Life & Work with Amador Acosta of Denver and Lakewood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amador Acosta.

Hi Amador, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
It all started at a local mom-and-pop restaurant called The White River Cafe in Bloomington, Indiana during summer break after my first year at Indiana University. I cooked, prepped, and washed dishes as a part-time employee. It was super fun. Then, after graduating and working as a research analyst in Chicago for a year, I felt drawn back to the kitchen and found my first professional cooking job with Lettuce Entertain You at the opening of Petterino’s in 2000. That experience solidified my love for the craft and I decided to pursue culinary school while continuing to work my way up through the kitchen brigade and develop my skills. I attended a Le Cordon Bleu program at the Cooking and Hospitality School of Chicago and was fortunate to gain experience in other kitchens at Cantare, Volare, and mk Restaurant with chef Michael Kornick and Erick Williams, who were tremendous mentors.

From there, I pursued cooking in fine dining establishments on larger stages which led to relationships with influential chefs. I spent a year as a stagier at Restaurant Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain. This led me to other kitchens, like The Paul in Copenhagen where I was able to meet chef Rene Redzepi at the time he was ideating Noma. I was also able to work with chef Andoni Aduriz at Mugaritz where I met a group of talented chefs, some of whom were from the United States and planning to work at a new restaurant opening in New York City. I joined that team as a Garde Manger Chef de Partie, helping open Gilt Restaurant in the New York Palace Hotel with chef Paul Liebrandt.

During my 13 years in New York City, I was fortunate to work with some of the best chefs in the world. Finally, I joined Michael White at his restaurant group, the AltaMarea Group, as the Corporate Executive Chef. I oversaw culinary operations for all 14 of the group’s restaurants, including the two-Michelin starred restaurant, Marea, and the Michelin starred restaurant, Ai Fiori.

After starting a family, I joined Whole Foods Market as a Culinary Coordinator for the Rocky Mountain region in 2017 and moved to Denver. Shortly after, I was promoted to the Global Culinary team, developing and managing culinary programming for all 550+ Whole Foods Market locations.

In 2023, I joined Birdcall as the VP of Culinary, focused on driving menu innovation for the growing, all-natural craft chicken brand. Drawing on my experiences across kitchens, continents, and teams, we are bringing truly chef-inspired recipes, sourcing, and preparation into the quick service format at Birdcall.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I have never really experienced a smooth road. I don’t think something like that exists, nor do I think a smooth road is something that is important to pursue. Daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly struggles are common, both personally and professionally. Throughout my career, I’ve experienced intense learning curves while working with ambitious chefs, long work days of 100+-hour work weeks, and leadership challenges while working with enormous teams developing and managing culinary programming for hundreds of locations.

In that time, I learned that I must be intentional in my pursuit of work/life balance and appropriately prioritize what’s most important to me, my wife and two young children.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in making good, thoughtful food, no matter what kind of food I’m cooking. I love to channel all my experience and creativity into creating recipes that are authentic, delicious, and properly cared for at Birdcall. With a wide fan-base in CO, AZ, and TX, I have an incredible platform to do that and feed a variety of dining interests. We focus on making quality, natural foods accessible and place special attention on ingredient sourcing, which I manage along with recipe ideation and preparation procedures.

In my role, I think that I am most proud of my ability to remain true to my own inspirations for good food while remaining committed and unwavering to working and cooking with integrity.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
My experiences have shaped my attitude and character greatly, and over time have helped me develop two qualities that are important to me and areas that I continue to grow in.

I think an underlying sense of humility and a consistent perspective of gratitude are among the most important qualities to cultivate as a professional and thoughtful individual. Those two qualities have consistently helped put me in a position to learn and grow and inspire me to take opportunities to help fellow cooks and teammates come to their own understandings along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.eatbirdcall.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eat.birdcall/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eat.birdcall/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/birdcall/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/birdcall-denver?osq=birdcall
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@eatbirdcall