Lawrence “LT” Smith is a 2024 F&W Best New Chef

Lawrence “LT” Smith is always chasing that feeling, going for that brain tingle, trying to light up people’s synapses. And it’s not just with the spicy native chiltepin chiles that end up in a lot of his dishes. At his lively “new-wave” Mexican-inspired restaurant, Chilte, at the retro Egyptian Motor Hotel in Phoenix, he conjures a free-roaming whirlwind of a menu that transcends borders, nations, and even continents.

A college football player whose NFL career fizzled, Smith turned to cooking. Once he enrolled in culinary school, the parallels between sports and cooking were plain to see. “The brigade system, getting a ticket, calling a ticket. It was just like getting a play and running the play,” he says. “The difference is that every day is game day, so it’ll add a little bit more pressure.” A hot kitchen and a football field share a lot of similarities — well, except for maybe helmets. To Smith, it’s a team effort. “The energy, the intensity, the focus, the multitasking … everybody’s role is super important to the bigger picture of the team.” He sees his role at Chilte as a player, a coach, an owner, and a quarterback, all at the same time. “Wherever I need to be, when I need to be there.” 

Smith draws influences from seemingly everywhere: the Mexican and Latin flavors all around him, his life experiences, nostalgia for the soul food he grew up eating, his travels, and beyond. Unfettered by tradition, he puts three moles on a plate. He makes jet-black tortillas using squid ink. On his menu, you’ll find Mexican “banchan” (including electric cucumbers dressed in a sweet and spicy salsa macha) and a Thai-inspired riff on carne apache that’s all funk and fire. “What Chilte does is pull from a tradition and experiment with it,” says Smith. “We make it our own and push where Chilte is headed.”

The perfect order at Chilte

Mole de la casa 

With the “flautas du jour” and a rotating mole, this dish changes often. Here, wood-fired lamb neck flautas are served with a housemade mole poblano served alongside queso de cabra and crema and topped with a cabbage and herb slaw.

Hoja santa quesadilla

Enveloped in an hoja santa leaf as well as a tortilla, this quesadilla gets stuffed with queso de cabra and queso asadero. Served alongside a salsa verde, there’s the optional add-ons of huitlacoche or chapulines.

Pear shrooms

One of the antojitos/Mexican “banchan” on the menu, braised oyster mushrooms and Asian pears are dressed in a mixture of Chinese hot mustard and lamb stock and topped with a chicharrón crumb.

Carne apache 

This Thai-inspired riff on carne apache pairs a charred and chilled skirt steak with a mango and chayote salad, pepitas, blistered tomatoes, and a tostada. 

MSG (aka Meat-Sauce-Garnish, the chef’s rotating special)

This large-format dish changes frequently; if it’s on offer, don’t miss the dry-aged Duroc pork tomahawk served with lamb tallow charro beans, a tepache–fish sauce caramel, queso fresco, and Benny Blanco flour tortillas.

Three things about Lawrence “LT” Smith

Favorite kitchen lingo

“When I call for a food runner, I say ‘hands please.’ All the servers think it’s funny because I use a deeper voice, and they say it sounds like ‘blamz bleez,’ so now we call for blamz … They even gifted me a hat in my favorite color with the saying.”

He’s a taco consultant

Smith was chosen as one of the chefs to reimagine Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme.

Football paved his way to chefdom

In high school, Smith’s mom wouldn’t cook special side meals for sports, so he had to meet his own enormous protein needs. “That was really when I got pushed into cooking things hands-on myself,” he says. “It would be like chicken breasts, PB&Js, protein shakes, fresh veggies. And I ate a shit-ton of eggs. Like a carton a day.”