As Eat REAL America helps our community learn more about the local resources we have available for REAL food, we are beginning a series featuring local chefs, farmers and others.  We want to give you the opportunity to get to know these amazing people!  (If you don’t already!)

MEET THE CHEF: JASON FEBRES…WICHITA’S CELEBRITY FLAVOR INNOVATOR

Wichita is truly lucky to have someone like Chef Jason as part of its food culture!  Below is a little background on this local food celebrity, followed by some questions we had for Chef Jason:

Chef Jason’s Background
Chef Jason Febres was born in Wichita, KS, and moved to Venezuela at the age of two.  Then, at the early age of 15, Chef Jason started his career at many high-end restaurants in Caracas, Venezuela before moving back to Wichita in 2006.  Chef Jason trained in some of the most prestigious culinary schools in Venezuela and his passion has led to his restaurants being described by renowned food critics as “elite eateries in Wichita.”  Chef Jason quickly made his presence known in the Wichita food scene.  For example, in 2007, he won 1st Place in Iron Chef II.  Then, in 2008, just 2 years after moving here, he inaugurated SABOR, Latin Bar and Grille, with the honor of best chef and restaurant of the year!  He also holds the 3 time champion record for the Celebrity and Chef Cook Off (first and only chef in Wichita currently holding this record!).  His innovative talent led him to open Taste and See Global Cuisine, just recently Taste and See II in the heart of Old Town, and Taste and See III is on its way!  The original Taste and See is interactive, resembling a food network show where you can watch the chef prepare your unique and amazing food creations.  The Old Town location has an open kitchen with the same interactive feel.

Chef Jason has won several local cooking competitions and has been a celebrity judge at many others. His charismatic personality, with a Latin flair, and his sexy culinary creations have caught the attention of national T.V., including Food Network. Chef Jason has appeared not once, but several times on national shows such as Spike’s “Bar Rescue” Season 3, where he appeared as the expert Chef who turned around the kitchen of a Long Beach, CA bar that was about to fail miserably.

Chef Jason’s latest national appearance was on Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” in 2013, and he was recently in L.A. filming another Food Network program…so stay tuned!

A few questions with the Chef
We wanted to know a little bit more about our amazing local Chef so we asked him to take a few minutes out of his busy schedule to answer some questions for us and for you!

Why Wichita?  This is my birthplace, I was born in Wichita and wanted to start my unique concept in the place I call home.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?  Nationwide baby! I see Taste and See restaurants across the U.S.

What about having your own T.V. show?  Oh, yes, that could definitely happen…and it might not take 5 years…

Why should people in Wichita choose Taste and See?  We serve REAL food!  Our food is minimally processed and is prepared from scratch.  Our food doesn’t just taste good, but it is presented in a way that is visually attractive – it’s decorated, it’s pretty…it’s sexy!  It plays to several of your senses.  Our concept is unique.  We provide a variety of choices.  Someone in your group may want Mediterranean, another Mexican, another Asian, another Latin…we make them all available, plus Caribbean, Peruvian and other flavors that are hard to find anywhere else in town.  Our extensive Tapas options also make us unique.  We don’t want people to get bored, so we are always coming up with new creations!

What do you want people in Wichita to know about you?  We are all about INNOVATION!  We don’t follow the trend.  We want to always provide unique offerings and an opportunity to experience something different.  For example, we don’t offer a fattoush salad with salmon.  Instead, we provide an unbelievable spinach salad with steelhead trout…where else will you find that?  {Note to readers: we had this “Skinny Pink” salad this day and it was AMAZING!}

Eat REAL America is all about helping people get the benefits of REAL food. What is your philosophy on REAL food?  It should be simple, and the flavors should be explosive!  When you use REAL food, it doesn’t need to be complicated.  The flavors need to be amazing and the combinations should be fun.

So, we will leave you with this:  Chef Jason is an extremely talented innovator who has a confident passion for what he does best – provide Wichita with amazing REAL food masterpieces!  All you have to do is follow Chef Jason on Facebook to realize he is devoted to helping and inspiring others to be the best they can be.  And, an interview with Chef Jason wouldn’t be complete without adding that he has a love for Nutella, so much so that it occasionally shows up in his incredible desserts!

Make your next meal outing a memorable one – visit this one-of-a-kind expert Chef at work!  Plus, Taste and See 2 in Old Town has an incredible Sunday brunch!  Follow Chef Jason at https://facebook.com/chefjasonfebres