Can’t Get Enough Mexican Food? These 10 Chefs Will Blow Your Mind

REady to discover the best Mexican chefs?

The 20 famous Mexican chefs featured in this article are the best of the best, having dedicated their careers to the study of food, culture, and hospitality.

A chef is a culinary ambassador — and people go crazy for Mexican food. Mexicans and foreigners alike recognize the great cultural significance of the ingredients, foods, and beverages that originate in this part of the world.

In fact, traditional Mexican cuisine has been declared an intangible cultural heritage of mankind. English translation: In 2010, UNESCO declared authentic Mexican food a cultural heritage of humanity worth preserving.

This is a list of 20 famous Mexican chefs that will teach you about Mexico. Many of them have active social media profiles but nothing compares to actually experiencing their restaurants, tasting their food, and listening to their stories.  

Famous Mexican Chefs

1. Enrique Olvera

Chef at Pujol Mexico City

Chef Enrique Olvera is often called the best Mexican chef in the world because his restaurant Pujol has maintained the highest position for a Mexican restaurant on the World’s 50 Bestrestaurants list for years.

Netflix also featured Olvera on an episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, which only compounded his fame. He has also been on plenty of other food TV shows, including Top Chef.

It is safe to say he is the most famous Mexican chef working today.

Olvera is originally from Mexico City, but went to school at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City, where he won numerous awards.

After a year in Chicago at Everest Restaurant, Olvera returned to his native Mexico City to open Pujol.

The restaurant changed the concept of fine dining from a European-centric ordeal to one that is distinctly Mexican.

Pujol has been a mainstay of the Mexico City dining scene for more than 20 years. Olvera also has successful high end Mexican restaurants in Oaxaca, Los Cabos, San Miguel de Allende and even New York City.

His Cosme restaurant in NYC was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2015, in the “Best New Restaurant” category.

Cosme lost out to Bâtard, but remains a dining hotspot to this day.

👩‍🍳 Looking to try some of this best Mexican chef’s recipes?

Enrique Olvera’s Tu Casa Mi Casa: Mexican Recipes for the Home Cook is considered one of the best Mexican cookbooks available today.

Famous Mexican Chefs

2. Gabriela Cámara

Chef at Contramar Mexico City

Chef Gabriel Cámara is the most important Mexican female chef today. Originally from Chihuahua she grew up in Tepoztlán, Morelos, with liberal, academic parents.

Her father was from Mexico, and her mother was born in Italy but grew up in the United States. Listening to Chef Cámara speak English, you may not realize that English is actually her second language.  

She opened Contramar in Mexico City’s La Roma neighborhood in 1998. It has become one of the most important places to experience coastal culture in the capital of Mexico.

Cámara was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2020. She is a friend and advisor to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor on the food industry in Mexico.

Famous Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal produced Una Historia de Dos Cocinas (A Tale of Two Kitchens), a short documentary about her restaurants and the impact they have on the community.

She is also one of the iron chefs on the Netflix reboot of Iron Chef.

Famous Mexican Chefs

3. Eduardo “Lalo” García Guzmán

Chef at Maximo Bistrot Mexico City

Chef Eduardo “Lalo” García Guzmán and his wife, Gabriela Lopez Cruz, operate three of the most popular restaurants in Mexico City’s Colonia Roma: Maximo Bistrot, Havre 77, and Lalo!

🇲🇽 Note: In Mexico, Lalo is a nickname for anyone named Eduardo.

In 2013, Lalo already had one of the top 10 restaurants in Mexico City when he became a national hero in the food and beverage industry for standing up to official corruption. 

Maximo was shut down after the daughter of the director of Mexico’s federal consumer protection office (PROFECO) was denied a table on a busy Friday afternoon — though she had no reservation.

Social media users documented the young lady’s threats, and inspectors from the PROFECO closed the restaurant under false pretenses.

After a few days, the story went viral — and those who love the restaurant were furious about its closure.

The story got so big that then-President Enrique Peña Nieto fired the director of PROFECO, and the Maximo Bistrot restaurant was reopened.

Lalo García is one of the most famous chefs from Mexico for his food and philanthropy but also for promoting the chinampa.

This is the floating garden agricultural system found in Xochimilco Mexico City, located in the southern part of the city.

Famous Mexican Chefs

4. David Castro Hussong

Chef at Fauna in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California

Chef David Castro Hussong is royalty in Baja California. His family opened the original Hussong’s Cantina in 1892, but he had to work his way up in the restaurant industry.

