About
Chef Llera’s philosophy in establishing his own restaurant is to bring a unique dining experience, incorporating his Filipino heritage, his childhood memories, and finding modern and creative ways to reinvent classic flavors. “You don’t go to a restaurant just to eat good food. The most important things are the memories created out of the dining experience with friends or family close to our hearts.”
Born and raised in the Philippines, he moved to the United States in 2004 to study culinary arts, with the goal of opening a restaurant influenced by the culture, traditions and flavors of his home country. He graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and subsequently began his professional career at The Green Room, a Forbes Four-Star French fine-dining restaurant in Delaware’s renowned Hotel DuPont. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked alongside Chef Neal Fraser (of Redbird) at Grace and BLD restaurants, where he was introduced to French-American cuisine with a California flair.
While working stints in some of LA’s most celebrated kitchens when he moved to Los Angeles,he was given the opportunity to serve as Sous Chef for the opening of Chef Ori Menashe’s critically acclaimed Bestia. There, over the course of four years, he meticulously honed his skills and expanded his palette in Italian cuisine. In 2017, he became the Culinary Director for The h.wood Group. He left the company in 2019.
Before the pandemic hit in 2019, he launched his Kuya Lord pop-ups that brought his spin on Southern Tagalog cuisine to wine bars, breweries, food events, and private dining rooms. Through those pop-ups, he was able to showcase all of his three restaurant concepts: fine dining,fast casual and street food.
When COVID-19 struck and Californians were made to stay home, he took the opportunity to do some research and development, and cultivate recipes for his upcoming projects. He then converted his La Cañada Flintridge house garage and backyard into a full kitchen and backyard rotisserie grill. That was how Kuya Lord came to be as people started picking up food on a weekly basis. This snowballed into being featured in various articles written about Kuya Lord’s food. That was how he developed his brand.
In 2022, finally opened up his very first brick-and-mortar called Kuya Lord, located in Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles.
Kuya Lord was listed as LA Times’ 101 Best Restaurants two years in a row (2022 & 2023) and was also included in Bon Appetite’s list of 24 Best Restaurants in the US. On June 10 of this year, Chef Maynard was awarded by the James Beard Foundation as a winner for the category of Best Chef California.
