If you should stumble upon his Facebook page, you’ll learn that Guilherme Barreto, executive chef of Dupont Circle’s popular Floriana restaurant, has some unusual likes: super-chef Alain Ducasse, Confederacao Brasileira de Futebol, and “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Top Chef” television shows. That’s probably not surprising considering that this flamboyant young chef has led what many would call a colorful life. After all, he’s pictured on his Facebook page sporting a ponytail and readying a piglet for some culinary adventure. A native of Goiania Goias, Brazil, Barreto left the jungle village after his parents divorced, and started a very different life as a cook in Miami’s South Beach. “I saw China Grill [in Miami], and said to myself, one day I will work here,” Barreto says.

But first, of course, he needed to develop some skills, so he started making sandwiches in a local sandwich shop. Much to his surprise, he discovered he was good at what he was doing. As fortune would have it, after graduating from a culinary school in Miami, he did end up working for China Grill, both in Miami and later in New York.