He grew up south of Ensenada in a ranching family raising sheep, hunting quail, and diving for lobster. Still just a kid, Castro started working for Chef Jair Téllez at La Laja Restaurant and later moved to Mexico City to work at Merotoro.

Téllez set him on a course of culinary excellence, opening doors to some of the finest restaurants in the world like Noma in Denmark, Blue Hill At Stone Barns in New York State, and the illustrious Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

Fauna Restaurant opened in 2017, and is located on the grounds of the Bruma Hotel and Winery.

It is one of the best restaurants in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico, showcasing both local ingredients and international technique. 

Famous Mexican Chefs

5. Omar Alejandro Henriquez Martinez

Chef at Aperi in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato

Chef Omar Henriquez is originally from Nayarit State and studied at the Technological University of Bahía de Banderas in Nuevo Vallarta.

He cut his teeth working for Edgar Núñez at Sud 777 in Mexico City, and later for Joaquín Cardoso at Hotel Carlota. However, he was thrust into the spotlight when he took over as head chef at Āperi San Miguel de Allende.

The departure of Chef Matteo Salas from Aperi hit San Miguel de Allende hard. Aperi has long been regarded as the best restaurant in the wealthy expat community.

Henriquez was brought on as head chef in 2020 to fill some big shoes, at only 27 years old.

Not only has Chef Omar Henriquez risen to the occasion in San Miguel de Allende, one of the best places to visit in Mexico, he has been collaborating with other top Mexican chefs at home and abroad.

Famous Mexican Chefs

6. Elena Reygadas

Chef at Rosetta Mexico City

Chef Elena Reygadas is easily one of the most famous female Mexican chefs today. She got a degree in English literature from UNAM, the most prestigious and best university in Mexico, before studying culinary arts in New York. 

Rosetta restaurant opened in 2010, and was ranked as 60th best restaurant in the world in 2022. Today, it is considered among the top Mexico City restaurants, with a unique mix of Italian and Mexican dishes.

Chef Reygadas also has Lardo, Cafe Nin, and her bakery, Panaderia Rosetta.

This cafe has what many call the best brunch in Mexico City, and is celebrated for traditional Mexican breads like rosca de reyes and pan de muerto, a sweet bread made for the Day of the Dead holiday.

In 2019, Raygadas published her first cookbook, Rosetta. A few years later in 2022, she was appointed to the board of advisors to the Basque Culinary Center in San Sebastián, Spain.

Famous Mexican Chefs

7. Nico Mejía

Chef at La Sal in Manzanillo, Colima

Chef Nico Mejía is known for his role as the traveling Mexican chef on TV Azteca’s Cocineros Mexicanos program.

He is the culinary ambassador for the state of Colima Mexico, publishing the most comprehensive series of cookbooks about the state’s regional gastronomy. 

La Sal Restaurant opened in the middle of the global pandemic — and fought it out to succeed. In the end, they did.

The restaurant is located next to Mejía’s childhood home in a working class neighborhood of Manzanillo, one of the best beaches in Mexico.

Through La Sal, he purports to show the world the richness and diversity of the Colimota kitchen.

When he isn’t cooking, Chef Mejía can be found surfing in Mexico with other celebrity chefs, like Javier Plascencia of Finca Altozano. 

Famous Mexican Chefs

8. Margarita Carrillo Arronte

Global Ambassador of Mexican Cuisine

There is no way to quickly sum up the meteoric career of Chef Margarita Carrillo Arronte. She’s a chef, an author, a student, a teacher, TV personality, and goodwill ambassador of the Mexican kitchen to foreign dignitaries. 

She studied education at UNAM Mexico City, culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of the Americas, and Le Cordon Bleu. She loved teaching so much she never left the campus, only moving from student to teacher.

She has a laundry list of adjunct professorships, conference speaker-ships, and positions coordinating elite culinary programs for many of the top programs in the continent.

Famous Mexican Chefs

9. Alejandro Ruiz Olmedo

Chef at Casa Oaxaca in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca

Chef Alejandro Ruíz Olmedo is a pillar of Oaxacan community cooking. Besides his food, Olmedo is known for researching and publishing cookbooks about his home state of Oaxaca, Mexico (pronounced waa-haa-kah).

