I recently hung out with the Soho Taco guys, and they confirmed what I suspected: The new executive chef at Taco Rosa, Javier Zambrano, is related to them–he's their uncle.
Taco Rosa, of course, is the higher-end concept created by the Taco Mesa guys, a great place to try delicious Mexican food among the Newport and Irvine crowd. But the cool thing about Zambrano assuming the prestigious position is that both the man and the restaurant he's now about to control are both progeny of El Torito founder Larry J. Cano.
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Taco Mesa, of course, is the brainchild of the Calderón brothers. One of them, Ivan, worked for years in the El Torito empire. And Zambrano has an even longer history with the chain–he started at Chanteclair, moved up to Cano's, switched over to El Torito corporate, then worked for years at Las Brisas before starting up his own restaurant.
Congrats to Zambrano for the promotion, to the Calderóns for being smart, and to Cano for inspiring so many broders. . . .
