Anastacia Quiñones is just one week into her new job as chef at the modern Mexican cuisine spot Komali. The Dallas native attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York, then fell in love with San Francisco after just several hours visiting. After working there for a few years, she returned to Dallas to be back with her family and worked at Victor Tango's, Alma and now Abraham Salum's Komali.

We spoke with her for this week's Three-Course Interview.

What was your childhood like, from a food perspective? My mom was an in-house chef for a family in Highland Park. She didn't actually know how to cook going into the job, she lied about it, and then ended up teaching herself by watching Sesame Street and Julia Child. She would then be so proud of the food she made, things like chicken tetrazzini and spaghetti Bolognese, that she would bring it home for us. So, we ate a lot of different things.