STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Meet Latuli Sous Chef Alfonso Leyva

In the great tradition of hospitality success stories, Alfonso Leyva’s journey may sound familiar, but it remains a classic example of working your way up. 

Arriving in the United States from San Luis Potosí, Mexico at age 15 — he remembers the exact date, Nov. 13, 1981 — Leyva was eager to begin building his own American Dream. “My first couple of months here were hard. Nobody wanted to give me a job,” he said. But he kept going, eventually landing work as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant. After a year, he moved to an Italian restaurant, again as a dishwasher, but with the added opportunity to learn the basics of prep cooking. Other restaurants followed, but the prep cook gig gave him the taste of the possibilities of kitchen life. And from there it was all uphill. 

With no formal training, Leyva honed his craft the old‑fashioned way: watching, listening, and learning from others. 

“Everything I know I learned from a lot of chefs,” he says modestly. 

That “everything” has become substantial. Today, as Latuli’s sous chef, Leyva is second in command at one of Houston’s most successful restaurants — and part of the team recognized as one of Texas Monthly’s 10 Best New Restaurants in Texas for 2026. 

Leyva is quick to credit two of his most influential mentors: Latuli chef/partner Bryan Caswell and Chris Shepherd, the uberchef of Underbelly Hospitality during its heyday. Both have shaped his career considerably, Leyva said. 

As a line cook at Underbelly, Leyva became a key player across Shepherd’s concepts, including Georgia James, One Fifth, Wild Oats, and Underbelly Burger. A longtime fixture on the line at Reef, Leyva also worked for Caswell at his gone-but-not-forgotten Stella Sola. 

Nearly a year into his role at Latuli, Leyva said he enjoys being reunited with Caswell and helping to execute a menu that touches on Italian, Gulf seafood, steakhouse, and American classics. “It’s a little bit of everything, that’s why I like it here,” he said. 

And then there’s the nickname. In the kitchens where he’s spent the most time, Leyva is known as “Fonzie.” So, if you hear someone call it out, that’s him. The American Dream, it seems, sometimes comes with a nickname.