Hey listeners, I know—it’s been a moment.
Your gay granny may have gotten a little too caught up in the season finale of Delta and its spin-off, Omicron.
But—it’s a new year, I’m triple-vaxxed, and the Mayordoma podcast is back. And I’ve got a real appetite to bring you more inspiring bitches who run their kitchens.
In fact, our guest for this episode has run a whole lot of kitchens all the way in New York—and with no formal culinary training at that.
Pilar Valdes went from owning a catering business to private cheffing it up for clients like, oh, just our quirky queen, Drew Barrymore!
Now cooking for America’s reigning sweetheart is one thing, but Pilar wasn’t expecting to cook for the world as well.
For a year now, Pilar has appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show as Drew’s “culinary partner in crime.” If Drew’s talk show has been our sunny escape through this pandemic, Pilar’s cooking segment offers a little wanderlust on the plate. 20 episodes in, she’s put a bright, global spin on comfort food, from rubbing a steak with Vietnamese coffee to scrambling eggs with yuzu kosho. And your girl does it with a gleeful shimmy that’s become as much a part of the show as her co-host’s signature lisp.
Last November, she and Drew co-published Rebel Homemaker, a cookbook featuring the whimsical farmer’s market fare Pilar’s dished out at the star’s home, with some familiar Filipino tastes in the mix—a recipe for kilawin, for one, and an Ode to Campbell’s Mushroom Soup, which we cannot deny is a Pinoy pantry classic.
Rebel Homemaker has led to some very public things for the once-private chef—from landing the cover of Cherry Bombe with her co-author, to sitting down with Whoopi and the ladies on The View.
Amid promotions for the book, Pilar spared some time to discuss the whirlwind that’s taken her from delivering packed lunches on the subway to, uh, serving up a New York Times best-seller!
She also tells us how it took a while before she realized she wanted to quit her job in nonprofit work to become a full-time chef.
Though, I’ll admit, not as much time as it took to properly connect with her over Zoom. After half an hour of audio mishaps from my end, she still managed to serve smiles all the way from her cozy Brooklyn apartment. Here she is, the serial shimmier herself, Pilar Valdes.
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