Alberto Sainz de la Maza Díaz, a San Juan native, left Puerto Rico in April to take charge of a family restaurant in Spain with more than 20 years of history, after a relative asked him to move there and eventually assume its direction when his cousin retires. He grew up traveling to Spain in summers to visit his father’s family.
He began studying event production at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, but work as a waiter drew him to cooking, and he switched to the Escuela Hotelera de San Juan. His first kitchen job was at Cannoli in Ocean Park in 2016, where he did preparation, cooking and plating. After more than a year there he worked in other restaurant kitchens.
His sister then called him about a business opportunity in Orlando, Florida, and they opened a Latin bakery together. He recalled starting at 4 a.m. to bake bread, quesitos and pastelitos, closing at 4 or 5 p.m. to shop, and getting home near 9 p.m. Customers, including retirees from New York who wintered in Florida, pushed them to add hamburgers and chicken wings.
After three years they sold the business. He stayed in Orlando about a year and a half as a truck driver hauling goods from Georgia to Florida, mainly for bathroom-furniture and tile stores, then returned to Puerto Rico, citing economic difficulties and loneliness, and worked at the Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico in Río Grande.
Less than six months later came the offer from Spain. His parents, who retired in Puerto Rico, also moved to Spain.