From busboy to beverage director: Meet Jose Luis Betancur

Boston Globe

7 days ago

I like to be a mentor, showing everything I've been learning through the years from other people, giving that to others — trying to find a way to make people happy.
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How did you get into this industry?
When I came to the US, I was always attached to restaurants. I was doing valet parking in a French restaurant in the South End, Petit Robert.
My first day as a busser was Mother's Day. I'll always remember it. It was brunch. I was working solo, and I was dropping things because I was so anxious and nervous and busy. I just needed a little break. I went downstairs to rest a little bit.
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Jacky told me, 'We don't rest. We need to go back to work.' That told me: It's time to do things. It's time to continue the work. I think that kind of gave me a path toward the structure of our industry, how much we want to take care of guests. We're tired, but we need to take care of them.
I started moving into many other different restaurants in the city, on Newbury Street and the Park Plaza area. I worked at Via Matta; I worked in the North End as a busser at Fiore.
That was a busy place, very Italian-driven, very hard-core. It was an interesting vibe; it was awesome, the fast pace. I was working with a lot of professional servers back in the day, all these Italian servers. It was awesome learning from them, learning how they do service.
How did you get into wine?
I always loved being in this industry. My father was a chef in Chile. I feel like I've always had that type of foodie mentality. I got married in Boston, and then we moved to New York; [my wife] got into school in New York. I said: I need to get a job. I saved one on my browser, I applied, I had a second interview, and I started working for TAO.
I wanted to make a little bit more money as well. Since I was in New York, things were a bit more complicated. I asked my beverage director, 'Can I do something else?'
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They said to come early in the morning and organize all the wine, liquor, and beer deliveries. So that's what I did. I started looking at the vintages of the wines, and it was fascinating, I said: 'I want to learn more about wine. Can you teach me?' I was told that the world of wine is very complicated. They said, 'I can teach you, but I highly recommend you take classes.'
I found a program at the Sommelier Society of America in New York. It was a six-month program, and then from there, pretty much, I just took off. I applied to a place in Midtown from the Patina Group.
Since I was a new guy, I was getting the worst section. In order for me to make money every day, I was just talking about wine pairings and making people happy. I was able to develop this and make a daily living. My wine director said, 'I like the way you talk about wine. It's awesome. Continue to do that.'
I became a certified sommelier. My wife and I came back to Boston, and then I started working at Bel Ari, a very small place. I applied to Harvest, but then Joe Bastianich was opening Babbo.
What was Babbo like?
I was the sommelier. I learned everything Italian, rustic, peasant food. We had a lot of natural wine, a lot of small family producers. For me, it was very challenging to recommend to our guests. I was always used to classic French varietals. It was a constant study. My palate was developing more earthy, savory nuances.
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What were your first impressions of Boston when you moved here?
This was probably 15 years ago. My first impression was that it was very clean, beautiful. I do remember my first look at the city, walking out of South Station and then going up to Summer Street. Back then, there was Macy's. It had all these beautiful American flags. It was a little bit past December, so there were still holiday decorations out. There were all these beautiful flags, 50 of them, and Filene's was still there.
It was very elegant, the architecture. I took some pictures right away of those buildings. Another thing that grabbed my attention was the newspaper boxes and mail boxes on the street — they were colorful, flashy colors.
Where do you eat when you're not working?
We try to do Mexican food. I live in Manchester, N.H. There's [a restaurant] called
I went to
What's your favorite wine?
Wow, that's a very difficult question: Val delle Corti, Chianti Classico 2010 and 2010 Azienda Agricola Pugnane 'Villero' Barolo.
How do you not get a hangover? Wine gives me a horrible hangover. Maybe I'm just old.
I was always told: It's a glass of wine and two glasses of water.
What do you snack on at home?
That's difficult. I mean, chocolate's always great. Lately, I've been doing a little Hershey's, and Lake Champlain milk and dark chocolate.
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Last but not least: What food won't you eat?
Anything that's aggressively spicy. I just want a little touch of spiciness.
Interview was edited for clarity.
Kara Baskin can be reached at