Tapa His
Game Beauty & Essex executive chef Chris Santos’ new book, Share, illustrates the rise of the shareable plate By Marisa Finetti Photography By Quentin Bacon
A
This page, clockwise from top: Cobb salad bites with avocado vinaigrette; smoky rubbed chicken wings with honey, bourbon and molasses sauce; Chef Chris Santos. Opposite page, clockwise from top: Share cover image; French toast pudding with pumpkin maple syrup; open-faced chicken arepas
62
Februa r y 23 -Ma rch 1, 2017 vegasseven.com
PHOTO CREDIT GOES HERE
conversation with chef Chris Santos is much like talking to a friend who happens to know a whole lot about food—there is no pretense. Feeling fortunate to be doing what he loves, Santos is now close to 20 years into his culinary career. A resident judge on the Food Network’s hit series Chopped, Santos is also the man behind New York City’s Stanton Social, a multicultural dining concept, and Beauty & Essex in New York and Las Vegas, with their signature pawnshop entrance and menus of bountiful and creative twists on classics and an extensive selection of shareable plates. Now he launches his first book, appropriately titled Share: Delicious and Surprising Recipes to Pass Around Your Table (Grand Central Life & Style, 2017), which reflects Santos’ unique brand of communal dining. Santos grew up in a small town in Rhode Island, where his mother held multiple jobs while also attending school. By the time he was 10 years old, all three of his siblings were out of the house, meaning that family meals were only occasional. “Not having it every single night made it a little more special in my memory bank,” he says.