102: Chef Alex Stupak

Alex Stupak is the Chef and Co-Owner of the Empellón restaurant group in New York City. Born in Massachusetts, Alex became a scholar of the avant garde and molecular gastronomy movements. He worked as the pastry chef of Clio in Boston with Ken Oringer, Alinea in Chicago with Grant Achatz and wd~50 in NYC with Wylie Dufresne. With earnest dedication to always doing the unexpected, Alex pivoted away from pastry and these styles of cooking and chose to adopt Mexican cuisine as a perpetual source of creative inspiration. Alex opened Empellón Taqueria in the west village of Manhattan and has since opened several more restaurants inside and outside the Empellón brand. His approach to cooking focuses on opposing the reductive way people often view different cuisines. Alex was selected as one of Food and Wine’s Best New Chefs in 2013 and has received multiple James Beard Nominations including one for his book, Tacos, Recipes and Provocations which was published in 2015.