An immigrant chef's path to independent restaurant ownership makes a pit stop at a BP convenience store.
EAGAN, Minn. — Between the greeting cards and the beef jerky, three long tables were set for dinner.
Dark cloths were draped over the folding tables, where chef Cristian de Leon and his team set out large, blue-rimmed white plates, each artfully arranged with fish and seafood. Hugging the lower left edge of the plates were a single mussel, piece of white fish, scallop, potato, shard of fish skin, lemon wedge, plump shrimp and a crispy tortilla round — not the bagged kind with powdered cheese displayed on an endcap between the dinner guests and the kitchen, but a chip made from locally nixtamalized masa.
