Conversation with the Chef: Victor Toriz of Gaba
Mexico City’s restaurant scene is dynamic once again. The food-obsessed are abuzz with word of the latest opening, gossip about who’s the hottest new chef, the coolest rooftop popup. When the pandemic retreated, diners returned with gusto.
A generation of eager young chefs is upon us, manning creative kitchens. While there may be a few diamonds-in-the-rough out there, this is not the case with Victor Toriz, whose Gaba, a modest but sophisticated cocina de autór spot opened to little fanfare in August of 2023. The young chef de cuisine has packed a lot of experience into his 12 working years. Born in L.A., he spent much of his early life in Mexico City, later working in several renowned eateries in California and Mexico.
His judiciously composed menu offers only four hors d’oeuvres, six appetizers, four main dishes and two desserts; less is more. His food is deceptively simple, combining what’s best at market with comforting and appropriate complements. Although this isn’t traditional Mexican food, every dish refers to something Mexican, be it ingredient, technique or flavor.
The narrow two-level space, located on the southern edge of the Condesa, is fittingly spare in design, setting an ideal stage for the ingenuity of the food.
I chatted with the chef recently, during the lull between breakfast and dinner service—Gaba has already become a hot spot by word of mouth, and is often full.
Nicholas Gilman: What is your background?
Victor Toriz: I was born in East L.A.; my parents, both Mexican, split up when I was 11 and we came back to Mexico City with my mom. I stayed here until I was 21. I actually didn’t want to be a cook, I wanted to be a music producer, but my parents didn’t like that idea. They thought I’d have more opportunities if I studied cooking. So I enrolled in a culinary program here in Mexico City.
I started cooking professionally at Bestia [L.A.’s much lauded creative Italian restaurant] with my mentor Ori Menache – the best chef I’ve ever known and now a friend. I then worked at Here’s Looking at You [the self-described “genre defying” venue in L.A.’s Koreatown]. I then moved to Tulum where I worked at Arca for a year with José Luís Hinostroza who brought the first high level kitchen to the area. I loved working there but Tulum wasn’t for me.
I moved to Mexico City with the idea of quitting cooking but I ran out of money so I went to Lucho Martinez’ Emilia, got a job there and worked my way up to chef de cuisine. Then when Covid hit, Emilia closed, but I kept working with Lucho. A chef friend invited me to stage at Noma but I couldn’t get the working visa…that was a great disappointment. But then this opportunity to open my own place came up and I went for it. I grew up being a really insecure kid. Cooking gave me so much confidence. I associate happiness with food, as long as I can remember.
Pezcuezo de cordero, Gaba
NG: What is the concept of Gaba, and how did it come about?
VT: I can’t call it Mexican but I want it to FEEL Mexican. I want a Mexican element in each dish: the lamb neck, for example, is inspired by barbacoa and the sauce has hoja santa. I remember trying good quality balsamic vinegar and thinking “it tastes like Jamaica”; that was the reference I knew- so that’s how I came up with the paté with jamaica that’s on my menu. Esquites [fresh corn served here with mollejas of chicken, as a French salad might include the gibiers] are something we always ate when I was a kid. I think it comes from loving how I grew up. I like the idea of a place to share plates. I love this feeling of when it becomes something else besides just food and everybody is having a good time; you’re reaching out, passing a plate to someone else, that’s what I wanted for this place. We change the menu when ingredients are no longer in season or don’t seem right. The esquites will go soon, for example. We’re working on a new dish with veal loin, sweetbreads with baby corn in a chileatole sauce.
NG: How is what you cook related to what you grew up eating?
My parents were both from Mexico City, though we first lived in East L.A. It’s not Mexico, but yet it IS Mexico. I grew up eating things like pozole or cerdo en salsa verde con verdolagas; my grandma would visit us and bring mole.
NG: What are your favorite dishes at Gaba and what do you like to cook?
The mussels at Gaba
The mussels [in a dark aromatic tomato broth with ayocotes] I love those beans—no one is using them—the sauce has honey, a little cinnamon, ginger - I wanted it to have an Asian twist.
NG Any others?
VT: The Cucumbers.
NG Cucumbers?! Can you elaborate on that?
VT: Yeah. I love the fact that it’s just 2 main ingredients, cucumber –we use Persian, Armenian and lemon cucumbers—and cilantro. I grill some of them, others I brine. I make an XO sauce for which I use the cilantro from its root to its flowers and seeds: everything is fried, garlic, shallot soy and dashi - so there’s an element of fish which makes it “XO”. It’s a dish that makes sense, it’s fresh and delicious.
NG: What is your favorite ingredient?
I enjoy fish a lot. I love fileting it, it gives me so much peace to do it. Before I opened I was still debating whether to do only fish and vegetables.
NG: What’s the most memorable meal of your life?
It’s not a particular meal but the lunches with my grandmother, a memory that makes me emotional because it was beautiful. We would go to church every Sunday here in Mexico City, and then afterwards my grandma would turn on her comal and make us sopes and quesadillas served with beers so everybody was happy and drunk and eating delicious food and we would play soccer in the street; those moments. My favorite dish is a fried quesadilla with quesillo and raw green salsa, crema, just that.
NG: Where do you see the restaurant scene headed in Mexico?
It’s growing too much; so many restaurants are opening. I just feel like as part of this new generation it’s difficult because the competition is so fierce. I really wish we could be more organized and help each other.
NG: What are your life plans?
I want to have a successful place that becomes a classic. But what I want from that is to help whoever I collaborate with, to make them better at cooking, and to be a better human being. I want to make a creative institute out of this place. I consider the older chefs like Enrique Olvera and Lalo [García of Máximo] to be the “jefes” and I want to be there someday. I think I will be.
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Gaba, whose hours are unusual, is open as a café from 7 in the morning and offers breakfast/brunch from 8:30 to 1 p.m. Dinner service starts at 5 p.m. Price per person will range from $500-700 but the well-chosen but pricey wine list may up the ante.
Gaba Restaurante
Avenida Mazatlan 190, Condesa (see map)
Tel. 55 91078494
Open Monday, Wednesday – Saturday 7 a.m. – 1 p.m., 5-10 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m., closed Tuesday
