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island. She’s part of a growing diversification in Puerto Rico’s
restaurant industry that chef Paxx Caraballo Moll is helping to
expand to include the LGBTQ community: Moll, 40, is trans
(and uses they/them pronouns). When we met at the contempo-
rary tiki bar JungleBird, which houses Moll’s restaurant, Jungle
BaoBao, they were in the upstairs kitchen. They were rolling
bright violet gnocchi made from purple yams, which would be
roasted and served with grilled endive, stewed pigeon peas and
kimchi, and dots of creamy queso fresco—a dish characteristic
of the chef’s colorful cooking style.
Like much of their food, the dish was beguiling and photo-
genic, and Moll planned to post it along with the hashtag they
originated: #queersinthekitchen. The tag (with 2,944 posts as
of press time) is starting to catch on in Puerto Rico and on the
mainland, raising the profile of the trans culinary community
(and Moll’s visibility along with it).
“Putting myself out there has been scary,” they told me, “but
that’s how I can give hope and reassurance that things can be
better for our community.” Late last year, Moll (along with three
other Puerto Rican chefs, including Grubb) was invited to cook
at the James Beard Foundation in New York
City, marking the first time an openly trans
chef cooked there.
My last stop was at chef Francis Guzmán’s
restaurant Vianda (also a Beard semifinalist,
for Best New Restaurant), which opened six
months after the hurricane hit. Guzmán
and his wife and business partner, Amelia
Dill, had moved back to Puerto Rico, where
Guzmán is from, in 2016 after years working
in fine-dining restaurants on the mainland.
“During the hurricane we were in the middle
of construction,” Guzmán says. “But it only
delayed us a couple of months, and by Maria
standards, that was nothing.” Guzmán, 35,
emphasizes traditional Puerto Rican cooking,
with influences veering from Mediterranean
to Thai to Italian and technique honed by his
stints at Jardinière in San Francisco and Blue
Hill in NYC. Local produce anchors every dish,
from the carrots in a tart with cumin, yogurt,
dates, and curry, to the galangal that lends
gingery depth to his “tom kha” bacalao.
Guzmán hopes that seeing Vianda open its
doors post-hurricane will embolden others to
start new businesses as well. “Restaurants play
an important role in the island recovery. They
are places to gather. They
are places to nurture peo-
ple,” he says. “Our guests
often say, ‘Thank you for
being here.’ I think that’s
the best sign that we’re
doing something good.”
Francis Guzm‡n
At Vianda, Guzmán emphasizes local
products and a refined take on tradi-
tional Puerto Rican recipes. “Every
dish has at least one local compo-
nent,” he says, and that’s no small
feat on an island that imports 85
percent of its food.
top left: Cumin-spiced yogurt tops a
savory tart of spicy dates and carrots at
Vianda.
opposite: Dried lemon and a sprig
of rosemary garnish the Romera
Apasionado cocktail (rosemary, gin,
passion fruit, and lemon) at Vianda.
