PHOTOGRAPH PROVIDED BY MIKE JAMES
While living in Los Angeles during the early aughts, Cuban-Mexican chef Roberto Castañeda was immersed in the city’s “guerilla” restaurant culture. Shortly after moving to Cincinnati in 2017, he continued exploring the possibilities of pop-up food ventures alongside chefs like Kiki’s Hideki Harada. “It was kind of nice to see, to be part of that,” he recalls. “I feel like I helped kind of push the envelope.”
Castañeda founded Living Breathing Kitchen (LBK) nearly seven years ago and began hosting regular pop-ups around the city while working as a chef at the seasonal Ludlow Bromley Yacht Club. Next week, LBK launches its latest event in collaboration with Cul-Lab, a network of up-and-coming chefs. Scheduled for January 22, the dinner is Afro-Caribbean-themed, pairing the Palm Springs native with Biscuit Love chef Brea Martir.
“It’s this concept where all of the pop-up chefs in the city have a singular network, where you can promote yourselves,” explains Castañeda, whose father was a chef at the famed Rat Pack haunt Melvyn’s in Palm Springs. “It’s an outlet for people who can’t open up a restaurant. It’s a forum for them to pursue their passion and dreams. If those outlets don’t exist, or if people don’t do them, then there’s nowhere for them to go and showcase their stuff. We need to open up doors for people. We need to collaborate with mom-and-pop cooks or chefs who have been working under someone. You have to break out, move up, and become your own chef.”
The White Hot Winter Caribbean Dinner will feature six courses:
- Pernil with mofongo (slow-roasted pork shoulder with mofongo, cilantro, chicharon skin, and achiote oil)
- Te amo octopus (yucca balls stuffed with octopus, shrimp, cheese, and pansy flower)
- Oxtail bao birria (Jamaican-style oxtail served on a bao bun with consume)
- Papa relleno (potato croquettes stuffed with queso and arroz with sofrito drizzle, micro greens, and cilantro)
- Crema pollo guisado (stewed chicken with arroz avocado and cilantro)
- A trio of desserts (coquito tres leches, Basque cheesecake with guava, and sweet plantain fries with coconut caramel and mango sorbet)
“Are Cincinnatians ready for something like this?” Castañeda says. “I think they are. I think they’re interested in all these new concepts of food coming in.”
In December, he hosted a brunch pop up at coffee shop Point Perk in Covington and cooked pancakes topped with banana custard, banana foster, and whipped cream, and enfrijoladas (fried corn tortillas, two fried eggs, bean puree, salsa, guac, sour cream, and home fries).
He wants the chefs involved in his pop ups to understand that it’s okay to mess up. “You have to fail to succeed,” he says. “The other day I did a tasting, and I burnt the beans. I think it takes to burn things to become perfect, and I think burnt is part of being perfect.”
Castañeda has yet to open his own brick-and-mortar restaurant and was recently hired by Epic Brands (owners of Agave & Rye) to head up the kitchen at the restaurant group’s new Whiskey Yard in Liberty Township, but despite the new gig, the indefatigable chef says he’ll always do pop-ups. “I will never stop that,” he adds. “Even if I get no days off.”
The White Hot Winter Caribbean Dinner costs $75 per person. Email lbkthepopup@gmail.com or chefbrea@aobarestaurant.com to make a reservation. The event will take place at Biscuit Love, located at 1602 Pleasant Street in Over-the-Rhine.
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