Chef Rogelio’s Lamb Tetela with salsa verde and avocado bends toward a Californian sensibility. “I’m using the ancient masa with ingredients grown in the Napa Valley. The Lamb Tetela brings me back to flavors I grew up eating. It’s hearty and welcoming.”
WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:
Esquire’s The Best New Restaurants in America, 2023
“Fine dining in Napa wine country is as essential to the experience as a power nap after a day of visiting vineyards. Did you really do Napa properly if you didn’t have some A5 topped with caviar in the evening? While there’s no shortage of places in wine country that will give you the luxe tasting-menu treatment, Auro, helmed by chef Rogelio Garcia, does so with precision and California ease.”
“And while Garcia’s resume includes The French Laundry, Spruce, and Bravo Top Chef, he’s a humble, joyful, entirely unpretentious man with wicked talent.
The menu I had last month is a poster child for what fine dining in the 21st century should be: laser-focused on presenting meticulously sourced, simple ingredients. Of course, this is food you’d be hard-pressed to make at home — isn’t that why we go out? — but rather than being overwrought, it’s exquisitely and stealthily layered to bring out the essence of each element.”/Forbes.
BIO:
From Mexico to Napa to San Francisco: A Michelin-starred California Culinary Journey
Rogelio Garcia came to the United States when he was two years old. He began working in Northern California kitchens at the age of 15. What started out as an after-school job as a dishwasher in Napa while still in high school would turn into a Michelin-starred culinary career; with positions at two-Michelin-starred Cyrus in Healdsburg, where he worked under Chef Douglas Keane, and as Chef de Partie at French Laundry. As Executive Chef at Angele; and then at The Commissary, he received 3 stars from renowned San Francisco Chronicle food critic Michael Bauer. Garcia earned Michelin stars at Spruce for 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2021, he joined the team at Michelin-starred Luce in San Francisco’s Intercontinental Hotel as the Chef. (Also notable is that for a hotel to have a Michelin-starred restaurant is exceptional). Chef Rogelio is now at the helm at The Four Seasons, Calistoga, where, in 2022, he opened the Valley’s newest new fine dining restaurant, Auro, and in just 8 short months, earned a Michelin Star. Chef Rogelio is overseeing all aspects of their guest dining experiences including the Living Room at TRUSS.
Rogelio is a Bravo's Top Chef Season 15 alum and has been a featured chef at two dinners at the famed James Beard Foundation House. The first dinner, Napa Elegance, was presented in 2015 and in 2017 he presented a Mexican Heritage Dinner. He has been covered frequently by SF Eater, NBC News, The San Francisco Chronicle, SF Gate and We Are Latino Live.
His first cookbook, Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country (pub/Cameron & Company, div. Harry Abrams) is anticipated in April 2024
CONTACT:
direct: chefrogeliogarcia@gmail.com
For Press & Partnership Inquiries:
publicist@andrealawsongray.com
Chef Garcia describes his cooking style as classic French “with global influences and a slight Mexican accent”, where the culinary techniques he has perfected over 20 years at some of Napa’s most respected restaurant kitchens meet the flavors and ingredients of the cooking he grew up with.
This New Napa Restaurant Will Feature a Rotating Tasting Menu Celebrating California Wine Country
Auro's five courses will spotlight hyperlocal Northern California cuisine with curated wine pairings.
