“When you mix things, it’s beautiful,” says Chef Armando Gonzalez, who owns and runs Amerikas Restaurant in Oak Park. The nuevo Latino restaurant, which will celebrate seven years this December, is inspired by cultures around the world while remaining rooted in Gonzalez’s upbringing in Mexico.
“I want to create food in my own style,” he said. “Amerikas, to me, is diversity. I’m able to use all types of vegetables, seeds, meats. So they’re not necessarily from Mexico. America, for me, is the melting pot you can create all together, mixing flavors and becoming very unique. I try and create. I don’t follow the rules. I have my own rules.”
From growing up in Oaxaca, Mexico to running Amerikas in Oak Park, food has guided Gonzalez’s life. When Gonzalez was a child, his mother ran a small restaurant where he and his brothers would help cook.
When Gonzalez was 17, he came to the United States with just one dollar in quarters and began working in restaurants. He worked for French, Japanese, and Italian kitchens, absorbing the diverse foods and cultures.
By 2011, Gonzalez had co-founded Mexican fusion restaurant Libertad in Skokie. In 2017, he opened Amerikas at 734 Lake St. in Oak Park. It was the people in Oak Park who inspired Gonzalez to open a restaurant in the area, he said. “What I do for the restaurant, it’s for Oak Park.”
Amerikas’s philosophy of creating flavors across cultures is reflected in the restaurant’s dishes.
While the breakfast and lunch menu offers more traditional Mexican food, Gonzalez showcases his creativity through the dinner menu. “It’s what a Oaxacan can do in America,” he says.
Gonzalez’s bestselling cauliflower dish, which he created in just 10 minutes, incorporates farro from Italy, manchego from Spain, and hibiscus from Mexico. The restaurant serves fish on Mexican fried rice, incorporating a Chinese fried rice technique. Instead of serving dishes with rice and beans, Gonzalez serves fresh vegetables from local farms.
At Amerikas, Gonzalez strives to provide guests with an “experience.” The restaurant has no televisions. The layout and environment encourage intimate conversations. The food is made to share. During the summer, guests can enjoy meals outdoors on the vibrant Lake Street restaurant row. When the weather is nice, Amerikas keeps its doors open.
“For me, the money is not what I work for,” said Gonzalez. “I work because I love this: the hospitality, good food, cocktails, with no pressure, with no rush. People come in here and forget about everything.”