Carlos Gallardo was born in Barranquilla Colombia in 1984, lived much of his childhood until he was 17 between Colombia where he grew up with his grandmother his aunt and father, and traveling to Venezuela all his vacations where his mother resided. He grew up in a family of artists, surrounded by a lot of talent, humble and hardworking people since the beginning of his generation and ancestors. He was raised by his grandmother Leda de Gallardo Taboada who recognizes as his second mother to her I owe everything I am for the values and education that I give myself along with all that love that he showed in his kitchen with his so elaborate recipes that he kept in a book. Since I was a child I was very independent in the way I eat what I never thought is that I would dedicate myself to this for the rest of my days and that I would enjoy it in such a way.
My father Alfredo Gallardo, graduated in architecture and dedicated his passion to art, he was a pioneer of carved glass in Colombia, I have many pleasant moments of my father sharing his art with me, something that as they say is carried in the veins, hence my artistic side of painting my dishes and at the same time escaping with acrylic on canvases.
My mother Alba Patricia De Caro, the most influential woman of my growth, I teach myself to maintain humility, to work hard to achieve my dreams, not to be afraid to conquer the world. My mother died in 2002 by homicide and there I am sure that it was that my life took an unexpected turn, full of pain, insecurity that until today I could not be calmer to accept that this is how I had to be to go through this whole process and be able to become who I am and what I will become.
That same year I graduated from school, I always thought I wanted to study graphic design and advertising, I wandered the streets of Barranquilla wasting my time on unimportant things, until I decided to come for a while to the United States, with 18 years and 1 year of valid visa I undertook my trip. I was received by my sister Michelle on my mother's side and her husband Erik Tokos, tremendous human being today is no longer with us, but that man taught me so many things, but one of the things I value most was his integral love for the family and its exquisite recipes. Thanks to their support I stayed with them for a couple of years in the famous red room. I was outlawed, my visa expired, my temporary license too. I had my first job unloading flower trucks where my sister worked in the agriculture department so the doors started opening in different fields. My family had some childhood friends who lived here in Miami and who had contemporary children with me and so I met the Rodriguez family without going into so much detail I just want to say thank you for accepting me and becoming a member of your family and love and support me as such.
I went through all kinds of jobs, I was a mason, welder's assistant, gardener, driver, valet parking, at events, even building tents for the boat show in Fort Lauderdale, waiter, car washer, roof washer, dishwasher and from there it was that I climbed in the restaurant industry. I never had the opportunity for someone to explain to me how the world works, it was up to me to just discover it. I began to earn my own money and I wanted independence, very grateful for the support of my sister and my when I went, to live in my first own space. My means of transportation for a long time a couple of skates and a bicycle were miles that I traveled to earn a living. In the kitchen work I saw the chefs work and I felt a lot of interest in learning, Conte with great luck and I met Julio Cera he was the chef of a restaurant that Omitted the name at that time, he believed in me and I taught myself many things. Time passed, being illegal became a big problem, always having to run from work for fear that migration would come and be deported, not handling the language well, not having papers never stopped me from sounding and wanting to be someone that my family felt proud and calm to know that I was fine. I know that for many this will have no relevance, but I just want to put it here to never forget where I came from.
I got married thank God he gave me the great blessing of helping me with my papers, on my first date I was asked what I would decide to do if I managed to have my documents.... I just wanted to see my family again that after almost 8 years I did not see and the opportunity to study to value myself and be someone. And I tell you it was.
I attended a school named Le Cordon Bleu, I won a scholarship and everything I graduated from culinary arts, and from there I started to grow in the industry, I worked in Meat market and met great chefs and artists, I had the opportunity to work in Oriental Mandarin, in blue, my biggest school GIGI and my mentor chef José Valinez , I say my biggest school because here I worked almost 6 years together with many chefs passionate about what they do, here I learned that it is not only about making rich dishes, but also about how important teamwork, customer service, and many more things are. I mastered every space of their large open kitchen and met my love and passion for Asian food, where I had to repeat each dish about 500 times a day maintaining quality control and consistency, thank you chefs, therefore. Working here I was discovered by who today I call my great sensey and the most influential man in my culinary career, Alfredo Álvarez a legend, born in Barranquilla raised his childhood in Venezuela undertook his culinary journey in the Mediterranean, and I work much of his life in the best restaurants in the world, that great human being gave me the great opportunity to be his sou chef on island gardens, where I learned my strength in Mediterranean food and which today I merge with my career in Asian and Caribbean food where my roots are. Here I leave you with a little of who I am.