Peruvian celebrity chef: Gastón Acurio

Although he didn’t start Peru’s novandina movement, no chef epitomizes the country’s culinary rise more than Gastón Acurio.

Rise of the Peruvian superchef

In Lima, where he was born in 1967, Gastón Acurio practically enjoys rock star status, and according to the Financial Times, the restaurant empire he has launched is worth some US$60 million. 

Astrid y Gastón

Acurio’s father, a politician from Belaúnde’s Acción Popular Party, had wanted his son to become a lawyer. While studying in Madrid, however, Acurio snuck off to become a chef, later pursuing that passion at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. In 1994 and back home in Lima, he opened his first restaurant, Astrid y Gastón, with his wife, German pastry chef Astrid Gutsche.

Hands-on hard work, a talent for his country’s myriad dishes, and exposure to television helped him expand the restaurant to branches elsewhere in Latin America, winning local acclaim in the process. 

The Acurio empire

Although the global economic crisis has temporarily stalled Acurio’s drive to open more restaurants overseas, in Peru his creativity appears unstoppable. Besides his flagship restaurant, he has gone into fast food with Pasquale Hermanos, Sino-Peruvian with Madam Tusan, T’anta bistro food, ceviches with La Mar, steakhouses with Panchita, and regional Peruvian cuisine with Chi Cha. Some fear he might be over-reaching himself; the best way to investigate that theory might be to let your tastebuds decide.