Avenida Restaurant

Chef Kim Katz Alvarez

A graduate of Syracuse University’s restaurant management program and the two-year chef program at the Culinary Institute of America, cooking has been my passion since I was 7.

I clearly remember the day my mom enrolled me in a cooking class at Bloomingdales in Jenkintown, PA. It was Thanksgiving time, and our first assignment was to make homemade stuffing. My cousin Brandi was also in the class, and she also liked all the tearing of the bread and combining it with the wet ingredients using her fingers. But I loved it.

It was the best stuffing I had ever tasted, and every Thanksgiving I continue to make it for my family. In fact, every year my daughter Emma and son Alejandro look forward to tearing the bread and helping me saute vegetables and mix it all together with their hands.

But that’s what cooking is all about: bringing joy to family and friends through combining the best ingredients with some skill and a little magic. Although my mother never really loved to cook, she lit up when it came time to prepare the traditional Jewish dishes that her mother made best: chicken pot roast, chopped liver, and motzah ball soup (although my mom always made the kind of matzah balls that sink).

Of course, now that Edgar and I have kids we teach them to prepare the recipes that our grandmothers created. Rarely does a week go by when Emma doesn’t whip up a giant bowl of guacamole, or Alejandro doesn’t ask for some of mommom’s matzah balls (he likes the kind that sink, too).

I feel lucky to share the art of cooking with my kidsand with my customers, too.

In my 25 years as a chef, I have had the privilege to work in some of the best kitchens in America including Brad Ogden’s One Market in San Francisco and the Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur, CA, as the second-in-command at The Striped Bass under head chef Alison Barshack, and as head chef of Beaujolais in Philadelphia.

I also worked as a chef at several gourmet markets in Philadelphia, including Gerard’s and Patina.

At those establishments I learned not only how to prepare four-star meals, and lead other chefs so they enjoy coming to work each day. I also came to master what it means to truly take care of your guests.

We bring that to Avenida, and look forward to building a reputation as the go-to-spot for fabulous Latin American cuisine in a family-friendly environment. We’ll look forward to seeing you soon!

Chef Edgar Alvarez

I grew up in Guatemala, and the thing that is etched in my memory is the scene of my grandmother, aunts and mother preparing a meal at my grandmother’s ranch outside the city. It was an all-day affair, for we were a giant family and when breakfast ended all the women in the family would go off to the market to buy the freshest produce, meat and fish for lunch and dinner. They did not have much to spend, but la comida was always full of love and flavor.

I remember my mother plucking fresh chickens in the yard. She would cut up tons of vegetables and then toss everything in a giant pot. It would simmer just long enough to bring out the most mouthwatering flavors.

She was truly an amazing chef, although she would never consider herself one. But she taught me everything I know. I watched closely the way she would add some of this and not too much of that. She gave me a love for good, healthy, hearty food just the kind I prepare today.

When I came to this country, I worked as a sous chef at some of the best restaurants in Philadelphia, including the original Dock Street, the four-star restaurant The Striped Bass, the gourmet Chinese restaurant Susanna Foo. I had the opportunity to work under the excellent chefs who cooked there, as well as Phillippe Chin and Keong Bahn, when I worked at Phillippe.

After fine-tuning my skills, I was ready to go off on my own in 1999 and became the head chef at The Black Sheep near Rittenhouse Square. Although this Irish pub cuisine was new to me, I decided to mix what I knew well with traditional pub grub recipes. On opening we served elegant comfort food that received rave reviews, and later several awards from Philadelphia magazine’s “Best Of” series, among others.

What I love about being a chef is that there is always something new and different to learn. And after I married my wife, Chef Kim Katz Alvarez, and we had our beautiful children, Emma and Alejandro, we moved to the suburbs and I was eager to see what the Main Line had to offer. I was not disappointed.

In 2004, we bought the Delaware Market House in Gladwyne, a 100-year-old establishment with a wonderful history that Kim and I turned into one of the most unique gourmet markets and catering companies in the region. As CNN Money noted in January 2010,, we closed the Market in March 2009 and soon after began working on opening our new restaurant, Avenida.

The goal for me as head chef at this new Latin American restaurant is to bring my childhood memories to life for my kids and my customers. I hope that everyone I cook for thoroughly enjoys their food, and leaves the table with a renewed zest for all that life has to offer.