Orlando Amaro: He loves to cook

With his goatee and rugged build, Orlando Amaro, executive chef at the new Station 4 restaurant, looks more like an athlete than a chef. But playing sport is not how Amaro has spent most of his life. He’d rather stand in the kitchen facing a line of cookpots than to do almost anything else. Venezuelan-born Amaro grew up in a culturally diverse setting and in a family in which food played an important role. For one, his Italian grandmother was a pastry chef and his mother was a fine home cook. When he was still young, he began cooking for his family and friends, forging a love for all things culinary. “I grew up in the kitchen with breads, croissants,” he said. “I love the kitchen.”