Last Thursday night, Chef/owner Will Vivas of Vivas Restaurant in Belmar, held a grand opening celebration to introduce his newest concept, the Tapas Room. Vivas, Venezuelan- born and raised, is a talented chef with an intense passion to have diners experience the flavors of his heritage and culinary experience.

Growing up very poor in Venezuela, Vivas says, “We had to eat everything ~ here in America we are very blessed. In the restaurant, we never throw anything out and at the end of the night I cook a meal for my staff.” He explains, “I learned to appreciate the endless pleasure that a simple homemade meal can offer ~ the pride, the senses and the alma (soul). Venezuelan dishes are not tied to a strict list of ingredients. It is related to what I call artful intuition.”

Vivas, who was the original chef in 2003 at Bistro Ole in Asbury Park (ranked in the top forty restaurants in New Jersey), describes his cuisine, “It is a mixture of South American countries, as well as Spain and Portugal, served with a lot of passion, a lot of love and a very big twist.” He explains that mainly the tapas (canapés or appetizers) will be smaller portions of what is on the dinner menu as entrees, plus some specials. In Spanish, tapa means lid or cover and was commonly believed that when having an appetizer, one would put a small plate on top of his drink, hence a lid.

On the Tapas Room menu opening night, some specials were: Trio of Empanadas, Tuna Terrine and Albondigas or meatballs. The Chef’s signature dishes on Vivas menu are Chilean Sea Bass crusted in mashed sweet potatoes with a demi-glaze of wild mushroom and served with an artichoke, rosemary and Cabrales cheese risotto and Skirt Steak Cubano, pan-seared steak with a Cuban brown sauce with peppers and garlic, similar to a Chimichurri sauce. Chef notes that every item in the kitchen is homemade except the bread.

Since Vivas is a BYOB restaurant, the Chef creatively makes different flavored sangria bases ~ passion fruit, raspberry and Cuban mojito ~ to which customers can add their wine. Favorite dessert items are the flan and caramelized figs.

Chef Vivas trained at the former New York Restaurant School, now called the Institute of the Arts. While in culinary school, he worked as a chef for a kosher club in New York’s diamond district, which he describes as “a very interesting experience.” He opened his first restaurant in 2002 in Belmar called Vivas Bistro. From there he went on to become Executive Chef at Bistro Olé, creating a four-star restaurant and putting it on the culinary map.  After a year’s sabbatical back in his native Venezuela, he returned to the U.S. and opened Vivas in 2007, for which he has received rave reviews. For further information or to view the full menu visit www.Vivas.com.
 

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