.
Food is my craft. Hospitality is my passion. Every table tells a story.
Philosophy
The human touch
Good food starts with good ingredients and very little else. I buy organic, I cook from scratch, and I bake the bread rather than buying it in — not as a position, but because it is the only way I know to make food taste like someone meant it. A meal put together with care feeds more than the body, and that is the whole of the method.
Organic, always
Organic ingredients only, cooked from scratch, no processed food anywhere on the menu. Sourdough is baked rather than bought. It is the same standard I hold the school kitchen to every day.
Three kitchens, one table
Mexican first — my mother’s food, learned in her kitchen. Spanish and Italian came from training hands-on in both countries. Most menus I write now borrow from all three without making a performance of it.
My philosophy
- Always be kind
- Never let anyone bring you down
- Cook with happiness
- And above all, cook with passion
You bring the occasion. I create the experience.
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