Alessandra Garcia

EVERYONE EATS        |        NOV 5, 2020

Alessandra
Garcia

MODEL

Alessandra García a body-positive model who advocates for diversity and inclusion in the fashion industry. The Los Angeles native’s career has steadily progressed since her debut in 2014 when she was modeling part-time while completing her film degree at New York City's The New School. The Cuban-American beauty (referred to as “Ale” by friends) exudes poise and humility that makes her a favored face on and off the runway.

To date, Ale has appeared in campaigns for Dolce & Gabanna, Gap, H&M, and Forever 21, among others. In 2016, the she walked in Christian Siriano’s groundbreaking show where he sent five plus models down his runway for the first time. That same year, she joined the ranks of the industry’s most prominent models for Lane Byrant’s unapologetic #ThisBody campaign.

Alessandra currently lives in New York City and uses her platform to advocate for body-positivity as well as bring awareness to human-rights and political issues in Cuba. In her free time, she can be found cooking large, family-style meals for her friends.

INTERVIEW BY ROSIE ELLIS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JUSTIN KANEPS

ALESSANDRA'S HOME IN NEW YORK CITY

Alessandra let us into her beautiful Manhattan apartment where we discussed her Cuban heritage, her love for Sophia Loren and her knack for hosting dinner parties.

BREAKFAST

I tend to not be that hungry for breakfast, but if I’m working, I’ll have scrambled eggs, toast and avocado. On my days off, I usually don’t eat until 11:30 or 12. My favorite breakfast (that I’ve had a lot during quarantine) is called tamago kake gohan. You take white rice and crack an egg in it and the warm rice cooks the egg. I’ll add a little bit of soy sauce and some sesame seeds or sesame oil, maybe an avocado. It kind of makes a porridge. Sometimes I’ll add some sausage or bacon or whatever’s in the fridge, but normally I’ll just do avocado with the egg and rice. I’ll also have black drip American coffee, or a pour over – I’m super down with dark bitter coffee. I even like iced black coffee with nothing in it.

I grew up drinking Cuban coffee every morning (cafe con leche) so I’m also used to a really creamy, sugary coffee. A cafe con leche is espresso with warm milk with a lot of sugar. There’s another delicious coffee drink called cortadito which is Cuban espresso with evaporated milk. That’s really good.

Or you can do espresso with espuma, where you take sugar and a couple drops of Cuban espresso and make a paste out of it. You whip it for a long time until it becomes pasty and then you pour in the rest of the espresso. It’s called Espumita. Espuma in Spanish means foam, so that sugar paste, when you pour the espresso into it, becomes the layer of foam. It’s creamy but it’s very sweet. Cuban coffee is so strong, it’s like pure crack. That’s what I’ll have if I’m going out.

LUNCH

If I’m home alone, lunch is some sort of left over dinner that I had the night before. Probably some sort of grain and vegetable and a piece of chicken or something that I cooked.

If I’m grabbing something out, I’ll go to this place in my neighborhood that opened last year called Sonnyboy. They have a chopped salad that’s so good. You can get it with grilled haloumi and chicken and avocado. It has tarragon in it. It’s kind of cesar-y but it’s not. You know those trendy Australian restaurants they have all over the city, like Two Hands? It’s one of those.

DINNER

If it’s just me cooking by myself, it’s usually some chicken or steak or shrimp or fish. Sometimes I’ll just make veggies – I’ll do eggplant and a sweet potato or something like that. Maybe some charred broccoli.

Last night I was home alone, house sitting at my parent’s house and watching the dogs, so I was like, I’m going to make myself a pasta. I love having romantic, solo pasta nights to myself. I’ll usually cook some fresh tomatoes (if it’s tomato season) or make a cacio pepe (that’s what I made last night) or a carbonara or something.

DESSERT

I’m not a huge dessert person, but recently my friend and her boyfriend were over and we made a sundae, which I hadn’t had in forever. She brought Oreos, M&Ms, hard shell, three different types of ice cream – all this stuff. We made it in this huge bowl – it’s such a fun idea for a dinner party dessert. It’s not very COVID friendly but it’s fun to share a big sundae with somebody. So that’s my new dessert hack – just make a big sundae.

I’ve been getting into Jenni’s ice creams here in LA, but my favorite ice cream is by Graeter's. Their black raspberry chip is incredible. It’s their signature flavor. The black raspberry is the base, and then they basically pour chocolate into it while they’re mixing it so it becomes ribbons of chocolate. It’s amazing.

