Alejandro Rivero, Sous Chef of Blackthorn Club in Jonesborough, Tenn., and runner-up of the 2025 Club + Resort Chef of the Year culinary competition, says inspiration behind his Ahi Tuna Bite came from a desire to meld multiple cuisines on a single bite.
The resulting recipe represents Rivero’s cultural heritage, as well as his history and experience as a culinarian.
“The coffee and the cacao on the adobo is from my time on my grandparents’ coffee farm in Venezuela,” he says, “and the hummus from the part of my Lebanese family.”
The tuna, he says, stems from his love for the ocean, and the apples represent the time he spent working in kitchens where “the apple pies are the star.”
