Aspen chef, Dreamer has a raincheck to visit White House, will host two Classic feasts this weekend

Vice President Kamala Harris invited former “Top Chef” star Byron Gomez, who recently reigned at Aspen’s 7908 Supper Club, to meet her in Denver this weekend. But he already had a commitment to prepare a Costa Rican feast at Hotel Jerome on Friday and Saturday for the Food & Wine Classic festivities.

So they met via Zoom. Harris features some of his remarks in a video posted on Thursday on her Facebook page. And she offered him a rain check to come to the White House for further discussion.

The topic? His experience as a DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipient who has enriched America, culturally and economically.

Former President Barack Obama’s executive order June 15, 2012, created DACA to protect people who were brought to America as children of undocumented immigrants from being deported. DACA recipients are known as Dreamers.

“I’m proud to be a Dreamer,” Gomez told The Aspen Times Thursday, the 11th anniversary of DACA. “I’ve testified before Congress and the Senate. I’d love to visit the White House soon.”

To be eligible for DACA, a person must have arrived in America before age 16. Gomez’s parents brought him to New York from Costa Rica when he was 8. DACA authorizes Dreamers to work here. But they must apply to be in the program every two years.

“Planning for the future in two-year increments is difficult. I can’t have a five-year career plan,” he said, now 35.

Despite that obstacle, he’s blazed a career emblematic of the American Dream.

His teenage job at a Long Island Burger King was his launching pad. Talent and hard work landed him in the Michelin-starred restaurants of Paul Boulud and Eleven Madison Park (three Michelin stars). Now he’s opened his own Boulder restaurant, Pollo Tico, which features Costa Rican cuisine.

Friday and Saturday, diners will get to sample some of his favorite childhood dishes like grilled whole snapper, rotisserie chicken, and his personal comfort food choice, Gallo pinto — a rustic beans and rice dish. He said the dinners will be family style, so guests can meet each other surrounded by Hotel Jerome’s exotic purple and red garden flowers.

Gomez said one of the first times he spoke publicly about being a Dreamer was when he competed on Season 18 of “Top Chef.” The response was huge, with other DACA recipients thanking him and sharing how DACA allowed them to get full employee benefits on their jobs or getting to open a checking account at a U.S. bank.

That was in 2020, long after Donald Trump while in office vowed to wind down DACA. Gomez recalled that “every day his administration, I was worried DACA would be ended, and I’d be forced to leave America.”

He made it clear he considers America home.

He said he understands that some Americans who dream of Costa Rica as a retirement haven wonder why his well-educated parents left that country. He admires Costa Rica’s stability, beauty, and commitment to a clean environment. But like his parents, he feels a powerful emotional bond to America and its ideals.

His parents will soon become U.S. citizens. And that’s part of Gomez’s American Dream — that DACA will offer a clear path to citizenship.

“In my restaurant, I hire American workers, and they get a paycheck from me every week,” he said. “I’m proud to be contributing to America culturally and economically. And I believe DACA is making America stronger.”