Top Chefs: The Driving Force
It’s an exciting time for foodies in Los Cabos. Talented chefs from the world over have flocked here and are powering kitchens with innovative dishes, bold flavors, and quality, locally sourced ingredients. In this series, writers Chris Sands and Sandra A. Berry profile some of the region’s top chefs.
Manuel Arredondo has the sort of credentials that leap off the page. He was the chef responsible for banquet cuisine at some of the biggest U.S. political and sporting events of the past two decades, including the summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 2000 World Series, the 2000 Republican National Convention, Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game in 2004, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and the 75th and 80th birthday galas of former President George H.W. Bush.
But the Guanajuato-born Arredondo is but one among many talented kitchen craftsmen currently working for the Baja Cantina Group, whose Cabo San Lucas properties include Baja Cantina Marina, Baja Cantina Beach, and the traditional Mexican restaurant María Corona.
“We have many values at the Baja Cantina Group,” Arredondo says, citing the company’s commitment to fresh organic ingredients, strict health and quality standards, and maintaining the delicate balance between traditional recipes and preparations and modern equipment and techniques. “But at heart we are a chef-driven company.”
Need proof? Meet Sebastian Varona. He is second in command to Arredondo (now Baja Cantina Group’s corporate chef). In addition to earning his master chef degree in México, he has worked at restaurants in France and Italy and catered for several major embassies. Varona leads Baja Cantina Beach kitchen, which since its opening in 2005 has been among the area’s best seafood restaurants. If you’re looking for an expert recommendation, Varona suggests the restaurant’s new multicourse tasting menu, paired with fine wines from the Valle de Guadalupe.
“I love my work, and I always give my best effort in each and every place I’ve been,” says Morelos native Yacer Soriano, who honed his craft in restaurants at a veritable who’s who of local luxury resorts, including Esperanza, Cabo Azul, and Dreams Los Cabos. Yacer is currently chef and resident kitchen maestro at Baja Cantina’s original property on the Cabo San Lucas Marina. The dockside restaurant has been a perennially popular gathering place for locals and visitors since 1991, and it has only improved under Yacer’s stewardship, showcasing excellent gourmet pizzas, pub-style favorites, and fine steak and seafood dishes.
And then there is Eliodoro Gutiérrez, executive chef at María Corona, a restaurant named for the owner’s grandmother, whose century-old recipes still form the backbone of the menu. The Guerrero-born chef started at María Corona during its inaugural year in 2009. Since ascending to his present position, he has shown a remarkable facility with traditional regional specialties like pork Yucateco, mole poblano, pozole, and fresh catch of the day Tikin-Xich.
These four talented chefs have banded together in a common cause—Arredondo leads weekly chef meetings in a continual quest to provide the finest cuisine in Los Cabos at the Baja Cantina family of restaurants—and the result is three far-from-common dining experiences. —C.S.