Chef Hector
Just as Marco Polo brought back new and exciting food and spices from the Far East to Italy — Chef Hector, PebbleCreek’s new Sous Chef, plans to bring lots of new tastes, flavors and excitement to our restaurants. Lucky for us Chef Hector is fascinated with the history of food and loves creating original dishes that fuse ingredients from various cuisines and regions.
In his role Hector oversees all activities related to the kitchen—menu creation, management of kitchen staff, ordering and purchasing of inventory, plating design and more. Chef Hector’s background is impressively suited to the job. A 2006 graduate of Johnson & Wales University, with degrees in Foodservice Management and Culinary Arts, Chef Hector has a rich combination of hotel, restaurant, club and corporate experience – including a total of four years with two other Robson properties, SaddleBrooke and most recently, Quail Creek. He is also in the process of obtaining his Executive Chef credential.
Chef Hector’s passion for cooking dashed his parents’ and grandparents’ hopes that he would follow in their footsteps and become a dentist. Hector says he started working in a fast food restaurant in high school and found he really like the pace and the environment, and the idea of creating food appealed to both his scientific mind and artistic soul – so dentistry was off the table and a life in the foodservice industry began.
Hector met his mentor, Aris Cabrera, while working at the Double Tree Hotel in Tucson where Aris was the Executive Chef. It was Aris who told Hector of an opening at SaddleBrooke for a Sous Chef and led to his first job at a Robson property. When Aris became Executive Chef at Quail Creek, he hired Hector as his Executive Sous Chef and it was also Aris who encouraged Chef Hector to take on the job of Sous Chef for PebbleCreek. Using the experience he gained at SaddleBrooke and Quail Creek, Chef Hector says he sees his new position at PebbleCreek as the opportunity of a lifetime.
Chef Hector is currently in the process of creating new menu items for Eagle’s Nest and Toscana’s and says that while he plans to make the menus very special, he also intends to keep the time proven favorites (liver and onion fans rejoice!). Hector says he plans to listen to customers, offer them a variety of choices and provide high quality, seasonal foods at great prices. In addition to creating new menu items, Hector is working with the cooks and service staff to ensure quality and consistency is foremost. Bon appetit to that!