Chef Diego Oka
By Maya Silver | Editor
If you were offered an executive chef position at age 21, would you take it? Diego Oka did, and it’s been a wild decade since.
It all began with Oka’s first real job after graduating from culinary school. To get his foot in the door at Ichiban, a traditional Japanese restaurant in Lima, Peru, he had to put in his time as a dishwasher before a position in the kitchen opened up. When he finally made it behind Ichiban’s line, he began what he describes as the best experience of his life—an intense journey of learning wherein he connected with the cuisine of his Japanese heritage.
After Oka left Ichiban to study Japanese, famed Peruvian Chef Gastón Acurio offered Oka a weekend gig making maki and sushi at one of his Lima-based restaurants. Soon after, Acurio—whom Oka considers his idol—extended another offer to the 21-year-old: the executive chef position at his small restaurant, Sogo Room. Setting insecurities aside, Oka accepted, but after six months, realized he wanted to be in a position of learning, rather than leading. “I was too young. I wanted to continue learning and growing,” Oka says.
But Acurio wasn’t ready to let the young talent go, so he lassoed him into a new project in his docket: La Mar. In 2005, the first La Mar opened in Lima. In spite of Acurio’s cajoling, Oka refused the head chef position once more in favor of mentorship. But after three short months, the head chef quit right in the middle of dinner service, and Oka jumped head-first into the role. Since then, Oka’s been involved with the opening of La Mar locations in Mexico City, Columbia, San Francisco, and now, Miami.
La Mar’s majestic terrace
While all La Mar restaurants have the same heart, each panders to its unique location. Tucked within the Mandarin Oriental, La Mar Miami’s {500 Brickell Key Drive, Miami} interior melds the wood and rock elements of the local beach with the tranquil turquoises of Peru’s cebicherías. La Mar Miami’s menu—which Acurio and Oka designed together—is traditional Peruvian at its core, though sourcing the many chiles and nearly 3,000 types of potatoes available fresh in Lima is an impossibility. “Fresh chiles from Mexico are better than frozen chiles from Peru,” Oka says.
Still, he’s always looking for new ingredients to fill his 60-percent traditional, 40-percent experimental menu.
First-timers at La Mar might be a bit overwhelmed by the vast menu with so many unexplored dishes boasting Andean, African, Japanese, and many other influences. No matter which culinary course of action you chart, be sure to try one of the many ceviches, Peru’s national dish. Oka recommends the Ceviche Mario with shrimp, fish, octopus, mussels, and fried calamari on top. Two temperatures and two textures make for a rich tasting experience. Oka also encourages sharing. “The menu is family-style so that you can try different plates and flavors.”
There’s one Peruvian dish that you may only catch—if you’re lucky— on special occasions at La Mar: guinea pig. “People are intrigued by the flavors,” Oka says. “I know that, in America, guinea pig is a pet, but we don’t buy it at PetSmart!”
When Oka served guinea pig for a Peruvian Independence Day event at La Mar San Francisco, he marinated it with garlic, cumin, oregano, and dark beer. Then he dried it, and deep-fried it. We’ll toast to that with a Pisco Sour—one of La Mar’s varieties with ginger beer, to boot.
Whether you settle into the ceviche bar, the anticucho bar, the alfresco terrace on the water, or the contemporary dining room, you’ll be welcomed into Acurio’s and Oka’s rich and singular world where African anticuchos (kebabs) coexist with made-to-order ceviches, Chinese fried rice, and nigiri. It’s a fun world, and we assure you it’s worth a visit.