An impromptu weekend visit to Milwaukee in 2012 was the launching point for Gregory León’s rise to local culinary fame. Uprooting from San Francisco, where he spent 18 years working in top-rated restaurants in between stints in Madrid, Spain, León opened Amilinda in 2015. The Spanish- and Portuguese-inspired restaurant – tucked away inside an unassuming,
An impromptu weekend visit to Milwaukee in 2012 was the launching point for Gregory León’s rise to local culinary fame. Uprooting from San Francisco, where he spent 18 years working in top-rated restaurants in between stints in Madrid, Spain, León opened Amilinda in 2015. The Spanish- and Portuguese-inspired restaurant – tucked away inside an unassuming, cozy street-level space along East Wisconsin Avenue – has since propelled him to national acclaim as a three-time James Beard Award nominee. This year, León is one of 20 individuals nominated for the national honor of Outstanding Chef. In a recent interview with BizTimes associate editor Maredithe Meyer, León discussed his approach to running a successful, independent restaurant and the impact of a James Beard Award nomination on Amilinda’s seven-person operation. On intentionally staying small
“People have asked us, especially since I’ve got this third (James Beard) nomination, ‘When are you going to expand or when are you moving to a new location?’ And I say, ‘Never and never.’ What I have seen, and I saw it mostly in San Francisco, was you get a little restaurant like ours – that’s small, and kind of cozy, and it feels like you’re home – and then the chef or restaurateur will get some sort of notoriety, or they’ll get money, and say, ‘We’re going to expand,’ or ‘We’re going to move into a different space.’ And the restaurant always lost that identity … that certain something that made the restaurant special, and within six months to a year they were closed. So, I have no intention of expanding or moving or anything like that.
“What I set out to accomplish and obtain and get out of this career, I get it at Amilinda: just being in a restaurant every night, having a very close connection with my customers, having a fantastic, small staff and putting out the best food that we possibly can. I feel like we hit all of those marks.”
[caption id="attachment_586978" align="alignnone" width="1280"] The restaurant is located at 315 E. Wisconsin Ave. in downtown Milwaukee.[/caption]
The James Beard effect
“You just see a noticeable difference, day to night. At the beginning of January – that’s the beginning of slow season for us – we had a staff meeting about how we were going to probably have to cut some hours because we’ve gone from (serving) 70-80 (diners) on a Friday to 40 (prior to the Jan. 24 James Beard announcement). And one of the servers said, ‘Well, when that nomination comes out, we’ll be good.’ And I said, ‘Don’t count on it because it’s never a given.’ And I really was of the mindset of like, we got two in a row, what else could I ask for?...
“It’s amazing. It’s helped us and it benefits everybody. (Sous chef Trevor Carper) is finally getting exposure and being mentioned in articles, which will ultimately help him in his career. The servers are making more money than I think they know what to do with. … And it’s not just me who’s being nominated. Yes, my name is on the top of the piece of paper but it’s a group effort.”
Making Milwaukee home
“I grew up on the Caribbean Sea (in his father’s native country of Venezuela), so I think the fact that I’ve stayed here for as long as I have throughout these winters, it’s a testament to how much I like Milwaukee. I really couldn’t have asked for a better city to live in and to open a restaurant. I’ve made friends here that I will have for the rest of my life. … And it’s a supportive community amongst the chefs, which really surprised me. You know, most big cities, it’s pretty cutthroat. I’m not saying that in Milwaukee every single chef is a friend and every single chef helps each other … but I would say, for the 75% of the chefs that I know, interact with and are in my circle, we’re all friends. We help each other. And I’ve always said this: When one of us is successful, we’re all successful.”
