CHEF VIKO ORTEGA

Born in 1966, Viko (pronounced Bee-ko) hails from the tiny village of Peña Colorada, near Puebla, Mexico, the eldest of seven children. He has only somewhat fond memories of helping his mother make pan dulce to sell at the family grocery store.

Wanting to escape from his baking duties, young Viko arrived in New York City, eager to try his hand at many different trades, eventually settling into the exact trade that he had run away from!

At first he began making pastries, at a French restaurant in Manhattan called Poiret. Then, he became a pastry chef at the Columbus Bakery in the Upper West Side, where he branched out into making salads and quiches.

In June of 2000 he opened La Flor, which was originally meant to offer only baked goods and coffee, with some Mexican products on the side. Very quickly it became the center of culinary delights in Woodside, with its colorful mosaics made by Viko himself.

Since then, La Flor has earned high ratings in all of its reviews, including at Zagat’s, New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Time Out New York.

In 2009 Viko began working at Sequoia at South Street Seaport, where within a year he became the general chef there. After Superstorm Sandy hit, he began regular stints at other establishments, including those in Washington, DC and Atlantic City. He also helped to develop the menu at Boston’s historic Durgin Park, featuring Yankee cuisine.

Viko has also been co-owner and head chef of a few other food establishments, including a steakhouse in Chelsea called Chuck and Blade, a popular bar also in Chelsea called Buns Bar, as well as a chocolate chip cookie business, called Chipz Cookies.

He and his wife Rita have one daughter Jeannette, an Amherst graduate who has taught high school in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico and now is a teaching in the public school system in New York City; along with a son Christian, a recent Pace College graduate in writing.