Calistoga chef named James Beard finalist
Calistoga chef Rogelio Garcia is having a year to remember.
Garcia, the executive chef of Four Seasons restaurant Auro, made headlines last June when he led his restaurant into the Michelin Guide. A month later, the restaurant was awarded a coveted Michelin Star.
And, just last week, he was named as a finalist for a James Beard Award – arguably the highest honor in the culinary world – in the Best Chef California category.
“I’m still in shock,” Garcia said this week. “I’m still trying to figure out myself how this all happened. I don’t know. But I do know that I am surrounded by a strong team. It’s not a one-man show,” he said, referring to everyone from the Auro front and back-of-house staff, the Four Seasons team and his family.
The James Beard Foundation Awards were established in 1990 by the James Beard Foundation, named after famed chef and cookbook author to recognize chefs, restaurants and food authors and journalists. Sometimes referred to as “the Oscars of the food world,” the awards are voted on by more than 600 culinary professionals. This year’s ceremony will take place on June 10 in Chicago.
The James Beard ‘Best Chef: California’ nominees also include Geoff Davis of Burdell in Oakland; Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord in Los Angeles; Tara Monsod of Animae in San Diego, and Buu “Billy” Ngo of Kru in Sacramento.
Garcia was born in Mexico City and raised in Napa, where he attended Vintage High School. When he was 15, he got his first after-school job as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Yountville where, he said, he was exposed to unfamiliar flavors and textures and fell in love with cooking.
After graduating in 2004, Garcia spent 15 years working for some of Napa Valley’s most esteemed chefs, including Thomas Keller, Douglas Keane and Bettina Rouas before moving to San Francisco to work for Traci Des Jardins. He later became executive chef at Spruce and then Luce, both in San Francisco.
Garcia’s Napa Valley homecoming came when the Four Seasons reached out to him to discuss opening a new restaurant at its new Calistoga resort. Auro opened in November 2022 to high praise.
“It’s been an amazing year and a half,” Garcia said. “I’m just grateful for the staff, grateful for the support from within and from the Napa Valley community, grateful to be here today with this team. The feeling is incredible.”
He called his latest career milestone “a dream,” and reflected on more than 20 years working in fine dining.
“You know, you get into this industry and you don’t really know what direction it’s going to take you,” Garcia said. “It’s definitely been a journey. A lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work, countless hours thinking of all the things you did wrong, all the things you could have done better.
“All of a sudden, now I look back and I think, maybe I didn’t do so bad,” he said.
Next up for Garcia, this fall he will be releasing a cookbook, Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in Napa Valley’s Wine Country. ‘Convivir’ translates from Spanish to English as “to live together.”
Five years in the making, the book, Garcia said, will highlight his Mexican heritage as well as the local produce of Northern California.
