Chef Somoza

Born in Spain in 1975, Somoza was raised in Madrid, but his earliest memories are from when he was about 5 years old, heading to the countryside with his father to pick blackberries. They’d return to the city and they’d cook the berries, and the smell of caramelized sugar would waft through the air. It was those summer days, he said, that sparked his love of cooking. He went on to study optometry at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in the early 1990s, but ended up in the kitchen, using his math skills for baking.

Under the culinary direction of Chef Somoza, Flora’s menu captures the spirit of Mediterranean seaside towns from Saint Tropez to Capri to Marbella, spotlighting the bountiful seafood and vibrant produce that are hallmarks of coastal cuisine. With a passion for fresh ingredients rooted in his childhood in the Spanish countryside, picking wild blackberries and foraging mushrooms and wild asparagus, Chef Somoza is drawn to local, farm-to-table cooking.