{"id":332244,"date":"2020-10-27T06:04:51","date_gmt":"2020-10-26T20:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=332244"},"modified":"2020-10-27T06:04:51","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T20:04:51","slug":"d-chefs-kitchen-passion-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/d-chefs-kitchen-passion-project\/","title":{"rendered":"D’ Chef’s Kitchen: Passion project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chef Rico Delos Reyes poses outside his passion project D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen at Kada Dia. (Photos by MARK RABAGO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Mariana Resort & Spa chef Rico Delos Reyes continues his passion for whipping up good food after opening D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen at Kada Dia in Susupe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe opened our food stall because we wanted to give our customers another place to get good food at affordable prices,\u201d said Delos Reyes in an interview with Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n

A graduate of the Northern Marianas Trades Institute, Delos Reyes last Sept. 6 opened D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen, which is a snack bar that specializes in shawarmas, burgers, chicken burritos, fried chicken wings, siomai, shanghai, fish balls, tacos, onion rings, kikiam, and pasta dishes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in the food industry for two decades already. I worked in the Middle East then came to Saipan and worked for Mariana Resort until it closed in 2018. I took up a culinary course at NMTI to develop my skills and get more knowledge of the culinary industry,\u201d said Delos Reyes, who is a native of Antipolo, Philippines.<\/p>\n

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Chef Rico Delos Reyes has more than a decade of experience working in a hotel kitchen setting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As for the bestsellers, Delos Reyes said their shawarma appears to be the most popular. \u201cOur shawarma is different from other shawarmas on island because we marinate our meat with 13 different kinds of herbs, cook it slowly in a slow-turning spit or shawarma machine, then top it with our signature sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasmin Tana, D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen communication officer, said Delos Reyes chose Kada Dia because of the location. She also said the idea of opening a snack bar at an \u201ceveryday market\u201d is appealing because the setup is guaranteed to generate a lot of foot traffic, considering it\u2019s also next to the U.S. Post Office.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from us, there\u2019s also 11 more stalls selling different stuff, [ranging] from food [and] drinks, to accessories, etc.,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other bestsellers are its Chef\u2019s Burger and Aloha Burger, according to Tana. \u201cD Chef\u2019s Kitchen is different because we use our own sauce for our specials. We also have a variety of affordable snacks they can order for takeout.\u201d<\/p>\n

D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen is really Delos Reyes\u2019 passion project. \u201cIt\u2019s really Chef\u2019s Rico\u2019s idea. The kitchen is his comfort zone. He has more than a decade of experience working in a hotel kitchen setting. He wanted to share his passion and love for food to our friends and customers and having a place to do that is his dream come true\u2026hence the name of our store,\u201d said Tana.<\/p>\n

Rather than deter them from opening D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen, COVID-19 actually spurred them to open the snack bar as soon as possible, Tana said, since they know that affordable and quality food is what the public yearns for in a time of crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur snack bar is just open for more than a month and since we started during the pandemic, we are working based on the \u2018new norm.\u2019 I can\u2019t really say how COVID-19 has affected us. \u2026in a way, this pandemic actually inspired us to open the store,\u201d said Tana.<\/p>\n

As far as following the Governor\u2019s COVID-19 Task Force\u2019s guidelines, D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen fastidiously adheres to the 3 W\u2019s\u2014wear, wash, and wait. \u201cWe always wear masks and we remind our customers to put on their mask while ordering. \u2026We always wash our hands and we make sure to sanitize our waiting area. We also provide sanitizer and alcohol to our customers. \u2026We also have signs to remind our customer about social distancing while ordering and waiting for their orders,\u201d Tana said.<\/p>\n

D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm. For more information, call 588-CHEF or 588-2433 or reach them through their Facebook page: D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n

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D\u2019 Chef\u2019s Kitchen\u2019s shawarma is made using 13 different kinds of herbs, cooked it in a slow-turning spit or shawarma machine, then topped with the snack bar\u2019s signature sauce.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Mariana Resort & Spa chef Rico Delos Reyes continues his passion for whipping up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":332247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-332244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}