Alex Garcia, of New York's Calle Ocho and Babalu restaurants, has a great love and respect for the art of preparing food--because it was an art born out of necessity. Growing up in Cuba, Alex watched in awe as his mother and grandmother created breads and sausages from scratch, meticulously inspected grains of rice to ensure their quality, and grated bars of chocolate by hand into jugs of milk to create frothy hot cocoa.

The painstaking care Alex's mother took in preparing the family's meals may seem hard to imagine in today's busy world, yet her efforts were vital for sustaining the family. Supermarkets did not exist in their rural Cuban village, and satisfying meals were literally drawn from "barn to table." This pure, organic approach to food preparation remains the crux of Alex's cooking today.

After spending a few years in Puerto Rico working as a waiter, Alex took off at age 18 to Northeastern University in Massachusetts to earn a degree in hotel and restaurant management. Confident that cooking was his true passion, he left the university to attend the Culinary Institute of America, later finishing his management degree at Florida International University. While studying in Florida, Alex met chef Douglas Rodriguez, an introduction that became the cornerstone of his culinary career.

Alex worked alongside Rodriguez for four years at Yuca restaurant and, as his sous chef, moved to New York in 1994 to open the celebrated Patria. Alex embraced Rodriguez's colorful approach to Latin cuisine while honing his own modern cooking techniques that still remained loyal to his traditional cooking background.

In 1995 Alex struck out on his own, spending two years as executive chef-owner of Erizo Latino in Soho. As the restaurant's sole owner, Alex managed the front and back of the house while running the kitchen. After two years, he sold the restaurant and decided to pursue cooking full time.

Alex's inspired Latin American cooking has continuously attracted positive reviews, and his engaging personality has made him a popular guest on television shows.