Camille Becerra
As You Are
Camille Becerra is the Chef-Partner of Ace Hotel Brooklyn, and helms the menus at the restaurant, As You Are, and at the Lobby.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised on the East Coast, Camille always knew she wanted to cook. Early in her career, she worked in vegetarian and vegan restaurants and... READ MORE
Camille Becerra is the Chef-Partner of Ace Hotel Brooklyn, and helms the menus at the restaurant, As You Are, and at the Lobby.
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised on the East Coast, Camille always knew she wanted to cook. Early in her career, she worked in vegetarian and vegan restaurants and studied macrobiotic cuisine, in addition to cooking meals for monks at Zen monasteries in New Mexico and California. After a brief stint in Los Angeles, she moved to New York City, working at places like Angelica Kitchen, a pioneer of vegetarian cuisine in the East Village, as well as The Coffee Shop. These experiences combined would later inform how she would carve her own vegetable-forward culinary style years later, as seen on the menus at As You Are.
Camille opened her pioneering first restaurant, Paloma, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 2005, serving an ever-evolving menu of seasonal fare dubbed “Brooklyn New American,” and established her as one the city’s brightest and freshest culinary talents. Camille opened her second restaurant, Navy, in 2014 in SoHo, a seafood restaurant that also underscored her passion for seasonal vegetables. In 2017, Camille conceptualized and opened De Maria, a quintessential downtown, all-day cafe in Nolita. She played a key role in developing both the menu and the design, resulting in a James Beard Award for design for the restaurant.
Following De Maria, Camille took a hiatus from daily restaurant operations and focused on various creative gastronomic endeavors, including collaborating with fashion brands, hosting numerous pop-up dinner parties, establishing herself as a highly sought after food stylist and recipe developer, taking up chef residencies (such as a collaboration with artist Andre Saraiva at Café Henrie featuring her vegetarian and natural foods roots) and writing her first cookbook, Bright Cooking, which hit shelves in June 2024.
Camille joined the Ace Hotel Brooklyn team in 2023. As You Are marks her full-time return to the restaurant kitchen stoves, and is the place where her fans can once again indulge in her thoughtfully crafted and nourishing dishes.
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