Richard Sandoval is Nurturing the Next Generation of Latin American Star Chefs

When chef Richard Sandoval opened Maya on the Upper East Side in 1997, contemporary Mexican restaurants were hard to find in New York. Tex-Mex was still what most people understood Mexican food to be in the country, and they weren’t willing to drop a ton of money on a place like Maya. A few negative reviews followed.

“They said, ‘If I go across the street to Margaritaville and buy a combo plate for $9 why should I go to Maya and spend $50?’” Sandoval recalls. “That was the biggest challenge, trying to teach people that Mexican food was not all just fajitas, burritos, and nachos.”

Sandoval tried a different approach. He told critics they should compare his restaurant to Italian and French spots in the city. He had staffers send out plates of food diners had never tried and offer to replace it free of charge if they didn’t like it. “My approach was almost like a car salesman,” Sandoval says. “You open the hood and say, ‘I know you want this, but let me show you this.’”

The payoff was exponential: slowly, but surely, Maya became a hit—Ruth Reichl gave it two stars in The New York Times, writing that “the food at Maya is unlike just about anything else being served in New York City.”