SPEED ROUND

Recent food discovery?
Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp.

Best snack between meals?
Sweet peppers.

 

Favorite food family tradition?

Cuban roast pork on Christmas Eve.

 

Three items always in your kitchen
Rice, chicken thighs and eggs.

Celebrity chef crush?
Nigella Lawson.

Dream dinner guest?
My two late grandfathers.

Go-to comfort food?
White rice.

Go-to cookbook?
Memories of a Cuban Kitchen.

Whose routine would you love to see on Everyone Eats?
Sophia Loren.

Cocktail of choice?
Martinis, any way. Gin, vodka, olives, twist or dirty ... I love them all.

Coffee of choice?
Iced black coffee or a Cuban cortadito.

Favorite place to shop for kitchenwares?
Charish.

Any allergies or foods you avoid?
I have a super strong aversion to celery and dill. It’s pretty unfortunate and I try them every once in a while to see if my taste buds have changed but no luck.

Most overrated food trend?
Cauliflower rice.

Cooking playlist?
Rare Soul Grooves on Spotify.

Best on-set meal?
When you're on set in Italy and they break for lunch, it's a four course meal. We’ll sit down and have the antipasto, the pasta and then some sort of fish and a meat. You have the whole thing. The best food is always in Italy.

A kitchen isn’t a kitchen without [blank]?
A mess.

Any vitamins or supplements?
Vitamin D, vitamin C and inositol for hormonal health and balance!

Last thing you ordered for delivery?
Sushi from my local sushi spot in LA called Kabosu. It happens to be one of the best in town. I love their green roll and yuzu roll.

 

Secret food hack?

The best way to warm up leftover rice is in the microwave with a wet paper towel on top to steam it.

 

Most underrated kitchen tool?
Your hands.

Weirdest eating habit?
I crave sushi whenever I get home from traveling.

Favorite way to work off a big meal?
Long walk to a bar for a nightcap.

Where do you most feel like The Regular?
I’ve always wanted to be the person who had a spot they always go, but I can’t say that I do. Maybe 2021 is my year.

THIRD SCOOP

How does your Cuban heritage play into your cooking?

My parents are Cuban, so I grew up with my mom and dad both cooking Cuban food, so a lot of the recipes that I cook are Cuban inspired. I also grew up eating a lot of Italian. A lot of the time I’ll cook Cuban food because people want to try it – they don’t know where to get Cuban food. I haven’t found a place in New York with good, authentic Cuban food, but in LA there’s Porto’s which does amazing Cuban pastries. They also make great Cuban sandwiches, which is a huge part of Cuban culture.

My favorite Cuban dish to make is called vaca frita which is beef marinated in lime and garlic. And then you boil it, then you shred it, then you fry it. So it ends up being lime-y crispy fried beef, and you have it with onions and black beans and rice. It’s so good. I’ll also sometimes make it with chicken which is more of a Cuban American thing.

Cookbooks or off-the-cuff cooking?

I used to be more into cookbooks. Nigella Lawson was really one of my biggest inspirations when I was getting into cooking. I love her, and Ina Garten - you know, those classic Food Network chefs. For every single birthday growing up, I always got cookbooks. Now I do have a good intuition in the kitchen in terms of cooking (not baking, my intuition for baking is not there). You can find so many recipes online and on Instagram – I always love to pull from there. And once I get comfortable with a recipe, I'll play around with it a little bit.

Your Instagram is full of some impressively decadent home cooked meals. How did you learn to cook like this and what are some of your go-to dishes?

I started cooking when I was 12. My dad traveled a lot for work and we’d go with him. He was in San Francisco for a job for a couple months and I remember it being so cold. (Coming from LA, I thought it was freezing.) It was just me and my parents and I was always bored, so one day I told my parents I wanted to make them dinner. My mom had given me a kids cookbook. She took me to the grocery store and we got everything I needed. And that was the first time that I really cooked by myself.

Over time, my confidence and independence in the kitchen grew. Like, I'd want to try to make pizza, so I’d go get pizza dough and try and totally fail. But I just liked doing it and my parents always let me try.

I’ve always loved hosting people. Even in high school, I always had people over for dinner, and would cook for them. In college it grew when I had my own space to entertain. I would look for any excuse to bring my friends together. I think hosting is so meaningful, because even though it can be kind of chaotic, people always appreciate a home cooked meal. Even if it isn’t the most incredible food, it’s just nice to be in somebody’s house.

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