Growing up in the Desert Southwest instilled a major passion early on for Mexican food and culture. Aside from eating California Mexican cuisine as a child, I spent 7.5 years in Arizona and a year or so in New Mexico. Because of living in these areas, it was easy to head down to Mexico and to source ingredients from the country. Which led me to explore cooking the various forms of Mexican cuisine most of my life.

A couple of years ago I spent 10 days in Mexico City, which opened my eyes to a different culture and food style very different from the Northern cuisine I grew up with. I was able to spend time with a chef friend named Santiago Kano from the Four Seasons who grew up there. Aside from being an excellent tour guide, he introduced me to some amazing chefs who invited me to put on a pop up dinner with them. I came home with a renewed love for the cuisine and culture and have been expanding my skill set since.