Spotlight on TJ Steele of Claro
Favorite Heritage Cuts: St. Louis ribs, pork cheeks, Frank Reese turkeys and chickens
TJ Steele is the chef/owner of Claro in Gowanus, Brooklyn. He has been a supporter of Heritage Foods and our family of farms since his early days at Danny Meyer's legendary Union Square Café. In 2017 he launched his first solo project, Claro, a Oaxacan influenced restaurant where he blends his love for Mexican gastronomy with his passion for seasonal, farm-to-table cooking and offers a rotating menu of heritage breed meats from goat meat to chickens and turkeys. Since opening, Steele has been awarded a Michelin star, named StarChefs Rising Star Chef and the reader’s choice winner for Eater Chef of the Year as well as Chef to Watch by Plate Magazine. The New York Times also listed Claro as one of its top 10 restaurants of the year. Currently on special is a Barred Rock heritage chicken quesadilla!
Barred Rock Heritage Chicken cooking over embers at Claro
Barred Rock Heritage Chicken Quesadilla
TJ will also be participating in a Goatober event at Carousel in London, October 8th-13th:
Goatober at Carousel, London
For three weeks in October three international chefs will take up residency at Carousel showcasing how they cook goat meat in New York, Australia and Belgium, respectively. The open kitchen at Carousel in Marylebone, London, is home to an ever-changing line-up of talented chefs from around the world who share the same philosophy
carousel-london.com | @Carousel_LDN
71 Blandford Street, Marylebone, London W1U 8AB
020 7487 5564
8-13 October at Carousel, London
TJ Steele, chef owner of Claro, Brooklyn, New York was born into an Italian family in New Jersey where he grew up cooking next to his mother and grandmother. He attended The Culinary Institute of America and moved to New York City in 2002. Within three years, at the age of 25, he was made Executive Sous Chef at Danny Meyer's landmark, award-winning Union Square Cafe. In 2012, TJ went to Oaxaca, Mexico to study, eat, and travel in the hopes of marrying his love of seasonal, farm-to-table cooking, with his love of Mexican gastronomy. In the summer of 2017, he opened Claro, a Oaxacan influenced restaurant in Gowanus, Brooklyn with an emphasis on seasonal cooking using corn, barbacoa, consommé and mezcal. Steele makes everything by hand, including the cheeses, chorizo and moles and masa. He is planting corn on his land in Oaxaca as well as working directly with Oaxacan farmers to source and import non-GMO heirloom corn.