Fishbones Bar & Grille’s Saucy Sous Chef
Bianca Moorman
This week, we had a chat with Abraham Torres–the Sous Chef at Fishbones, a restaurant on the harbor in Oak Bluffs. Torres came to the island after working in New York at a variety of ethnic restaurants. Before that, he was the pastry chef at an Italian restaurant. We sat down with Abraham to discover a little more about Fishbones and his personal story.
This Week: Can you tell me a little bit more about Fishbones for those who aren’t familiar with it?
Abraham Torres: Well, we specialize in Jamaican and Caribbean dishes, so of course the food is very good… There are not a lot of places that are trying to do that on the island and we are try to raise the bar for Caribbean and Jamaican food.
TW: That sounds good can you tell any Jamaican or Caribbean dishes that are being served at Fishbones?
AT: We have classic dishes like Jamaican jerk chicken and chicken wings…. We cook everything here and we make the all the house sauces from scratch.
TW: Why did you decide to become a chef?
AT: I was studying when Fishbones was about to open. I was working with a chef over here and once I learned the skills I needed I became the sous chef.
TW: Being the sous must take a lot of work, so what are your main responsibilities?
AT: Everything, really. Trying to maintain a high quality product and to make sure that all the food is safe for people with allergies.
TW: Can you tell me a little bit more about what is your favorite dish to make?
AT: My favorite dish is the Red Snapper; it’s a fresh fish with cucumber pickles. It’s very good.
TW: You must receive a lot of compliments from the customers?
AT: I get compliments all the time. People come back to kitchen to taste the jerk chicken sauce. People really like the Cobb salad, especially when people order salmon or some other type of fish on top of it.
TW: I know that you pretty much know the menu back to front, but there has to a dish that is tricky for you to make?
AT: I really don’t have a hard dish because it’s all very easy to do. When you work hard and you know the menu everything is easy.
