Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series profiling local chefs. Know someone who should be featured here? Email eschkloven@newsadvance.com with any recommendations.
During a warm Wednesday afternoon in May, Jonathan Gonzalez rolls up to his house in an old Ford F-150, climbs out of the cab and plucks a cardboard box of 10 whole chickens from the truck bed.
Earlier, a supplier had dropped off an order of top round steak and beef tongue, says the chef who owns and operates popular food trucks Uprooted and Calle (pronounced Ca-yey) Cruz Miami with his wife, Jessica, and tomorrow, he will meet with farmers to pick up his greens and vegetables.
But that’s just life when you’re dishing out food made almost exclusively from locally-sourced products.
“Chefs, when they make their menus, they make them based off what they want to do, what inspired them. Then they call Cisco or US Foods or whoever the provider is,” Gonzalez says after placing the box of chickens on his front stoop.
“Then, some of these products are coming from hundreds or thousands of miles across states, from other countries. You ask those chefs where your food is coming from and they’re clueless. I used to be one of those chefs.”
Born in Nicaragua, a 5-year-old Gonzalez immigrated to America in 1988 with his mother, aunt and five other children to escape the violence of the Nicaraguan Revolution.
“Essentially, we were political refugees,” he says. “We were trying to get away from all that craziness going on. My mom and her sister, they came by foot, basically, through all the countries.”
After about 30 days of walking, the group settled in Miami, where Gonzalez’s immediate family stayed for seven years before moving to Lynchburg in 1995. It was here that Gonzalez got his first restaurant job and, at 16, started apprenticing in the kitchen at Boonsboro Country Club for former executive chef Glenton Goodwill.
“He always told me from day one to keep a little notepad in my pocket. Write everything down. And I did that, and I still to this day do that,” Gonzalez says of Goodwill. “People who I hire and train, I tell them the same thing. I do it with my kids, keep a little notepad and write steps down, write ideas.”
Gonzalez refers to learning from Goodwill and then-sous chef Andre Ellis as his personal culinary school. He washed dishes and worked his way up the line while learning about French, Caribbean and other global cuisines, recalls Ellis, who would eventually take over the role of executive chef at the country club.
“We took him under our wing,” he says. “… To see him progressing like this, that makes us feel good and happy that he’s doing well.”
Gonzalez worked with Goodwill when the latter opened The Pointe at Mariners Landing on Smith Mountain Lake, and eventually returned there in the late 2000s, becoming its banquet chef for a time. He would also work at RA Bistro, the short-lived Hunter Smoked Grill in Altavista and Auburnlea Farms Corner Market.
It was during his time as Corner Market’s executive chef that Gonzalez says he fell in love with food for the second time. He turned his focus to sourcing local, organic food free of antibiotics, pesticides and modifications.
In 2015, Gonzalez and his wife opened Uprooted. It became an instant hit in the Hill City’s growing food-truck scene thanks to its fresh twist on American fare. It is still one of the most popular trucks at Lynchburg Parks and Recreation’s Food Truck Thursday, Recreation Services Manager Maggie Mace, who runs the organization’s weekly roundup, says via email.
After two years of success, the couple returned to Gonzalez’s Latin American roots, launching a second truck in October that highlights the melting-pot flavors found in Miami cuisine.
Calle Cruz was actually the original idea for the first food truck, since it is what the Gonzalez family — comprised of the couple and their seven children along with a dog, cat and several chickens — eat at home. Despite this interest, they thought bringing a radically different cuisine to Lynchburg was too risky a move at the time.
Uprooted’s positive reputation has helped build trust with their customers, which makes them more willing to try something new, he says. And while the name might make customers think about spice, it’s really all about bold, colorful flavors inside the Miami-styled truck, he adds.
“We’re not afraid to throw salt in our food,” Gonzalez says. “We’re not afraid to use garlic. We use a lot of citrus flavors, a lot of garlicky flavors. We also use different cuts of meat that are not typically celebrated as much in different parts of the States.”
Gonzalez’s commitment to working with farmers also speaks to his creativity and resourcefulness since creating a rotating menu based on seasonal products is more of a challenge, says Rachel Palma, who co-owns Restoration Acres Farm, which supplies Gonzalez with his chicken and pork.
“He'll take a whole chicken and cook it and shred the meat and use it for various different dishes because shredded chicken meat is very versatile. You can use it many different ways,” she says. “Then he can take the bones of the chicken carcass, cook it down and make stock. Then he can use that stock as a base for all his sauces.”
It is a bit trickier to stay totally local or organic for the Miami-styled food truck simply because certain items, like plantains and yuca, are harder to find in Virginia, Gonzalez says. But Uprooted is still all about bringing the food from the farm directly to customer’s plates.
“A lot of the money people spend with us is staying here, local, which is also important,” he says. “When you buy food from one of our trucks, you’re supporting a bunch of awesome small businesses and farmers.”