Executive Chef at Casa Playa

A good attitude and willingness to learn goes a long way. I have cooks with varying skill sets and experiences. As long as you come to work everyday willing to show up for yourself, your team, and have an open mind and a good attitude, you will be able to find success in this industry.

I find inspiration all over—books, travel, dining, seasons. It is very important for me to travel and experience different cuisines and cultures, whether they are directly relevant to what we are doing or not. Every experience offers something of value and perspective.

Casa Playa is the largest role I’ve taken on. When I first started, I didn’t have a routine or discipline, and it showed. This restaurant and the people I work alongside mean a lot to me. My team relies on me and my chefs as leaders to be at our best, for support, guidance, and running the restaurant effectively. Once I realized my previous habits weren’t sustainable in such a high-pressure environment, I committed to building a routine. Now, I wake up at 9 a.m. every day, make a small coffee, eat a nutritious breakfast, and exercise. I also started taking Spanish lessons so I can better communicate with my team and get my mind started for the day. I have a lot of energy, and being able to channel that effectively both mentally and physically sets me on a path of success each day.

I think of running a kitchen as a team sport, and the chefs are the coaches. We keep our team excited and motivated by constantly pushing ourselves, bringing in new ingredients, teaching new techniques, and encouraging the team to research and explore on their own. We ask what ingredients or topics they’re curious about and try to build on that interest.

When service is slower, we do staff trainings and tastings, not just focused on what we’re serving but also with presentations on different states of Mexico. We encourage the team to share their own experiences as well. Casa Playa, like many kitchens, is incredibly diverse, and those shared perspectives help all of us grow.

Working in Vegas has been especially interesting because the restaurant culture here is so different from NYC. The ingredients that restaurants in Vegas focus on are completely different. I love introducing seasonal produce or seafood that might not be as common here. For example, no one on my team knew what chicories or rhubarb were until we added them to the menu.

I’ve known I wanted to be a chef since high school. I was always drawn to cooking for people and sharing food with others. We used to throw huge pasta parties before big sporting events, and I’d go all out. I’d bake pastries for anyone who would take them. What I looked forward to most was seeing people’s reactions, their excitement when they tried something I made and genuinely enjoyed it. I still get that same rush today. I love seeing the joy on people’s faces when I share food with them. There’s something special about bringing people together over a great meal, and that feeling continues to remind me why I chose this path.