Born in Santiago, Chile, Billy Otis cooked in Boston and Chicago, spent three years working under Rick Bayless and now cooks at Socialito and Lily & Bloom in Hong Kong.
My name is Billy Otis, and I’m the chef at Socialito in Hong Kong. I was born in Santiago, Chile, on April 24.
Mom always had a garden when I was growing up, and she would pick vegetables and make us dinner every night. I always helped make dinner; it was very interesting to me. In the spring we would visit my grandparents in Florida, and I’d end up in the kitchen with my grandmother making pasta sauce, casseroles and pies. Food has always played a large role in my life.
I’ve been a chef here in Hong Kong for eighteen months now, at Socialito and now also at Lily & Bloom. But going back, I’ve been cooking for close to fourteen years.
I actually started as a busser in a summer job when I was thirteen. I loved the atmosphere of the kitchen and of the restaurant in general. It was fast-paced on the floor and you were part of a performance; I was hooked.
The next summer I worked at a new place that served BBQ; it was basic, but a good introduction. Then I spent a couple of years at a hotel that had the best food in our area, which was my introduction to fine dining.
I went to college in Boston and started working for Rene Michelena, an extremely talented chef who taught me skills I would build a career on. After a couple of years I was in Chicago, moving around, trying different cuisines, running various kitchens and developing my own style of food. I helped open Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant in Chicago and learned a lot from that experience.
The other huge influence on me was working under Rick Bayless. I worked there for three years and learned to appreciate the culture and how to make high-end Mexican food. I constantly worked to learn the cuisine and combine it with my own style and flavors, creating new plates for the menu.
My favorite thing to make at home is pappardelle with an Amatriciana sauce. I love making pasta by hand: there is something about kneading the dough, rolling it (also by hand) and cutting it that makes you appreciate the final product. For the sauce, I go to the market, find the freshest possible ingredients and try to extract as much flavor as possible at each step of the preparation.
By the time I’ve finished kneading and rolling the dough and the sauce is made, I’m tired. So it’s amazing to me when I sit down to eat that smoky, bacony, slightly spicy sauce with tender pasta. A nice glass of wine is always essential to this home meal.
Things I like to do outside of work? I love spending time with friends, whether over drinks or dinner; good companionship is essential to keeping a level head in this job. I enjoy playing soccer (fútbol) and basketball, but I wish I had time to play more.
I enjoy both friends and sports because there’s always joking and “trash talk”, which I think helps lighten the mood and gets everyone involved. If I’m feeling lazy, I love to watch movies. I can do that with friends or am just as happy to do it on my own; it’s therapeutic.
I hope that when you come to any of our venues, the food we create brings back memories or creates new ones. One of the things I love about cooking is seeing a guest’s reaction when they take that first bite of an amazing dish and know they are having a great experience.
The dish in the photo is the Sea Food Platter, a spread of all different types of premium seafood: from sweet spiny lobster tail to luxurious amaebi and an Australian favorite, spanner crab. The haricots verts add some texture and color, while the citrus beurre blanc is a perfect match for the seafood. You can’t go wrong choosing this one.
I chose this dish for the shoot because of the array of seafood in the mix. The green of the haricots verts (French green beans) and the yellow of the beurre blanc also create visual appeal. The dish looks great and tastes even better, so why not choose it for a picture?
The lobster is lightly poached in a court bouillon, and the tail is cut in half and grilled. The amaebi (Japanese sweet shrimp for sashimi) is lightly marinated and served raw. The crab meat is dressed with an aioli and served as a “slaw” on the plate, forming the base for the haricots verts.
