Alexander Falco
Chef Alex Falco
A New York native, Chef Alex was introduced to life in the kitchen at an early age coming from an Italian-American family. After leaving the US to study abroad in the UK, he quickly found his feet in the restaurant world, working as a server, bartender, and eventually a pantry cook at a gastro-pub in Oxfordshire during his first year of college. Acknowledging where his passion lied, he transferred into culinary school shortly after, earning a degree in hospitality management before returning to the states.
Alex worked as a dishwasher, server, line cook in Connecticut before moving to New York City in search of a new culinary experience. He worked his way up to Sous Chef & Executive Chef positions at renowned steakhouses such as BLT Steak, Quality Meats, Maloney & Porcelli, & Nusr’Et.
In 2018, Alex, while working at Bar Glory & Glasserie in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, became inadvertently submersed in a far different culture from what he had been accustomed to in the Manhattan steakhouse scene, and began dabbling in vegetarianism before deciding to go fully vegan later that year. Health benefits were the initial reason for his decision, but exposure to the vegan lifestyle meant he learned more about the environmental benefits of such a diet, which reinforced his stance.
It was around this time that Alex met his current wife, Minty, at a social function and 6 months later, they were engaged and decided to move to Miami. A Chinese national coming from a restaurant family, Minty planned to capitalize on Alex’s skills and experience to create a plant-based Asian food truck business. In 2020, due to the pandemic, the food truck didn’t pan out for them, and they instead spent months locked away, developing ideas and recipes for their concept; they were able to put it to the test as street food vendors at the Coconut Grove organic farmers market, selling kimchi, bao buns, dumplings. Later that year, they found the chance to upgrade to brick-and-mortar and opened the first location of Minty Z, where they can be found to this day as owner-operators. In early 2023, they were able to open the second location of Minty Z in Midtown Miami.
