Rick Ortiz
NBCLATINO.COM | MAY 2013
“The path that led 31-year-old chef Rick Ortiz to open a taco shop in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood might best be described as improbable. After attending an intensive two-and-a-half year culinary program at the city’s Kendall College, where he learned the fundamentals of French cooking technique, he landed an internship in the south of France, working for a master chef at a chateau with a two-Michelin-star restaurant. When he returned, he worked at Courtright’s, one of suburban Chicago’s most venerable kitchens where fine, white-tablecloth dining was the name of the game. Later, he helped run the fine dining operation at Soldier Field, where he catered to luxury executive suites and sky boxes. Ortiz even competed in the prestigious Culinary Olympics in Germany, on the team that belonged to famed chef Roland Henin. Yet when it came time to veer in his own direction, the young star made a sharp turn—to the South, toward his roots.”