Osaka ¨C Inside Milpa, a restaurant in Osaka¡¯s trendy Kitahorie neighborhood, the air feels deliciously cool after the intensity of the city¡¯s early summer heat. At the pass in the open kitchen, chef Willy Monroy, 40, commands an international staff in Spanish, and the brigade responds in the same language. Monroy cuts a towering, tattooed figure, albeit with a dimpled, smiling visage that gives him the appearance of a giant teddy bear.
A flickering candle illuminates a painting of Saint Jude Thaddeus ¡ª patron saint of impossible causes ¡ª that faces the restaurant¡¯s four tables, lending the intimate space an atmosphere that recalls a chapel.
¡°My mother gave me that painting before I left Mexico for Japan ¡ª it¡¯s my talisman,¡° Monroy explains.
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