CupCakes and CrabLegs: Chef Ana Cecilia Alvarez

We first met Chef Ana Cecilia Alvarez in 2017 when she was the Sous-Chef at MiVida. She first went on our radar when we watched her plate dishes for the SMA Food Festival that year and then we ate her cooking. We were officially in love with her food. She was one of the best trained Sous chefs in SMA and she was always in plain sight until Covid; a time when restaurants were fighting just to stay alive.

Chef Cecy Alvarez braved it and went on her own, cooking at Cien 24 with her husband, Haniel Cruz, during the pandemic. She’s been there for the past two years. We’re so happy to find her again when we recently wrote an article on the 100 new restaurants in SMA. Cien 24 was one of them.

We use to eat with Cecy nearly every Sunday at MiVida. We can still close our eyes and remember every dish she served us; incredible Italian specialties and the most amazing desserts and gelato.

When Cecy graduated from La Universidad Tecnologíca in SMA, she did her internship at Restaurant Il Grecale in Novello, Italy. She also took baking from Chef Christophe Rhedon in Mexico City and classes in contemporary Mexican cuisine and Mexipan’s artisan ice cream making with Italian master, Angelo Corvitto. She was the Chef-in-Charge at Casa de Path in Los Senderos and later took the position as Sous-chef and baker-in-charge at Mi Vida Restaurant. You never had to call MiVida to make sure the head chef was cooking that night. You knew that Cecy was there when Greta wasn’t and that the food would be just as good. Consistency was one of their trademarks.

We’re always an easy target for an American breakfast and Chef Cecy Alvarez made us a plateful of traditional Americana: Eggs, Bacon and a slightly sweet pancake; just the way we like it. We weren’t looking for any gold stars on presentations in this tiny eatery but they were totally there. She makes absolutely everything from scratch, still uses quality ingredients and serves everything the way you would if you trained at a first rate restaurant.

Serving traditional Mexican dishes, some with an Italian twist, Chef Cecy Alvarez is here to stay. Receiving 5 star reviews from everyone who has eaten at her restaurant, its comfort home cooking at its best and from the likes of all the people dining in Cien 24 today, it felt awfully good to be back home again.

Cecy believes that motivation is the key to success so every day she wakes up with a great attitude; certain she’s doing what she loves the most. This ray of sunshine admits that she’s not very flexible - she likes things pretty perfect and perfect it always is. Written above her kitchen now are the words that she lives by: “Cien 24…with effort and dedication.”

We can’t think of a more dedicated chef to the art of cooking in SMA than Chef Cecy Alvarez.