
Dominican chef Maria Marte received the prestigious Eckart 2017 Award for Innovation. Receiving the same award was El Club Allard managing director Luisa Orlando. Marte is recognized for going from dishwasher to two-star Michelin starred chef. Orlando is recognized for her bold decision, as a manager, to support Marte from the very beginning.
María Marte’s cuisine stands for an innovative concept that melds contemporary cooking methods with Caribbean elements to create a fascinating Mediterranean-Latin-American fusion.
At the restaurant, defying hurdles and prejudices, Marte managed to fight her way into a job as kitchen assistant. Already in 2006, she became the right-hand woman to chef Diego Guerrero, who was awarded the restaurant’s first Michelin star in 2007 and its second in 2011. However, in the wake of Guerrero’s unexpected departure in 2013, managing director Luisa Orlando decided to take a bold and unprecedented step: defying all doubts, she appointed the erstwhile dishwasher María Marte to head chef.
Their success is a testimony to the credentials of both women: together, they have successfully defended the two-Michelin star rating of El Club Allard. Moreover, Marte is the only female in Latin America today to hold two Michelin stars.
“This story is like a fairytale. But it’s also much more than that: these two ladies have shown that innovation and quality will always prevail. Today, we would like to honor the courage and unbending will with which María Marte and Luisa Orlando have pursued their goals by presenting them with the ECKART 2017,” said Eckart Witzigmann, after whom the awards are named, as he explained the reasons for the jury’s choice.
In 2017, the international Eckart Witzigmann Awards (ECKART) presents the awards in three categories – Art of Cookery, Innovation and Art of Living – plus one further category – Creative Responsibility and Enjoyment. The BMW Group sponsors the award prize moneys. Alain Ducasse was the winner of the award for the Art of Cookery.
5 October 2017