EMERGING CHEF: Manny Ocasio

Manny Ocasio, Mira

1081 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14222

Manny Ocasio is executive chef and partner at Mira, which opened in November 2025 to much local acclaim. In 2026, Buffalo Spree readers named Mira the Best New Restaurant and Best Desserts. A Buffalo native, Ocasio began his career, as many young chefs do, as a teenage dishwasher. Within a few years, he cooked professionally under some of Buffalo’s best chefs before founding The Crucible, an adventurous pop-up dinner series, with some of his peers.

He later honed his skills at the three-Michelin-starred Manresa and Philadelphia staples Zahav and Jean-Georges. After the pandemic, Manny returned home to lead the kitchen at The Grange Community Kitchen. There, food writer Andrew Galarneau credited him as “directly responsible” for the restaurant’s “spectacular creativity” in a 2024 profile. At Mira, Ocasio applies his technical rigor to the restaurant’s Mediterranean menu with the help of two signature stations: the Basque grill, where he prepares proteins including a coveted hanger steak seasoned with Roman aromatics of rose petal, black pepper and cumin, and the coal oven, where a Moriarty Meats ribeye is cooked to perfection and served with triple-cooked fries and chimichurri.

Enthusiasm for Mira’s opening translated to 30 days of sold-out reservations within the restaurant’s first 45 minutes online, and demand for a table hasn’t slowed since. Ocasio opened Mira with several partners, including his wife, chef Gina Ocasio, also a Visit Buffalo James Beard Award Committee selection this year.