00:00Hi, I'm Santana Benitez. I'm a chef in the Lower East Side, and I also do freelance catering and private events.
00:22Santana! Hi!
00:24Good to see you. Thank you so much for having me.
00:27Of course. Thanks for coming.
00:29So before I got into cooking, before I became a chef, I actually was in the Air Force for like six years.
00:34And I decided when I got out, I wanted to do, I actually wanted to be a food writer.
00:37And I wanted to go to culinary school to kind of like get my background and kind of understand what the culinary world is about.
00:42And as soon as I started, I was like, I think I'd rather do this.
00:47So where are we?
00:48So this is a pop-up gallery right here in the Lower East Side.
00:51Right now, an exhibit space for Tony Peralta, the Peralta Project, his exhibit Rolos and Icons,
00:56which basically highlights iconic Latina figures, but puts them in Rolos, kind of like an homage to the Dominican women uptown.
01:03Right. And this is really what you specialize in, these intimate gatherings.
01:07Yeah, I actually prefer them. They're crazy. It's a lot of work, but I think they're really fun.
01:11Yeah, the pressure is really on when it comes to special events.
01:16I always say no matter how prepared you are, those last like three to four hours are just like chaos.
01:22You know, it's like packing things up, remembering serving spoons, back up things.
01:26How are you going to keep food hot? How are you going to keep food cold?
01:28Dealing with traffic, dealing with people. It's insane, but it's fun. It's great.
01:31We're making it happen.
01:41This is turning out beautifully. Thank you.
01:43I can't wait to time with you guys.
01:46As you can see, Chef Santana and her team are hard at work back there.
01:50But in the meantime, I get a sample plate.
01:52I'm about to dig into shiitake stew with red quinoa.
02:00Oh my God. So great.
02:07How do I feel when I'm preparing a meal? It's actually always the same.
02:10I think the foundational thing is when I, you know, cook for people, I want to cook it how I would like.
02:14You know, I went up to like my standards of love and to the food.
02:17So that's definitely my main thing.
02:18I want the food to be really delicious and beautiful and I just want it to be to the standard that I would want if I were going to sit down and eat.
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