CHEF ROGELIO GARCIA
CUISINES:
Ceviches
Chef’s Tasting menus
French
Masa-based menus
Modern American
Modern Mexican
Spanish
BIO:
MICHELIN-StARRED
TOP CHEF ALUM
SEMI-FINALIST JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION’S BEST CHEF IN CALIFORNIA
From Mexico to Napa to San Francisco: A Michelin-starred California Culinary Journey
James Beard Award–winning chef Rogelio Garcia is one of California's most celebrated culinary voices, recognized for his modern interpretation of Mexican cuisine, his Michelin-starred restaurants, and as a Bravo Top Chef Season 15 alum. His cookbook, Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California's Wine Country (with Andréa Lawson Gray; Abrams, September 17, 2024), received both the 2026 James Beard Award and the 2026 IACP Award.
Garcia came to the United States from Mexico when he was two years old and began working in Northern California kitchens at the age of 15. What started as an after-school job washing dishes in Napa while still in high school evolved into an extraordinary culinary career. He trained at the two-Michelin-starred Cyrus in Healdsburg under Chef Douglas Keane before joining the renowned French Laundry as Chef de Partie. As Executive Chef at Angele and later The Commissary in San Francisco's Presidio, he earned three stars from acclaimed San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer.
As Executive Chef of Spruce in San Francisco, Garcia led the restaurant to Michelin stars in 2018, 2019, and 2020. He later became Executive Chef of the Michelin-starred Luce at the InterContinental San Francisco before opening Auro at Four Seasons Resort Napa Valley, earning the restaurant a Michelin star within just eight months.
Garcia has twice been invited to cook at the prestigious James Beard House in New York, presenting Napa Elegance in 2015 and a Mexican Heritage Dinner in 2017. His work has been featured by NBC News, the San Francisco Chronicle, Eater SF, SFGATE, and We Are Latino Live.
Influences:
Chef Garcia attributes his successes to his culinary mentors, especially the female chefs with whom he has worked: Chefs Bettina Rous and Traci Des Jardins; and a deep passion for cooking.
accolades:
“And while Garcia’s resume includes The French Laundry, Spruce, and Bravo Top Chef, he’s a humble, joyful, entirely unpretentious man with wicked talent.
The menu I had last month is a poster child for what fine dining in the 21st century should be: laser-focused on presenting meticulously sourced, simple ingredients. Of course, this is food you’d be hard-pressed to make at home — isn’t that why we go out? — but rather than being overwrought, it’s exquisitely and stealthily layered to bring out the essence of each element.”/Forbes.
CONTACT:
chef@chefrogeliogarcia.com
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