Casa Oaxaca Hotel & Restaurant opened in 1997 and continues to win awards every year for the food (especially their authentic Oaxaca mole), the design, and the service without fail.

It is widely considered both one of the best restaurants in Oaxaca City and best hotels in Oaxaca City!

Casa Oaxaca is one of the most famous Mexican restaurants that helped define Mexican food as regional. When it comes to traditional Oaxaca food, this is the place foodies and chefs come to experience it.

Famous Mexican Chefs

10. Édgar Núñez i Magaña

Chef at Sud 777 Mexico City

Chef Édgar Núñez represents everything that Mexico City loves in a great fine dining chef.

He is a local kid who went abroad and succeeded in the top kitchens in Europe before returning home to Mexico. His places consistently rank as some of the best Latin American restaurants, and the best restaurants in the world.

Núñez is developing a culinary style he calls cocina vegetal mexicana (Mexican vegetable cuisine).

The style is a branch of modern Mexican; not traditional Mexican food. The ingredients are the same, but the preparations and techniques are different. 

Núñez has a plot of land along the Xochimilco canals where he grows unique species of heirloom varietal vegetables using the traditional chinampa system.

The chinampas are floating gardens made by the Aztecs, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Social media gets this Mexican celebrity chef a lot of attention. He publicly ridicules influencers who send him messages asking to eat for free, essentially blacklisting them from the best Mexico City restaurants.   

Famous Mexican Chefs

11. Javier Plascencia

Chef at Finca Altozano in Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California

Chef Javier Plascencia comes from a family of restaurateurs in Tijuana, and grew up in the kitchen. He is one of the pioneers of the Baja Mediterranean style of cooking, combining European fare with Mexican inspiration. 

When Anthony Bourdain was asked about the best restaurants in San Diego, he replied that he would rather go to Tijuana to see what Plascencia was up to. 

After selling his interest in a number of restaurants in San Diego, Plasciencia focused his energy opening restaurants along the Baja Peninsula in Valle de Guadalupe, Todos Santos, and Los Cabos.

His book, The Soul of Baja, will give you wanderlust and make you hungry.   

Famous Mexican Chefs

12. Francisco “Paco” Ruano

Chef at Alcalde Guadalajara, Jalisco

Chef Francisco Ruano is one of a new generation of accomplished Mexican chefs on TV, starring in Iron Chef México. 

Originally from Guadalajara, as a young man he went to nearby Puerto Vallarta after graduating from a local culinary arts school.

He spent some time on the cruise ships and then to Europe to study and cook for the likes of Chef René Redzepi of Noma, the Roca brothers of El Celler de Can Roca, and Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz. 

Ruano changed the direction of the Guadalajara food scene with the opening of Alcalde Restaurant. Up to that point, fine dining was either European or traditional Mexican.

Ruano helped develop the market for modern Mexican cuisine. The frijoles puercos and arroz con leche are two recipes that everybody knows but Alcalde does them different

He is also a promoter of traditional local foods and contributor to Larousse del Tequila, the famed publishing house’s book on tequila culture.

If you didn’t know, tequila is a distilled spirit that comes from the city of Tequila, Mexico. Besides these best Mexican beers, tequila and mezcal are the next most famous Mexican beverages.

Famous Mexican Chefs

13. Martha Ortiz

Chef at Dulce Patria Mexico City

Chef Martha Ortiz is one of the most important female Mexican chefs on TV, starring in the original Top Chef Mexico as a judge. She has a personality that fills a room — and a restaurant.

The daughter of an artist and a doctor, she fell in love with elaborate dinner parties that her parents would throw for their friends.

She did not study culinary arts but traveled to Hong Kong and Paris to work in professional kitchens before returning to Mexico. 

In 2009, Oritiz opened Dulce Patria in the Las Alcobas Boutique Hotel, which is located in Polanco Mexico City. It has since grown into one of the most celebrated restaurants in Latin America.

Famous Mexican Chefs

14. Ricardo Muñoz Zurita

Chef at Azul Mexico City

Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita is an intellectual and a chef. Not only does he own and operate Azul Restaurantes, one of the best restaurant groups in Mexico City, he writes the books that define a lot of Mexican culinary history.

When visiting CDMX, you must add Azul Centro Historico to your itinerary.

Located in the heart of Downtown Mexico City in Centro Historico (Historic Downtown), the building and restaurant’s aesthetics are as well known as the Mexico chef who runs it.

