Brownsville native stars on ‘Chopped'

Brownsville native P.J. Calapa knows his way around a knife. So it was no surprise to this chef’s family when they learned he would be starring on an episode of Chopped on the Food Network.

The episode, which airs Tuesday, was Calapa’s first foray into television. But Calapa has been cooking and penning recipes for some of New York’s top restaurants for nearly five years.

Calapa says that much of his appreciation for food came from his Brownsville relatives. Olga G. Gavito, his grandmother, says that food has always been central to her family.

"Our reunions always took place in the kitchen," Gavito said.

Calapa decided to pursue cooking after attending the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College and earning an economics degree at Texas A&M. Gavito said she wasn’t surprised.

"I’m very proud of him," she said.

Calapa attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York’s Hudson Valley. He then moved on to Bouley, a four star French restaurant in New York. There, he learned the rigors of cooking in a world-class kitchen.

"I experienced the hours, the stress, the demand for such excellence – no mistakes. If you mess up, you start over," Calapa said. "The standard of quality was so high, I’ve kept that through my career."

After Bouley, Calapa worked at another French restaurant called 11 Madison Park.

Then he tried out for one of the world-famous Nobu restaurants.

"The way you get hired in a restaurant is like auditioning for a movie," Calapa said. "They watch you, they watch your technique."

Calapa’s audition was a success, and he says the Japanese restaurant’s experimental cuisine was the challenge he was looking for.

Nobu’s menu changes almost daily, Calapa said, so he has a great deal of input on the dishes that go out.

"A lot of my personal dishes are on those menus," he said.

Calapa’s entire family came to visit Nobu last November, and he prepared an eleven-course meal for them, from start to finish.

"It was great to see how well the staff in the restaurant treated them," Calapa said. "All of my managers came out and told my grandmother what a nice addition I’d been to the restaurant, which made her year. It was stressful because it was every person in my family, but I was proud to have them there and show them my abilities."

Gavito said the entire meal was a masterpiece.

"I’d never had anything like it and it was marvelous," she said. "I can’t tell you which (dish) was best because I think every one of them was."

Calapa also created the menu for the new Queens restaurant and bar, Sweet Afton.

The menu, which includes Texan traditions like fried pickles, is a reflection of Calapa’s roots.

Calapa said that he decided to audition for Chopped because he wanted to see if he was up for the challenge. In the show, contestants are given a few ingredients that they are required to use, and then asked to prepare different courses of a meal in a limited period of time. Calapa could not reveal Tuesday’s ingredients, but he said the tasks were difficult.

"It’s extremely difficult and you definitely don’t know anything you’re going to use until you do it," Calapa said. "You use your cooking skills but you also have to use your brain."

Calapa says he hopes to open his own restaurant one day, and plans to bring many of the lessons learned in his grandmother’s kitchen to his customers.

"The number one I want is simplicity, the standard of ingredients," Calapa said. "To use the best but not overwork it. You can have four or five components and put them together in an intelligent way."

Calapa said he would like to have his customers eat family style, ordering eight small dishes to split between five people.

"I remember eating Sunday lunches at my grandmother’s house. I remember that style of dining — the flavors, the textures, and tasting a lot of things."

Gavito, his grandmother, said that arroz con pollo, or chicken and rice, was always Calapa’s favorite dish.

"It’s true," Calapa said. "It’s so simple, yet it can so easily be messed up. It just was always seasoned well, flavored well.

Aside from his first television appearance, Calapa has realized another milestone: he is engaged.

"I’ve given a ring to someone," Calapa said, "and they said yes."