Meet The Chefs

My love for food started with my grandparents and mother’s kitchens. These are both Georgia homes so the Southern roots definitely come from them. My grandmother on my mother’s side used to spend the entire day prepping food for these meals I remember to this day. She always had pickled vegetables on the table with  every meal. That house taught me how to love the ingredients local to you and to cook them in ways that are just described as “delightful”.

My mother always poured her heart and soul into the meals for her family and we all felt and tasted it. My dad’s mother was the pickling queen and always had huge breakfasts awaiting the whole family when we stayed at her house. The smell of bacon and sausage stays in my memory as Mema’s house.

I decided a couple years after high school to cook for a living. I decided to move from Memphis, TN to Denver, CO for culinary school at Johnson and Wales University. I then fell in love with food working at a French restaurant named Coohill’s. This place taught me culinary drive, passion, discipline and technique. We used to write ten courses tasting menus on the fly and the pressure was there and I loved every second of it. The passion grew and the opportunities arose. I moved to Chama, New Mexico to work a season at an elk hunting ranch called Quinlan Ranch. There I had the opportunity to cook intimate meals and the butchering of whole elk. It was a memorable experience. From there I moved to Waynesville, NC to help open a gastro pub called Boojum Brewing Company. When I was there, I learned how to create a menu and run a team for a busy establishment. I stayed there for almost two years before leaving to work with my mentor at Pescara Restaurant in Rochester, MN.

My wife and I had a daughter and I had to take a path more family oriented for obvious reasons. After things got settled I decided to go back to the restaurant life and open a coffee shop with elevated dinner menus. We changed the menu every Tuesday and never repeated it. This taught me the importance of consistently evolving with what is available to us locally. We built relationships with farmers and through that I learned more on development with menus. I did this for a year and decided to go work with my mentor again at his restaurant Cameo at the Castle. We worked very well together and I was constantly pushing to pursue our culinary visions and bring them to fruition. After the closing of the restaurant, I went full time to Forager Brewery and have loved every second of it.

I was born and raised in Colima, Mexico. My passion for food and flavors began at a young age watching my mom make meals for our family. I came to the United States as a young adult spending sometime in California before moving to Rochester MN. I am self taught working my way up through different kitchens of some local restaurants. I worked for four years at Twigs Tavern and Grill finishing my time there as the lead cook. Then I worked as the kitchen manager at Daniels Restaurant leading the kitchen for Daniels Restaurant and 504 Tavern for three years. I am now working as one of the Sous Chefs with Morrison Healthcare that operates as the food service company throughout Mayo Clinic. I have been with their company for three and a half years. Starting Farm y Cocina with Brandon allows me to continue to follow my passion for food and finding new flavors.