José Gonzales is the chef and owner of the restaurant Al Mercat Dota in the mountains of Costa Rica, which is attached to a small ecolodge. It’s a big change for Jose. He is one of the most talented chefs in Latin America and spent years cooking in France, but for many years Al Mercat was in San Jose. He is someone that could have very easily focused on 50 Best rankings and media attention, but he has consistently chosen his happiness and making a life for himself that was sustainable. He grew up on farms and he speaks often of Costa Rica being a País Comestible, an edible country, which he grew up living but couldn’t really express in San José. He's happier now. You’ll hear it in his voice in the interview. You hear his excitement about cooking and living surrounded by nature and picking avocados from a tree.We talk a lot about dysfunction in restaurants.

Noma announced it was closing in a couple of years, well sort of. There’s still going to be a Noma. And I feel like we already knew all of this but whatever. But anyway, there’s all of this talk about how restaurants cannot work, but there is rarely talk about how they can. I think the choices José has made and keeps making is one of those ways. He is figuring out how it can work for him. You’re probably not going to get a fruit leather beetle made by a stagier at Al Mercat Dota, but you’ll get his heart and soul with whatever you are served.There is always going to be fine dining. I think Noma could even charge double and they would still be full every day. Would that change the restaurant? Maybe instead of the same international foodies that go there every season it would just be those people that go there once in their lifetime. A very special occasion. A front row seat to a Rolling Stones concert would still cost more. Or maybe we just don’t need fruit leather beetles? Maybe we just need more José’s cooking their hearts out everywhere.