Muñoz has done a lot of research into famous Mexican cuisine and published Diccionario enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Gastronomy).

He also has traditional Mexican cookbooks, like Salsas Mexicanas (Mexican Salsas). Though the fillings get most of the attention, the tortillas and the salsas are just as important in the best tacos from Mexico.

Famous Mexican Chefs

15. Jose Luis Hinostroza

Chef at Arca Tulum, Quintana Roo

Chef José Luis Hinostroza was born in San Diego but his parents are from Tijuana, so he grew up on both sides of the border.

He went to school at the San Diego Culinary Institute before moving to Chicago to train with Chef Grant Achatz at Alinea.

He made his way to Europe, hopping from one Michelin star restaurant to another before René Redzepi brought him back to Mexico.

In 2017, Noma, the Best Restaurant in the World, opened a pop-up restaurant in Tulum to great fanfare.

When it was all over, Hinostroza decided to stay in Mexico. He spent some time traveling and researching local foods before opening Acra in Tulum, Mexico.   

Famous Mexican Chefs

16. Jair Telléz

Chef at Laja in Ensenada, Baja California and Merotoro in Mexico City

Chef Jair Tellez is from North Mexico; he grew up in Tijuana, but his family is from the Mexican state of Sonora.

In interviews, he often recalls getting excited to try new restaurants with his mother, eat ethnic food in San Diego and regional Mexican food in Tijuana.  

Tellez’s culinary education started at a young age — he says he started making pasta at age 5!

He worked and studied in San Diego after high school before moving to New York to study at the French Culinary Institute. Both San Diego and New York have a culture of small farms, which he sought out when he returned to Mexico.

When Tellez got back to Mexico, he founded La Laja in 1999.

It would be a forward thinking restaurant that would help develop the Valle de Guadalupe Mexico wine region into the destination it is today, and a place beloved by oenophiles and foodies alike.

If you’ve never heard of it, Valle de Guadalupe (Guadalupe Valley) is the largest of all wine regions in Mexico. However, for foodies, it has rustic-yet-elegant, farm to table vibes that are distinctly Mexican.

Located about two hours from San Diego, Californnia, many U.S. visitors drive to Mexico for a visit. It is also not far from Ensenada, one of the best Mexican beach towns.

Famous Mexican Chefs

17. Jorge Vallejo

Chef at Quintonil Mexico City

Chef Jorge Vallejo grew up and studied culinary arts in Mexico City before setting sail on the cruise ships to cook and see the world.

Returning to Mexico, he worked for Enrique Olvera at Pujol, usually hailed as the best restaurant in Mexico. He later went on to work for the Grupo Habita Hotel Group.

They own Hotel Condesa DF, one of the best hotels in Mexico City, Hotel Escondido, one of the best hotels in Puerto Escondido, Escondido Oaxaca, one of the best boutique hotels in Oaxaca, and many others.

Vallejo’s celebrated Mexico City restaurant is called Quintonil, a type of quelite or herb grown in corn fields which is part of the milpa system.

He is passionate about ingredients native to Mexico, and wants to show the world the depth of traditional Mexican cuisine.

Quintonil restaurant is consistently ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world according to the prestigious 50 Best List.

Famous Mexican Chefs

18. Roberto Solis

Chef at Nectar Mérida, Yucatán

Chef Roberto Solis is originally from Mérida, Yucatán, and is responsible for putting the city on the map as a modern culinary destination.

Mérida has a world class traditional food culture that boasts the best Yucatan food in Mexico — but the smaller-sized city didn’t have a diverse selection of modern concepts until recently. 

Solís opened Nectár when he was just 27-years-old. He helped develop a style of Mexican food chef that is dedicated to modern Yucatcan cuisine.

Solís has also helped build and train the new generation of chefs working in Mérida today.

Néctar, one of the best restaurants in Merida, is a destination restaurant that collaborates with famous Mexican cooks and international chefs alike.

They are even known to throw some great parties when Chef Roberto Solis’ famous friends come to visit. 

Famous Mexican Chefs

19. Benito Molina

Chef at Manzanilla and Muelle 3 in Ensenada, Baja California

Chef Benito Molina is originally from Mexico City but has been in Ensenada so long that he has helped shape the current boom of Baja cuisine.

His cooking is based on the seafood found in the cold waters of the Baja California Peninsula, located on Mexico’s West Coast.

