It’s the kind of story everyone likes to read. The tale of Reynol Osorio, a Dominican bodybuilder who worked as an instructor at a famous gym chain in Santo Domingo, who married Spanish social worker Sonia Prieto Almazan whom he met in the DR and migrated with her to Spain. Osorio recently won the award for best chef in Aragon, northeast Spain.
Diario Libre tells his story, detailing that Osorio was born in the tourist town of Boca Chica but grew up in nearby San Pedro de Macoris with his parents.
The couple decided they would live in Spain and for Osorio, the flight to Madrid would be his first time on a plane. He credits the support of his wife’s family with his today success. He lucked out when he was warmly received by the Prieto Almazan family that owned a restaurant and encouraged him to advance professionally. The restaurant served traditional Spanish food.
Osorio had done some stints in the hospitality industry, working in animation and as a waiter, but he had never worked in the kitchen.
He admits he had serious doubts when his father-in-law asked him to try his hand at cooking. But then the cooking bug bit, and in 2025, he began a whirlwind of courses in gastronomy.
His father-in-law has since passed away, but Osorio is grateful for the push to get professional training in the field. He explains he studied gastronomy at the Escuela Superior de Gastronomia de Teruel hospitality school. When he won a cooking contest at the school, he knew he was on the right track for a new career, he told Diario Libre.
He continued his studies, enrolling in the Basque Culinary Center to learn vanguard culinary techniques. He completed a course at the Universidad Gastronomica de San Sebastian and continued working with his father-in-law. He then studied as a pastry chef at Gasma CEU, where he worked with well-known Spanish chef Ricard Camarena, who holds two Michelin stars.
When he returned to Teruel, he worked at the Hospederia El Batan, which has a Michelin star, but then he went to work for the family business where he and his wife took over from her parents. His father-in-law died two years ago.
Now as head chef, he says he integrates the tastes of Dominican cooking to the Spanish food. He says he was particularly influenced by his mother’s cooking, especially the feasts she would make for Christmas.
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Diario Libre
22 May 2025