Born in Mexico and raised in Northern California with deep connections to local farmers, Rogelio Garcia’s cooking showcases culinary techniques and locally sourced ingredients.
Chef Garcia began working in Northern California kitchens at the age of 15, when he landed a job as a dishwasher in Napa while still in high school. Chef Garcia’s culinary career includes positions at two-Michelin starred Cyrus in Healdsburg, where he worked under Chef Douglas Keane, and as Chef de Partie at French Laundry. As Executive Chef at Angele and then at The Commissary, he received 3 stars from renowned San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer. Garcia earned a Michelin star at Spruce for 2018 and 2019. He was Executive Chef at Michelin-starred Luce in San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel. Rogelio is a Bravo’s Top Chef Season 15 alum and has been a featured chef at two dinners at the famed James Beard Foundation House.
In June 2022 Chef Rogelio Garcia announced his return to the Napa Valley, as Executive Chef at The Four Seasons, Calistoga, realizing a longtime dream of opening a restaurant in the heart of Wine Country. Chef Garcia’s vision for the new venue will reference his global cooking techniques in a menu that spotlights Napa Valley produce and artisans and pair exquisitely with the Valley’s world-class wines. He will also be overseeing TRUSS Restaurant + Bar, adding his culinary touch to the more casual menu there.
Chef Garcia’s first venture in Napa marks his return to the Napa, where he cut his culinary teeth in some of the Valley’s most respected kitchens: Cyrus, Angele, Calistoga Ranch, and The French Laundry. Garcia spent the last 7 years in San Francisco, where he was the Chef at Traci des Jardins Commissary, Michelin-starred Spruce, and most recently, at Luce in the InterContinental Hotel. Garcia is a Top Chef season 15 alum.
Chef Garcia’s first cookbook, Convivir, Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country, is scheduled for publication in April 2024 by Petaluma-based Cameron & Company (division of Harry Abrams; Rogelio Garcia, author; Andrea Lawson Gray, writer). In this, his first cookbook, Garcia takes inspiration from the terroir of the farms, the bounty of the oceans off California’s coast, the meats and poultry of Northern California’s ranches, and the authenticity and influence of California’s Mexican heritage. The cookbook brings together locavore and Mexican cuisine in a concept that is both timeless and timely, personal and at once universal, as all immigrant stories are peppered with anecdotes about Rogelio’s own journey from Mexico to Napa, from dishwasher to Michelin-starred chef.
Along with 110 original recipes, Convivir will include six complete menus highlighting selected Mexican holidays. Wine pairings, many with a focus on Mexican-owned California vintners, will be recommended for all the complete menus and many of the recipes, thus placing Modern Mexican cuisine squarely in the world of fine dining.