Chef Richard Sandoval
Chef Richard Sandoval is a global pioneer in contemporary Latin cuisine. His career as a chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur also includes serving as a television personality, cookbook author, brand ambassador and philanthropist. He is internationally acclaimed for his innovative approach in combining Latin ingredients with modern culinary techniques to create award-winning flavors that span 60 locations and 4 continents.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Sandoval has earned many accolades over the course of his career including Mexico's “National Toque d ’Oro,” Bon Appetit’s “Restauranteur of the Year,” Cordon d'Or’s “Restauranteur of the Year”, one of The Inc Magazine’s 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders, a James Beard Semi-Finalist for “Outstanding Restaurateur” and received an Honorary Doctorate for Culinary Arts from Johnson & Wales University.
Chef Sandoval is commended for elevating Latin American dining in each market he has a presence with best-in-class concepts, with regular features in publications like The New York Times and People. Sandoval is also credited for introducing Latin cuisine to the UAE, Qatar and Serbia.
Chef Pablo Salas
Pablo Salas is from Toluca, Mexico, and is proud of his origin, a fact that reflects in his very Mexiquense kitchen. His career, mainly self-taught, took flight around 2004 when he took the reins of his first restaurant, which he acquired via transfer. The path was arduous, but thanks to his extensive learning, in 2008 he began a process of introspection in which he discovered the great gastronomic wealth, untapped by many including himself, in the cuisine of his native State of Mexico.
Traveling through several municipalities eating, meeting cooks, discovering new ingredients, recipes, and invaluable cultural riches were decisive for Pablo to redefine his cuisine, always with the support of his family. Traveling throughout Mexico was also a catalyst in the realization that his homeland has a distinguishable, proprietary cuisine, unique, as different and vast as the most recognized in Mexico.
He has been invited to judge different gastronomic competitions, and as a speaker at conferences and festivals throughout the country, and abroad including Sabor, Test Kitchen L.A., Baja Culinary Fest, Morelia en Boca, Kurltur, Pacific Cooks and others. He was recently recognized by the Mexican Senate for his remarkable contribution to Mexican sustainable gastronomy and its dissemination as a high expression of the cultural richness of Mexico.