Eduardo García (Mexican chef)

Born in Acámbaro, Michoacán,^[5] began his love of cooking at the age of 8 when his parents moved to the United States as migrant farm workers and gave him the task of preparing simple food such as chicken soups and meat with vegetables.^[6]

García began his professional career in restaurants as a dishwasher in an Atlanta restaurant, working for Chef Scott Adair at the Purple Cactus Cafe. Chef Adair recognized his great talent and moved him to the kitchen. Chef Adair told him that he was like Escoffier recreated. When he was 16, he moved to Brasserie Le Coze in the same city, which had the same owners as Le Bernardin in New York.^[7] In the 1990s, he became involved in selling drugs to other restaurant staff. During this time, a cousin asked him for assistance in committing a robbery at a liquor store. García surrendered to the police and was sentenced to four years in prison for aggravated assault. Following his conviction, immigration authorities became aware of his undocumented status, and he was deported to Mexico in 2000.^[8][9]

Two weeks later, García returned to the United States without authorization after learning that his father had been diagnosed with cancer. During his second stay, his father had died, and his son, Maximo, was born. García was hired at a restaurant in Georgia after falsifying information on his résumé and Social Security documentation. He was then promoted and became a chef. In 2007, he was deported again and informed that any future unauthorized reentry would result in federal charges. Since then, the mother of his son has not allowed García to have contact with him.^[8][9]

After being deported, García settled in Los Cabos Municipality, Baja California Sur, before relocating to Mexico City. There, he worked as head chef at Pujol from 2007 to 2010, where he met his wife, Gabriela López. In 2011, García secured a loan from his uncle and opened Máximo Bistrot.^[8][9] García and López opened the restaurant in November 2011 on Tonalá Street in Colonia Roma, in the Cuauhtémoc borough with a team of four employees.^[8][10] It became a magnet for the city's hottest new restaurants. Máximo has since won numerous awards, including a Michelin star.^[7]

In 2013 García partnered with the Japanese restaurant Rokai in Colonia Cuauhtémoc and created the menus for restaurants De Mar a Mar, Cine Tonalá and Puebla 109. In November 2014, the Garcías opened Lalo!, a restaurant designed to serve his creations at breakfast and lunchtime at lower prices.^[11]

The Wall Street Journal characterized García as being known for "modernizing Mexico City's food scene with accessible, chic, hyper-seasonal dishes. Shining a spotlight on Mexico's bounty in an informal setting."^[12]

William Reed Business Media ranked Máximo Bistrot #41 of Latin America's 50 best restaurants of 2015.^[13]

García and López founded Grupo Maximus, which integrates 11 different restaurants and bars from Colonia Roma and Colonia Juárez in Mexico City. According to García, it was created "to operate as sustainably as possible with local sourcing, fair prices, and wages and benefits in line with the restaurant industry average". The group is conformed of the following restaurants and bars:^[14]

• Tillman, Laura (2023). The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 1324005777.