FANS OF SWEET plantains and pan con lechón were already familiar with the work of Jose Plasencia before he took over the food portion of Fountain Square tiki bar The Inferno Room last month. The Cuban-born chef had been hosting his Átame Cuban pop-ups, introducing local diners to the food he remembers from his earliest days. “It felt like being connected to my roots,” says Plasencia, who moved to the United States at the age of 14. His first job was as a barback in a Miami tapas restaurant. He eventually landed in Indianapolis, working at Milktooth, Beholder, and 9th Street Bistro.
Inferno Room co-owner Chris Coy says the restaurant’s connection with Plasencia—along with its menu overhaul from Polynesian bar food to Cuban dishes—was a happy coincidence. “This was actually our first intention when The Inferno Room was being planned on paper,” he says. “It was always in our head that Cuban food would be a good fit, but we just weren’t connected to the right people.”
Along came Plasencia (who is not interested in reducing Cuban food to sandwiches and black beans, by the way). Much of his work requires chasing down lost recipes that survived the country’s hardships and food shortages through word of mouth. One of his most reliable sources is his grandmother, who once served as head cook for a Catholic church in Cuba and was sent to France by visiting priests to learn classical cooking techniques, which she fused with the dishes she already knew. She now lives in Miami, still cooks for a local church, and is always available when her grandson needs help with a recipe. “There is a lot of back and forth with Grandma on WhatsApp,” Plasencia says. “She is my biggest muse.”
