Brisbane’s Restaurant Baja welcomes young chef from US
A young chef from the US will head the kitchen at a new Fortitude Valley restaurant opening soon.
Restaurateur Dan Quinn has announced Julio Aguilera will take on the role of head chef at new Mexican restaurant Baja which will open next week.
Aguilera began his career in San Francisco in 2009 and worked at Ozumo, Waterbar and Leopold’s before joining the then two (now three) Michelin-starred Saison as chef de partie.
Aguilera’s first executive chef role was at La Urbana, and was most recently running his highly regarded El Destilado restaurant in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Aguilera said Brisbane is becoming “this big thing”, saying it reminds him of San Francisco in 2009.
“There are a lot of pop-ups, different types of ethnic food,” he said. “People just want something different to what's already there, it’s a really responsive town.
“You have all these big Thai restaurants opening up, [and they’re cooking food that’s] very spicy and authentic. That kind of showed me that the city is ready for another type of flavour.”
Aguilera said he will bring a modern Baja California feel to classic Mexican dishes for the new menu.
“I’ll use vegetables you wouldn’t normally use in Mexican food, like asparagus, parsnip, celery root, but cooked in a Mexican-style and flavour,” he said. “The number one thing is it’s got to be spicy.”
Quinn said he and Aguilera wanted to bring something “super special” to Brisbane that was not overly complicated.
“To offer that unique dining experience where the traditional flavours from Mexico are brought into the Brisbane food scene by using local produce, [but] sourcing many spices and chillies from Mexico,” he said.
Sheridan Randall, 8th August 2019
