Danielle Alvarez

Danielle Alvarez is an American born chef living in Sydney, Australia. Danielle was born into a large Cuban American family in Miami, FL. For as long as she can remember, she was always standing at her mom and grandmother's side, assisting them in the kitchen. It was this love of food and cooking which finally won out and propelled Danielle to make the leap from a different career path, into hospitality. Danielle completed a degree in Culinary arts from Johnson & Wales University and moved across country to begin her first job in the industry at the world renowned, The French Laundry in Napa, California. She would say this was a scary and life changing experience. After this, Danielle moved to San Francisco and spent time in noteworthy kitchens such as Boulettes Larder and then finally onto Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Danielle spent most of her California years at Chez Panisse and she wold credit this as being the most influential period in her cooking career.

It was a holiday in Australia and a "chance" encounter which led to her to move to Sydney to conceive and lead a new restaurant with the Merivale Group, one of the largest and most diverse hospitality groups in Australia. The restaurant is called Fred's and both it and Danielle have garnered many national accolades in Australia since it opened in 2016 including "Best new restaurant" by Gourmet Traveller Magazine in 2016 and nominations for "best restaurant" and "best chef" from Good Food Australia in 2017. Merivale designed the restaurant around Danielle's daring design for the kitchen which broke down any barriers between guests and chefs. The restaurant is the kitchen and the kitchen is the restaurant. Here chefs cook in an open wood burning hearth and wood oven using the same principles Danielle learned at Chez Panisse of support for small scale organic farming, seasonal cooking and a mediterranean style of food.

All of these awards and recognition were a welcome relief to the first time head chef but Danielle will tell you what she is most proud of is the connections she has fostered in the local farming community and the culture of positivity and encouragement which she and her team have created in the restaurant.

Over this time, Danielle has been a regular recipe contributor to Good Food Australia and Delicious Magazine. It was always her dream to write a cookbook and when the opportunity to partner with Hardie Grant publishing came up, Danielle jumped at it. She wrote her first book, Always Add Lemon, over the course of one year, cooking all dishes in season. This book is the food Danielle loves to cook at home for herself or friends and family. Its simple but with an attention to detail and some unexpected touches. You can expect to see beautiful images, lots of fruits and vegetables and unique recipes which you will want to cook again and again. This book is for the people who love to cook and be in the kitchen.

Danielle loves to share recipes and cooking ideas and so while she waits for this first book to be released she has started a website, www.daniellemalvarezcooks.me to be able to share her more simple and "off the cuff" recipes which she also shares with instructional videos and "how-tos" on her instagram page (handle is daniellemariealvarez).

Danielle still lives in Sydney with her partner Dan where they live near the beach.