Angel David Moreno Zayas

The Climb

Formal study runs through Colegio Universitario de Este, Johnson & Wales University, and Culinary Institute of America, the base of the craft that shaped Angel David Moreno Zayas before he entered professional kitchens. From there, the work moved into service and pressure: first with Emeril Lagasse at Emeril Lagasse in Miami, then as chef at Next in Chicago, IL from 2014. Each step marks a different level of execution, from foundational schooling to kitchens where timing, precision, and pace had to hold at once. That progression leads directly to El Gallo Pinto. Since 2021, Angel David Moreno Zayas has been chef and owner there, a position that places him inside the daily rhythm of the restaurant rather than above it. In Guayama, Puerto Rico, the role is both operational and editorial: the kitchen reflects his judgment, and the restaurant runs on the discipline built across the years before it.

Today

Since 2021, Angel David Moreno Zayas has served as chef and owner of El Gallo Pinto in Guayama, Puerto Rico. The work now sits at the point where training, professional kitchen experience, and ownership converge. It is a current role grounded in prior rooms, prior standards, and the kind of continuity that keeps a restaurant coherent day after day.

Signature

Aji Dulce Daiquiri is listed among Angel's signature dishes. That kind of named signature does a specific trade job: it gives a cook’s point of view a repeatable form, something diners can return to and other chefs can read as a marker of intent. In a career built through formal study and demanding kitchens, the signature becomes one more piece of evidence for how the work is composed.

In Their Words “I was very fortunate to know that I always wanted to be a cook (I do not see myself doing anything else).”