Beyond cooking, his specialty is \u201csurprising and elevating perceptions of Latin American gastronomy\u201d through what he prefers to call \u201ccombinations\u201d rather than \u201cfusions.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
His passion for the culinary world runs in the family. In 1955, his grandparents opened the restaurant Chop Suey in Rivas, and Tam recalls that his entire family worked in the business\u2014a tradition they maintained even after emigrating to the United States in 1980, before the Nicaraguan civil war. <\/p>\n\n
Despite moving to another country, his childhood in the United States was marked by weekends selling nacatamale, like \u201cevery Nicaraguan\u201d trying to keep their roots alive, while his father worked in maintenance and construction.<\/p>\n\n
It was his mother who passed down the recipes and techniques that now define his cooking. \u201cMy mom and dad worked in the United States, retired, and later returned to Nicaragua. Before they went back, I told her, \u2018Mom, teach me the dishes I love: how to make vaho, how to prepare nacatamales, the dough, how to wrap them, everything, including salpic\u00f3n,\u2019\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n\n
Those traditional recipes would become the foundation of his cuisine, but with a distinctive twist: \u201cI used the techniques I learned in the United States with the traditional flavors of Nicaragua,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n \u201cI learned from chef Douglas Rodr\u00edguez, who is the king of Latin cuisine in the United States. He\u2019s Cuban, but I remember he had Nicaraguan cooks. I saw his menu in New York and noticed Nicaraguan vigor\u00f3n, and I said, \u2018Wow.\u2019 Seeing that dish in New York, in an upscale place, inspired me,\u201d he recalls. That inspiration led him to create his own events. \u201cI started doing pop-ups <\/em>because I didn\u2019t want to work in the traditional restaurant industry,\u201d the Nicaraguan chef says. Pop-ups allowed <\/em>him to present Nicaraguan cuisine to a different audience, mainly foreigners who had never tried the country\u2019s flavors. <\/p>\n\n \u201cI don\u2019t like the word fusion; I prefer the word combination, even though they sound similar. Fusion usually means a chef goes to two countries and tries to force something together. I don\u2019t think in terms of food, I think in terms of flavors,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n One of his most emblematic combinations is Chinese-style vigor\u00f3n: \u201cI keep the cassava and the salad, but instead of Nicaraguan chicharr\u00f3n, I use Chinese fried pork,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n Other creations include fried rice with roast pork and churrasco with chimichurri served alongside Cantonese-style fried rice. \u201cI see things as flavors, not tradition,\u201d says the chef from Rivas. That perspective has allowed him to create dishes such as \u201cfried cheese with Vietnamese peanut sauce\u201d or \u201cgallo pinto served over cooked banana leaves,\u201d designed to transport diners directly to Granada. <\/p>\n\n Culinary pop-ups are temporary appearances where chefs offer unique, <\/em>short-lived dining experiences in specific locations. The Nicaraguan chef held his first pop-up in 2017. <\/p>\n\n \u201cAbout 80 foreigners trying Nicaraguan food and Chinese food for the first time. That was my first pop-up,\u201d he recalls. Since then, his events have drawn up to 300 people each month. <\/p>\n\n \u201cWhy do I do pop-ups? <\/em>I help businesses by hosting them on days when they\u2019re closed. I organize the event, handle the marketing, and through the food I can introduce people to new flavors,\u201d Tam explains. <\/p>\n\n \u201cMy goal is to cook in San Francisco for different clients who don\u2019t know Nicaragua, so they can taste its flavors, no matter what they\u2019re combined with,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n The chef has also written the book It\u2019s a Vibe: A Food & Wine Experience<\/em>, which tells the stories behind his recipes and combinations and celebrates \u201cthe culture of the Bay Area\u201d in Northern California.<\/p>\n\n He also opened a cloud kitchen \u2014 a kitchen focused on pickup and delivery \u2014 <\/em>specializing in Nicaraguan grilled dishes. The business is located in Oakland, a city east of San Francisco. <\/p>\n\n Behind every dish Armando Tam prepares are the lessons he learned from his parents. \u201cMy father taught me humility. He\u2019s the best father in the world,\u201d he says proudly. His father, a karate practitioner and former Nicaraguan firefighter, often repeated a phrase to him: \u201cI don\u2019t care how much money you make. What I want is for you to be humble.\u201d <\/p>\n\n His mother, meanwhile, gave him the tools of the trade. \u201cShe is the strongest woman in the world. I\u2019m strong, but she\u2019s twice as strong,\u201d he says. From waking him up early on weekends to prepare nacatamales to teaching him discipline and the value of hard work, she helped shape both the man and the cook he is today. <\/p>\n\n When asked about the essential Nicaraguan ingredients in his kitchen, he doesn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cFor me, achiote \u2014 because I love roast pork,\u201d he replies. And like many Nicaraguans, he always keeps his freezer stocked: \u201cI keep Ziploc bags of red beans frozen. I thaw them, make gallo pinto, or cook bean soup,\u201d he shares. His favorite dish is salpic\u00f3n. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In San Francisco, California\u2014where the Latino community and its restaurants shape much of the culinary landscape\u2014Nicaraguan chef of Chinese descent Armando Jos\u00e9 Tam has found his purpose: bringing Nicaraguan and Latin flavors to tables that had never even heard of Nicaragua. Now 50 years old, with a life story that connects Rivas, Nicaragua, to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1298,"featured_media":182986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_eb_data_table":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15445,15451,15459],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english","category-migrants","category-nicaraguans-around-the-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-06-at-4.29.46-PM-1024x743.jpeg\")
Armando Tam\u2019s \u201ccombinations\u201d<\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Collage-comidas1-1024x479.jpg\")
Pop-up shows bring Latin cuisine to new audiences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/confidencial.digital\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-02-06-at-3.48.41-PM-1024x751.jpeg\")
The forces behind Chef Tam<\/h2>\n\n