Chef Alex Dino Innovates

Alex Dino is a chef for the 21st century. A devotee of what he calls “food science,” Chef Dino has taken his childhood love of cooking and transformed it into a successful culinary career that has taken him from his native Manila to Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. To hear him tell it, he’s just getting started.

“I definitely got my love of cooking from my mom,” Chef Dino told me recently. “She was always in the kitchen at home and she ran her own eatery, so I was always helping her out. I could barely reach the tables, but I could peel potatoes. I treasure that every day.”

After leaving his home in the Philippines, Chef Dino made his way to New York City, where he studied at the Art Institute, earning a degree in Culinary Arts. “After graduating, I got into the kitchen at Le Bernardin on an externship, which means they work you for six months with no pay to see if you have what it takes,” Chef Dino laughs. “But, after school, I wanted to get as much experience as I could, with as many different cuisines as I could. And ultimately, I knew I wanted to work for myself.”

And that’s exactly what Chef Dino ended up doing. He describes his catering company, Sachet d’Epices, as “non-traditional.”

“I like to present food in a very different way,” Chef Dino says of his catering work in the tri-state area. “One guy hired me for a private event. He wanted to propose to his girlfriend. So I developed a candle made from bacon fat, so it’s totally edible. The melted candle was actually the vinaigrette for their salads. We put the ring inside the candle and while they were having dinner, the ring came out and he proposed.” Not only did his client’s girlfriend say ‘yes,’ but so did the judges at the Sears Chef Challenge in October of last year. Chef Dino brought his edible candle to the competition and won.

“I like to play a lot in the kitchen,”says Chef Dino, who recently released his cookbook, Modern Tofu. “The book is a totally modern take on tofu. It’s full of things you’ve never even thought of. See, I’m always thinking, ‘There’s got to be a better way to do this.’ And I’m always happiest when I present a finished product and people are just staring at me going, ‘Wow!’”

His international caché notwithstanding, Chef Dino likes to keep it real. “I live in Norwalk,” he says. “I’m a member of the Sound Cyclist Club. Sometimes, people will come up to you and say ‘Are you the same Alex Dino, the chef I saw on TV?’ I’m just a local guy.”

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