Rosio Sanchez, the then-pastry chef of Noma, sent him a message on social media. “My dream was always to go to Noma, but I didn't have the chance or the money to pay for lodging,” he says. “And [Chef Sanchez] messaged me on Facebook. And she was like, 'Are you still living in Copenhagen?' And I was like, ‘yes.’” The truth was he was still in Moscow as they spoke. But then she asked if he was interested in working with Noma for a project and that Chef René Redzepi wanted to meet him. So obviously, he did the most logical thing in the world and said yes, they could meet tomorrow. He took the next plane to Copenhagen for the meeting, where they went for tacos. Chef Lastras was then told about the project to set up a Noma in Mexico. He would be the project manager, organize the logistics, manage the research trips, and deal with suppliers–basically set the restaurant up. Considering he hadn’t spent a lot of time in Mexico after leaving the country, it was a huge undertaking. In addition, he had neither the experience working with suppliers nor the knowledge of solving other
management issues. Chef Redzepi understood the challenges Chef Lastras had to deal with and was very supportive. And since it was such a great opportunity, he decided to accept the offer.
“We [found] a way to basically discover Mexico together,” he says. A week after they met, the Noma team was on its way to Mexico on his watch. They took more than 14 flights in 14 days all around Mexico, visiting
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