One of the most beloved chefs in Guatemala and Latin America, and the winner of the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award 2024, as part of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, Sergio Iván Díaz Pérez has nearly two decades of experience under his belt. It’s not been an easy journey, but his passion for native produce has driven him to keep on keeping on.
Sergio Díaz’s entire life has been “an advanced master’s degree in cooking”. Growing up in Quetzaltenango, about an hour from Guatemala City, Díaz spent most of his childhood afternoons in his mother’s Italian restaurant.
While he may have had an early interest in cooking, it wasn’t until his teenage years that he made his first dish, a carbonara, and spoke to his mother about wanting to become a chef. “School wasn’t my thing,” Díaz explains. There was a time he considered becoming a pilot or a lawyer, but a psychological test indicated he was destined for a life in the arts, and cooking became his life’s focus.
With plenty of support from his mother, he looked for ways to pursue his culinary education and headed to Chile in 2004 to study at the Escuela Culinary Chile in Santiago. “I realised cooking is a passport to travel and see the world,” he says.
The more you learn, the less you know
In Santiago, Díaz worked at the Puerto Fuy restaurant. "I went to this restaurant that blew my mind. I said to chef Jean Carlo Massarelli, 'look, Chef, I don't know anything, but I have plenty of time after four in the afternoons’."
Sergio Díaz receiving the Estrella Damm Chefs' Choice Award, as well as the The Best Restaurant in Guatemala 2024 trophy, on stage in Rio
For four years, Díaz's life revolved solely around cooking. He studied from 8:00am until 4:00pm, and worked in the restaurant from 5:00pm until midnight. "For me, that was a very important trigger in my life. By working and studying at the same time for four years, I was immersed in cooking, from the theory and everything that school gave me, plus the reality of the kitchen, because cooking in a restaurant is very different."
While it might sound overwhelming, it just made Díaz hungrier for knowledge. "The more you learn, the less you know – and you just want to learn more," he says.
His hard work paid off. At Puerto Fuy, Díaz worked his way up from kitchen porter to executive chef, with the restaurant receiving international recognition.
Barcelona and the era of new Spanish cuisine
To finish his studies at Escuela Culinary Chile, the chef needed to do an internship abroad, so he headed to Barcelona. Working at Single, led by chef Montse Estruch, he learned about running a successful family business and discipline.
“I came from a small country, in a smaller city, where I watched the Gourmet Channel and where I saw what my mother was doing, but this was an opening up of cultures and flavours on another dimension.”
Díaz combines creativity, history and flavour in his dishes
This was the era of new Spanish cuisine spearheaded by Ferran Adriá. “It was mind-blowing for us as chefs to see that evolution in those years,” Díaz says.
After finished his internship, he returned to Chile and to his old job in Puerto Fuy. However, things had now moved on, and Díaz felt like he no longer belonged, so he too moved on.
Moving on and moving up
In 2013, Díaz travelled to Chicago to work at Alinea. Between long working hours, tirelessly searching for perfection and constantly being pushed to be creative, the chef describes his time in the Windy City as “one of the most beautiful experiences”.
Continuing the whirlwind, Díaz returned to Guatemala at the end of 2013 and joined restaurant Ambia. Offering a combination of traditional and modern cuisine, Díaz brought innovative dishes to an audience that wasn’t always willing or receptive, but he won them over.
A year later, the chef also opened Distinto in his hometown, in the same house he grew up in. The restaurant honours the promise he made to his mother to open a restaurant together. What started as a small gastro-bar serving international cuisine has now expanded to a group of five restaurants.
A sublime decision
In January 2017, Díaz decided to leave Ambia and open his own restaurant in Guatemala City, which highlighted the flavours and ingredients of the country. Going all in, the chef put his savings into buying the building that houses Sublime, only to realise he didn’t have enough money to make the restaurant happen. Instead of giving up, he looked for new partners who would help him achieve his dream, eventually getting the keys in December 2018.
Opened in 2019, Sublime is Díaz's dream restaurant
In 2019, Díaz opened Patio San Roman, a rooftop restaurant, to help fund his main dream, Sublime. Despite its popularity, he remained focused, collaborating with anthropologist Jocelyn Degollado to explore Guatemalan history. “We realised Guatemalans were not proud to be Guatemalan for one simple reason: because they didn't know their history”. This realisation motivated Díaz to incorporate Guatemala's history into his dishes.
This is how Sublime became what it is today, a restaurant where food and history are served on the same plate. The 12-course tasting menu takes you on a journey through pre-Columbian history, the colonial period, all the way into the 21st century. Although educating people through food hasn’t always been well received, Díaz never stopped believing in his idea. Now, Díaz can recognise every stage of his life has been worthwhile. He puts into practice every element learned during his career: passion, discipline, creativity and the quest for perfection.
Watch the video exploring Díaz's creations:
Discover the full list of Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2024