| NAME:
Camille Becerra
BIRTHPLACE:
San
Juan, Puerto Rico
CURRENT
POSITION:
Restaurateur / Chef
 BACKGROUND:
From early on my association with food meant
culture. As a kid in Elizabeth, New Jersey if I wasn’t eating rice
and beans at home I was taking the train to the West Village for pizza on
9th Street and 6th Ave. At my friend Brigitte’s I ate Portuguese,
sampling snails and the delicious clam, pork and fried potatoes dish, at
Valerie’s house I learned Italian, chicken parmesan and eggplant, at
Aileen’s Cuban picadillo and the hallways of my builing were often
pungent with Indian masala. One of my earliest dining experience
memories was going out to dinner every Friday. After my mom got out
of work we’d go to Spirito’s. Still serving American Italian to
this day I remember sitting at the bar with my mom because the dining room
of the restaurant was always packed. Frank, the owner who was also
the bartender knew us by name and would greet me with a bottomless Shirley
Temple. Every week Frank would serve us the veal cutlet and the melt
in your mouth ravioli. The thing that impressed me most at
Spirto’s was the walk to the women’s bathroom through the large white
tiled kitchen. I was so intrigued by the fast pace within and how all the
cooks were so focused among the apparent chaos. The memories of the energy
of Spirito’s kitchen could very well be why I opened a restaurant some
25 years later.
EXPERIENCE:
My creativity in the kitchen was put to
the test early on. I was 19 and the tenso at a Zen Buddhist
center in California. I was responsible for feeding 30 people three
meals a day. All the ingredients were donated by the Los Angeles
produce market so I had to make a balanced offering of what was available.
It was also there that I learned the simplistic qualities of Japanese
cooking. Training at the Academy of Culinary Arts I learned
classical French cuisine and worked various positions in an array of
different style restaurants.
Later,
I became interested in Macrobiotic cooking. I learned a great deal
about it training under private macrobiotic chefs who created meals for
clients who prioritized health sustaining food. Today I am the chef and
owner of Paloma located in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I named the
restaurant after my daughter who cuts the gnocchi, preps asparagus and
tastes the chocolate cake batter to make sure it is sweet enough.
NYC
EDITORIAL REVIEW
What makes
Paloma
a truly
different neighborhood spot is the dream that owners Camille Becerra and
Darius Rivera desire to share with the rest of the community. Inspired by
the 80’s café/club culture forever exiled from rent-mad Manhattan,
Becerra & Rivera offer New York a gracious space with soaring ceilings
and a pleasing mix of urban elements: polished concrete, warm hardwood and
gallery-white walls sporting revolving art exhibits.
|
 The
Food: Defined as “New Urban American,” the regularly-changing menu is
based on simple, fresh ingredients borrowing elements from the multitude
of cultures that glitter across the New York cityscape. Rather than aiming
at the usual fusion, Paloma takes a stab at deconstructionism; for
example, a traditional dish like bouillabaisse might be broken down to its
basic elements and then served as a filet of monkfish, a single perfect
shrimp and a flower of potatoes decorated with a bouillabaisse sauce. On
the other hand, one can find a fresh brook trout simply grilled and served
with a side dish of the diner’s choosing. Simple and thoughtful is the
rule. Nothing on the menu exceeds fifteen dollars, and there are plenty of
offerings for under ten. You will not have to deconstruct your wallet.
 Popular
menu fixtures include the brook trout, hangar steak and the much-admired
burgers. The specials can be a gamble, but sometimes the best gamble is a
vegetarian one. There is clearly a love for and sensibility to the
preparation of all things vegetal, due largely to Camille’s post-culinary
school odyssey among vegetarian and macrobiotic master chefs. Sometimes the
vegetarian specials are the best thing on the menu.
 Our
only concern is consistency in the kitchen. As is often true with new
ventures, it is best to go when the owner/chef is on hand. But as Paloma
finds her wings and gets into the groove, the minor missed notes will
dissipate.
The Scene: While the kitchen remains the epicenter, Paloma exists to be more
than a restaurant. In many ways, Paloma is part Craft, part Nuyorican Poets
Café, part Galapagos, and part pure Camille. It is an art space and a haunt
for the creative. Local visual artists, filmmakers, DJ’s, bands and poets
are welcome here, and often have exhibits. It is not unusual to find
something going on after dinner, anything from a film screening to a
five-piece band to a tasting of infused vodkas designed by Camille (these
can be exceptional).
 The
Dream: Paloma seeks to be a space that celebrates urban life, to be a venue
that exalts art and artists, to be a luminous gem in a sometimes jaded
world. Everything about Paloma springs from free expression and a desire to
welcome and to share. If New Urban American means opening up ones arms to
embrace all that the cityscape has to offer, then Paloma is the vanguard of
that new order.
Still evolving, Paloma is a place to watch.
Q&A
MYCUIZINE:
Describe how you got
into cooking.
CAMILLE:
Making
meals for cute boys I wanted to impress.
MYCUIZINE: What
is your favorite comfort food?
CAMILLE:
Sweet Potato and Miso Mash
MYCUIZINE:
What is your best
experience you had?
CAMILLE:
Bourgeois dinner parties.
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MYCUIZINE:
What was your best
cooking experience?
CAMILLE:
Cooking on Top Chef.
MYCUIZINE:
What was your worst
cooking experience?
CAMILLE:
Cooking on Top Chef.
MYCUIZINE:
What is your greatest
cooking strength?
CAMILLE:
Mixing local and seasonal
ingredients with global influences.
MYCUIZINE:
What motivates you to do your
best on the job?
CAMILLE:
The stream of hipster foodies that dine at my restaurant.
MYCUIZINE:
Describe your management style.
CAMILLE:
Make my staff happy
the rest falls in place.
MYCUIZINE:
Tell me about your proudest
culinary achievement.
CAMILLE:
Paloma
my Brooklyn restaurant.
MYCUIZINE:
What is your favorite cookbook you refer
to for inspiration?
CAMILLE:
Old vintage French cookbooks, Susan goin's Sunday suppers at Lucques
and Alice Waters, also Brooklyn Food Zines like edible Brooklyn.
MYCUIZINE:
What is your greatest cooking
fear?
CAMILLE:
Forgetting popovers
in the oven.
MYCUIZINE:
What is your favorite cooking
show?
CAMILLE:
Top Chef
MYCUIZINE:
Name 5 of your favorite kitchen
tools or gadgets.
CAMILLE:
Cuisinart food
processor, Kitchen Aid mixer, spice grinder, 8in chef's knife, steel.
MYCUIZINE:
Who are your cooking heroes / mentors?
CAMILLE:
Superhero: Alice Waters /
Mentor: Tom Colicchio
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