Chef Alex Stupak: An empty tortilla is his canvas

NEW YORK (AP) — Take a look at the cover of acclaimed chef Alex Stupak's new cookbook on tacos, and you might note something missing: acclaimed chef Alex Stupak.

[...] like everything in Stupak's thoughtful, unusual and even fiercely passionate cookbook, there's a reason behind the cover choice of an empty tortilla.

The 50 tacos from Stupak, a self-described "white boy from suburban Massachusetts" who turned to Mexican cuisine after years as a pastry chef in two famous kitchens of molecular gastronomy, Alinea and wd-50, range from straightforward to infinitely more complex, from traditional to avant-garde.

There are mashed pea tacos with parmesan, and raw porcini mushroom tacos.

For breakfast, there are sunnyside duck egg tacos with green chorizo gravy.

There's also a "Scallops Tacos JGV," which replicates French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's seared sweet scallops dish, to make the explicit point that "a taco can be as serious and sublime as any composed, haute-cuisine dish."

Stupak, who at 35 already owns three restaurants in New York and plans a fourth soon, sat down this week at his Empellon Cocina in Manhattan's East Village and elaborated on his book, his career and on the food world in general.

Why Mexican?

Because creativity is the most important thing to me.

[...] people say, but you were working in these molecular gastronomy restaurants.

[...] whether you're a Viking and thicken sauces with reindeer blood, or whether your mom's recipe for fudge has Velveeta in it or whatever, either way I'm kind of (doomed).

Because I'm from Leominster, Massachusetts.

What has changed along the way is, I never thought I was going to be a pastry chef for 10 years, and I sure as hell never thought I'd end up cooking Mexican food.

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 2 tablespoons minced chipotle in adobo sauce

1 tablespoon lard or vegetable oil

1 1/2 pounds leftover turkey meat, shredded

Stir in the chipotle and