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DINING

A chef reborn: Food Network's ‘Chopped’ champion returns to Palm Beach County after near-death scare

Liz Balmaseda
Palm Beach Post
Restaurateur Gary Rack, left, and celebrity chef Demetrio Zavala have partnered once again.

TV celebrity chef Demetrio Zavala, who got his start in high-end restaurant kitchens, returns to the Palm Beach County dining scene as a man reborn. He recently recovered from an unexpected health scare that left him near death last December.

“My appendix and intestine ruptured, and my body went septic. The doctors told me, ‘We had to resuscitate you,’” Zavala said by phone recently. The cause: diverticulitis. The 46-year-old chef says he never knew he had it.

He collapsed at home in Broward County after returning from one of his regular trips to visit his family and various restaurants. Zavala underwent emergency surgery and other medical procedures for complications. He spent one month in the hospital at the beginning of what would be a months-long recovery process, he says.

All of that was a few dreams and plans ago for a chef known for his competitive spirit. Zavala is a repeat Food Network “Chopped” champion, went skillet-to-skillet against Bobby Flay and has opened six restaurants in pandemic times, most recently Solstice Seasonal Kitchen in Irvine, California, where the chef focuses on sustainable cooking techniques.

“I’m very ingredient-forward. When I give you a carrot dish, you taste the carrot,” he says.

The burrata and melon tartine appetizer at Farmhouse Kitchen restaurants in Delray Beach and Boca Raton features arugula pesto, pine nut agrodolce and prosciutto bits.

Give him a butternut squash and he’ll make a vegan steak with it, or add smoky seasonings “and call it bacon and egg.” He’ll make a baba ganoush, romesco sauce or maybe a jam with the peel and seeds. Or he’ll rub it with gochujang paste and turn it into a vegan tartare. 

He’ll put his years of experience to use in a brand-new culinary chapter in Palm Beach County. Zavala has partnered with south county restaurateur Gary Rack to rework menus and operations for Rack’s restaurant group, which owns Farmhouse Kitchen in Boca Raton and Delray Beach and Racks Fish House and Oyster Bar in Delray Beach. 

Zavala will draw from a mix of experiences, from his fine-dining background to his mother’s Cuban roots.

At Racks Fish House, for instance, he says he'd like to dabble in Japanese-Caribbean fusion flavors and classics like sour orange, mojo and mofongo.

“Think about what it takes to make a mofongo — pretty much, green plantains and garlic,” says Zavala. “What happens if you take other vegetables, take it one step further and modernize it?”

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Bonding over good food

Zavala and Rack are old friends and business associates. They met more than 17 years ago while Zavala was cooking at the now-closed Suite 225 Japanese-inspired restaurant, once a hipster hub in Lantana.

Rack quickly became a fan of Zavala’s cooking. He says he’d call Zavala with special requests.

“I would say, ‘Hey, Chef, can you make me an osso bucco for Friday night?’” recalled Rack, who was not in the restaurant business at the time — he was a steel industry executive.

After returning from a South-of-France vacation and some seaside daydreaming, Rack told Zavala he wanted to open a restaurant and asked the chef if he’d join him. Zavala accepted. Together they opened Coal Mine Pizza, an upscale spot in Boca Raton’s Royal Palm Place plaza, in March 2006. 

Flashback to May 2006: Coal Mine Pizza chef/co-owner Demetrio Zavala displays one of his truffled pizza specialty pies.At the time, the large-size pie (pictured) cost $150 and the small pie $75. Taking inspiration from French cuisine, Zavala added black truffle, rich cream and cheese to the pizza.

“I didn't understand the restaurant business. We were crazy busy. It was insane. We had people lined up out the door,” said Rack, who later went on to expand his new career as a restaurateur. He opened Table 42 in the Coal Mine space when the pizzeria closed, opened Racks gastro pub at Mizner Park, Racks Fish House in Delray Beach, Racks Farmhouse Kitchen in Delray and Boca and other concepts. 

By then, Zavala had moved deeper into the fine-dining world, having amicably parted ways with Rack. Their friendship remained strong throughout those years, both said.

“We were shooting the breeze about a year ago, and I said, ‘You know, one day we just may reunite,’” Rack said.

Indeed, Zavala is now director of culinary for Rack’s GR Restaurant Management Group, overseeing everything from menus to staff training and development. He’s also helping Rack grow the Farmhouse Kitchen brand to include new locations. Now in the scouting phase, they’re looking at spaces as far south as Coral Gables and as far north as PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens, Rack says.

After Coal Mine, Zavala went on to work at fine-dining restaurants and partly own a Washington D.C. hospitality group.The chef now has restaurants in Washington (Lincoln Restaurant DC, Teddy & The Bully Bar), in Phoenix (Prime Steakhouse at the Wild Horse Pass casino) as well as in Irvine (Solstice).

South Florida has been home more than once to Zavala, who was born on an Army base in Colorado Springs. He was raised by his Cuban grandmother in Miami’s Little Havana district. He attended Atlantic High School in Delray Beach, long before it would become the bustling dining hub it is today. Later, his son and daughter attended school in Boynton Beach.

Florida green tomatoes with guajillo aioli and peach jam are served at Farmhouse Kitchen restaurants in Delray Beach and Boca Raton.

Zavala says he’s excited to return to Palm Beach County, where his culinary career began. He’s happy he can cook — and breathe — at all, considering the health scare that forced him to change the way he eats. He avoids fried foods, nitrates and fast food, and he consumes at least 35 grams of fiber a day.  

But the chef says the experience gave him new drive and energized him in a way.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to make it,” he says. “It’s been an interesting ride, for sure.”