---

Santillan was born in Michoacán, Mexico. His love for food and inspiration to work in the kitchen started with his grandmother, who celebrated every holiday and occasion by preparing her favorite, traditional dishes. After graduating from high school, Santillan moved to California, looking for better opportunities. With no restaurant business experience, he was fortunate to start as a prep cook in an Italian restaurant in Ojai, California. In one year, Santillan was able to work all stations and realized his dream was to become a chef.

After four years in Ojai, Santillan moved to Santa Barbara, California, to attend Santa Barbara City College while continuing to work. He worked for two years as Sous Chef at Andria’s Harbor Side, the best seafood restaurant in town, and then the Four Seasons Biltmore, where he worked directly with Executive Chef Mel Mecinas.

From 2000-2010, Santillan worked as Sous Chef at Baccara Resort & Spa for the fine dining restaurant Miro, supervising and creating new menus. He also supervised the banquet kitchen, preparing dinners for large conference groups.

In August 2011, Chef Santillan was part of the Pebble Beach team as Chef of The Tap Room where he brought a simple, light culinary style to the restaurant, working with fresh and local ingredients that abound on the Monterey Peninsula. Once Santillan expanded his culinary talents in most of the best restaurants and hotels in Santa Barbara. He works daily with the team to bring new flairs and a variety of new dishes to our residents. One of Santillan’s passions, is expanding on the global gastronomy and execute menus from all around the world and does just that for our residents.