PEPE MONCAYO PLATES UP EXCELLENCE IN D.C.

by LUCIA GUTTIERREZ

Chef Pepe Moncayo meticulously places microgreens and dried yam flakes around his newest dish: a Japanese twist on a Spanish paella. Instead of the traditional saffron rice, the dish is composed of short semolina noodles, pickled bean sprouts and cured kelp imported from Japan, all simmered in the salted kelp broth until the noodles are “halfcrunchy, half soft.” Moncayo then begins to plate his dish — he layers a bowl with Beurre Blanc sauce, fills it with the noodles and tops it with roasted brussel sprouts. The result: a complex dish with various crunchy textures, slight acidity and a salty umami flavor that can melt taste buds in a single bite.

Moncayo never pictured himself creating these critically acclaimed dishes in the comfort of his own Michelin-starred kitchen when he first dropped out of culinary school 26 years ago, he said.

Growing up in the suburbs of Barcelona, Moncayo’s love for the kitchen came unexpectedly. At thirteen years old, he was appointed “executive chef” of his household when his mom passed away, he said. With his older brother entering the military and his father busy commuting into the city for work, it was up to Moncayo to create results in the kitchen.

“I started cooking at home for survival, my dad could barely cook a fried egg,” Moncayo said. “I immediately found a passion.”

That passion he harvested for the culinary arts came from his desire to eat and try new foods. When it came time for higher education, Moncayo enrolled in culinary school in

Spain. He soon realized culinary school wasn’t what he thought he signed up for. Classes in management, marketing and finance filled his schedule. Though all necessary skills to successfully run a restaurant, Moncayo wasn’t interested. He wanted to cook.

A few months in, Moncayo decided to drop out of culinary school and started working as an apprentice at a hotel restaurant. He worked from eight or nine o’clock in the morning to midnight, six days a week. Eager to learn, Moncayo was motivated by the sense of teamwork, belonging and camaraderie in the kitchen, he said. Throughout his career, Moncayo never sent in a résumé or even applied formally for a job; rather he slowly worked his way up in the industry through hard work and recommendations until he became an executive chef at his first Michelin-starred restaurant, “Via Veneto” in Barcelona.

While an honor, he said, the achievement was just the first stop, Moncayo said. After hopping around Spain cooking for various, equally as celebrated restaurants under his mentor, renowned Chef Santi Santamaria, Moncayo received the phone call that would alter the course of his career. Chef Santamaria asked Moncayo to be second in command at his newly established restaurant “Santi” in Singapore. Without knowing his salary or even where Singapore was exactly in Asia, he said, Moncayo left the only home he had ever known to follow his ambition.

“I found a beautiful, amazing country that changed my career and my personal life forever,” Moncayo said. “The food scene in Singa- pore was an amazing melting pot of flavors that I was so unaware of,”

While Moncayo enjoyed his life and career in Singapore, interested investors began to approach him about opening his own restaurant. Soon after, Moncayo decided to open his first solo restaurant, “BAM!” in Singapore. In creating its menu, he paid tribute to “modern shudo,” a new culinary style incorporating Japanese sake.

“I just wanted to open a fine dining restaurant, cooking with all these beautiful ingredients, and that was it.”

But after a decade in Singapore, Moncayo was eager for more.

“I cannot sit and enjoy my achievements,” Moncayo said. “I need to keep growing, I need to see what I’m capable of.”

In 2019, Moncayo packed his bags once again and headed halfway across the world to Washington, D.C. Visiting the city only four times prior to moving, Moncayo scouted D.C.’s culinary industry before deciding to open his next restaurant, “Cranes.”

Moncayo built everything for Cranes from scratch — the team, menu and even the original building, which was originally a statehouse before Moncayo tore it down to build a modern, fine dining ambiance instead.

“This design is inspired by my restaurant back in Singapore,” Moncayo said. “This one is much more beautiful… the designers took inspiration from Japan, too.”

The 12,000-square-foot restaurant features polished metal tones, sleek black-tile floors, textured tables and a gleaming bar. Cranes presents the intersection of Spanish and Japanese cuisine through “Spanish Kaiseki.” The Spanish influence comes from Moncayo’s own culture, and Kaiseki is a style of formal, multiple-course Japanese cuisine.

However, Cranes’ is much more than a rough Japanese and Spanish fusion; it’s Moncayo’s own, cultivated by the flavor combinations he’s encountered throughout his career, techniques he’s learned from various mentors and ingredients he’s come across throughout the years. To Moncayo, his cuisine represents a Spanish guy who lived in Asia, drove a lot to Japan, became obsessed with Japanese cuisine and found a meeting point of it all, he said.

“This concept isn’t something I wanted to do out of the blue,” Moncayo said. “It’s an organic thing that’s been building in me for years.”

Cranes’ name stems from a discussion Moncayo had with his family where they told him he was like the migratory crane, traveling around the world and taking in the tastes and scents. The crane is also significant to him because it’s an important symbol in Japanese mythology — representing honor, loyalty and longevity — and the animal is native to where Moncayo’s mom lived growing up in Spain.

The star of the restaurant is the Omakase tasting menu — a ten-course menu that is constantly changing, consisting of dishes created by Moncayo using the best ingredients in season. Moncayo finds the highest-quality ingredients on the market from sellers he’s built connections with over the years. And once he finds an ingredient he wants to feature, he applies his knowledge, technique and unconventional themes he’s observed throughout his career to create his dishes. Among some of the dishes offered recently are the duck rillette gyoza, octopus with edamame hummus, monkfish in acidulated broth and smoked eel paella. of Moncayo’s Japanese sellers sent him a picture of a moonfish, something Moncayo had never seen before let alone tasted. The seller shipped him moonfish intestines, so Moncayo put his skills to work to create a crunchy tempura.

“It was amazing: the textures and the favors,” Moncayo said. “I keep finding ingredients that keep me excited, and that will never stop.”

At Cranes, high-quality food isn’t the only thing Moncayo strives for; the service is prioritized, too.

After only a year in operation, Cranes was awarded a Michelin star in 2021. “It was a life achievement for me,” Moncayo said. “It was a dream come true.” Moncayo makes sure to maintain his excellent quality cooking through ingredient quality control, reliable suppliers and extensive training of his team to keep the high standard in the kitchen.

One thing Moncayo respects about American cuisine in particular is the limitless array of ingredients, he said.

“The American pantry is unbelievable,” Moncayo said. “So many species of fish, seafood, even vegetables I’d never seen before.”

Moncayo has a particular passion for rare ingredients. Growing up in Catalonia, Spain he knew well certain rare ingredients such as espardenyes — sea cucumber intestines, which are a delicacy in his culture. Just recently, one

“The most important thing we can deliver in our industry is that sense of taking care of people,” Moncayo said. “Opening fancy, beautiful restaurants is money, and money isn’t important compared to humans.”

For Moncayo, the most important thing isn’t to arrive, but rather to stay, he said. He’s determined to see Cranes continue to deliver at the highest standard possible. Though Moncayo has accomplished what many chefs believe is the highest point in their career, his culinary curiosity leaves him chasing more.

This February, Moncayo opened a brand new restaurant in Tysons Galleria, “Jiwa Singapura,’’ which he describes as a love letter to his ten years in Singapore.

“I want to aspire to whatever I think is the next level,” Moncayo said. “Looking back to Barcelona, I thought I was at the highest I could achieve, but it turns out it was just the beginning.”