Baja seafood is very different from the seafood found in the warm waters of Sinaloa or Veracruz. 

Molina is one of the most popular Mexican chefs on TV because of his participation in Master Chef Mexico. He is also the director of the Master Chef School in Mexico.

Famous Mexican Chefs

20. Mónica Patiño

Chef at La Taberna del León Mexico City

Chef Mónica Patiño is old school. She traveled the world studying culinary arts in Paris and Bangkok before it was cool to do so.

In 1978, she opened her first restaurant, La Taberna del León, in Valle de Bravo and has gone on to open a small empire of restaurants in Mexico City.

Patiño has been a mainstay on television and food festivals promoting famous Mexican food to local and international audiences alike.

She is a published cookbook author who was awarded the honor of best cookbook by a female chef in 2004.

In 1998, La Taberna del León moved to a much larger space in Mexico City. Her restaurants are not touristy, which is even more of a reason to visit.   

Famous Mexican Chefs: FAQ

Besides Pujol, there are other Enrique Olvera restaurants, like Cosme, Eno, Manta and Criollo.

There are also Mexican chefs with Michelin stars in the United States and Europe.

🤔 What are some famous Mexican chefs who don’t live in Mexico?

Keep scrolling to see 13 of the most famous Mexican chefs who live in the U.S., operate restaurants in the U.S., and even star in Mexican cooking TV shows in the U.S.

Who are some Mexican chefs in the U.S. to follow?

Despite all the Michelin stars in Mexico, there are also numerous Mexican chefs making waves in the United States.

In fact, some of the most famous Mexican food chefs don’t live in Mexico — like these 13 who reside in the U.S.

Marcela Valladolid: Mexican Food Network chef and host of Mexican Made Easy
Wes Avila: Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles, California
Roberto Santibañez: Fonda in NYC and Mi Vida in Washington DC
Carlos Salgado: Taco Maríain Costa Mesa, California
Silvana Salcido Esparza: Barrio Café Gran Reserva in Phoenix, Arizona
Zarela Martinez: Author of Food from My Heart, The Food and Life of Oaxaca, and Zarela’s Veracruz
Aarón Sánchez: Johnny Sánchez in New Orleans, Louisiana
Carlos Gaytan: Tzuco, Panango, and Tales of Carlos Gaytan in Chicago, Illinois
Ricardo Díaz: Whittier Brewing Company in Whittier, California
Ray Garcia: Broken Spanishin Los Angeles, California
Eduardo Ruiz: Corazon y Miel and Chicas Tacosin Los Angeles, California
Cosme Aguilar: Casa Enriquein Long Island City, New York
Patricia Jinich (AKA Pati Jinich): Author of Pati’s Mexican Table, and host of Pati’s Mexican Kitchen, one of the best Mexican cooking shows

Where can you find the best Mexican food in the U.S.?

The list above of 13 chefs above showcases plenty of great restaurants across the country run by Mexican-Americans.

However, all the best Mexican restaurants in America are built on culture, research, real ingredients and traditions that come straight from Mexico — so any city with a large Mexican-American population should have great food options.

The best Mexican in Los Angeles, for example, is a particularly rich exploration of traditional Mexican foods because of the history of immigration and large number of Mexicans residing in the LA metropolitan area.

There is more regional diversity of Mexican cuisine in Los Angeles than anywhere besides Mexico City.

There are also other cities in the U.S. with a huge Mexican expat population, like NYC, Chicago, Phoenix and more.

In case you didn’t know, there’s so much more than just Rick Bayless Mexican food in the U.S.

Note: Nothing against Rick Bayless, but his name is for sale and put on restaurants that he doesn’t own or operate.

Final Thoughts: Famous Mexican Chefs

Mexico is special because culinary education can come in the form of oral tradition that traces a family’s lineage back generations.

It can also come from an international culinary arts academy at the vanguard of the industry. 

If you want to try the top 10 Mexican dishes, like tacos and mole, but also the things you’ve likely never heard of, like escamoles (AKA Mexican caviar), you always want to come to the source.

While in decades past, many would view Mexican cooking as simply a humble cuisine, the best Mexican chefs featured in this article showcase what it’s really all about: centuries-old techniques, local ingredients and rich family traditions.

Chefs create experiences diners will remember fondly for the rest of their lives — and those featured in this article are among the best Mexican chefs working today.