THE FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL IN IXTAPA ZIHUATANEJO
32 TASTES. 1 HISTORY. 1 SOUL.

Did you know TV personality Sissy Biggers will be at The Food & Wine Festival in Ixtapa Zihuatanejo? She's a regular host at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and we're thrilled she'll be joining our event.

You can bring cameras - but no flash photography during the demos.

Click www.travelixtapazihuatanejo.com/promotions for hotels offering promotional packages. 

32 Tastes, Modern Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, and ¡Viva la Vida! will include artistic performances.

We will not be providing transportation for the events. We recommend the local taxi services; they will have all the necessary addresses and information.

The Best Chefs In The Food & Wine Festival:

Chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita

 Described by Time magazine as a “prophet and preserver of culinary tradition” (October 2001), Chef Ricardo was considered one of the TOP 24 chefs in Latin America by the magazine GatoPardo (GrayCat) (2002) and one of Mexico’s top 7 most important chefs according to the magazine DíaSiete de México(Mexico’s Seventh Day), also in 2002. He was also named one of the top 12 chefs in Mexico by the Sanborns restaurant chain.

He is the author and researcher for the books Los Chiles Rellenos en México(Stuffed Chiles of Mexico); Verde en la cocina Mexicana(Green in Mexico’s Kitchen); the DiccionarioEnciclopédico de Gastronomía Mexicana (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Gastronomy); Comida de los Almendros(Meals at Los Almendros); Salsas Mexicanas(Mexican Sauces) and Los clásicos de la cocinamexicana(The Classics of Mexican Cuisine). Chef Ricardo was also the winner of the Gourmand 2010 award for local cookbooks. His most recent work is Verde, Blanco y Rojo(Green, White and Red).

Chef Ricardo has been the recipient of numerous recognitions and awards, including an invitation to join the AcadémieCulinaire de France and being named Chef of the Year by the Vatel Club of Mexico in 2008. He was also received the “Mente Humana” (Human Mind) award from Quo magazineand the Discovery Channel. His cuisine, his research and his recipes have been featured and referenced in a large number of media outlets.

Enrique Olvera Figueras

Born in Mexico City in 1976, Olvera obtained his professional degree at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Upon his return to Mexico, he opened the restaurant Pujol, now considered one of Mexico City’s essential culinary stops.

In 2004 at the age of 27 Olvera was recognized as “Chef of the Year” by Catadores magazine. He also received the “Young Restaranteur” award given by CANIRAC (Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Restaurantes y Alimentos Condimentados) both in 2005 and 2007. He’s been named “Chilango of the Year” (chilango means born and raised in Mexico City) several times by Chilango magazine, which also named him “Chef of the Decade” in 2009. He was one of the top 30 Mexican talents picked by Expansión magazine in 2009; the same year, GQ México named him one of their top 15 men of the year. Food & Wine picked Enrique Olvera as one of the 10 most promising culinary talents worldwide. The restaurant Pujol celebrated its first decade in 2010; Olvera published his first book, UNO, to honor the occasion.

Coincidentally, that same year the prestigious British magazine, Restaurant, published the San Pellegrino list of the best 100 restaurants in the world: Pujol ranked 72 on that list. In September, Starchefs.com published a list with the “top 10 international figures in the culinary industry,” which included Enrique Olvera. Towards the end of October, the Mexican magazine, Quién, published a list of Mexico’s 50 most influential people: Chef Olvera is now a part of this list, which includes some truly exceptional Mexicans.

Chef Guillermo González Beristáin

In 1986, Chef Beristáin moved to San Diego, where he studied Hotel and Restaurant Management at Mesa College. In 1989, he was accepted in the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, where he graduated two years later with honors. He returned to Mexico in 1994 as chef for Mexico City’s Ambrosia restaurant. In 1998, he revolutionized the restaurant industry in Monterrey against all expectations with Pangea; two years later, he opened La Catarina, which specialized in Mexican haute cuisine. In 2002, he opened Genoma, a retro-modern Latin eatery. In 2007, he turned his attention to El Tío, rescuing this traditional restaurant, a bastion of Mexico’s regional northern cuisine. 

He has been featured in several North American magazines including: Saveur, Food & Wine, Wine Spectator and Food Arts, among others, as well as in Mexico’s Travel & Leisure, Condé Nast and Catadores. He is a featured columnist in Gula magazine. He was named one of “Mexico’s Top Ten Chef by El Universal newspaper. Expansión magazine included him in their annual edition of “The 30 Most Promising In Their 30s”. He is currently the consulting chef for Gamesa, Frito Lay and the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey, I.T.E.S.M.

Chef Federico A. López

Chef López graduated in 1993 from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York.He is a founding professor at the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana (University of the Cloister of Sister Juana). In 1996, Ambrosia del bosque, a leading banquets and events company in Mexico, and its founder Guillermo Ruiz, invited him to create the first culinary institute with programs designed by chefs (both practical and theoretical) based on four-month periods and an intensive practice. This became the Centro Culinario de México (Culinary Center of Mexico), better known as the Escuela Ambrosia (Ambrosia School).

López was named one of the 12 top chefs in the country by the Sanborns Group for five consecutive years, including in 2009. He was named one of the top 20 chefs in Mexico by the Editorial Larousse publication. In 2007, he won the title in the Iron Chef Competition during the Hot & Spicy Food Festival in Toronto, Canada. He is currently a consultant for the Beach House restaurant operated by the Gerber Group in the ME Hotel, by Meliá. He also serves as the consultant for Operadora Andersons on their new projects in the U.S. and is co-responsible for the Celebrity Cooks project and the Latin Food & Wine Show Cancun 2012. In 2010 he participated in the CIA Flavor Summit and is an active participant in the Food and Wine festivals, CocinaAbierta (Open Kitchen), and was a jury member for the Cook of the Year 2010 award. He has also participated in the bicentennial celebrations held in different cities both in Mexico and abroad.

Chef Stephan Pyles

Chef Pyles has created 16 restaurants over the past 27 years, and authored four highly successful cookbooks. A founding father of Southwestern Cuisine, he was the first person in the Southwest to win a James Beard Award for Best Chef and was the first Texan inducted into Who’s Who of Food and Wine in America.

Bon Appétit credited Pyles with “almost single-handedly changing the cooking scene in Texas” while The New York Times called Pyles “an absolute genius in the kitchen”. In 2006, Esquire named him “Chef of the Year” and included Stephan Pyles’ restaurant in their list of "Best New Restaurants". Texas Monthly named him one of the “twenty most impressive, intriguing, and influential Texans for 1998” and in their February 2007 issue named his restaurant, Stephan Pyles, “Best New Restaurant of 2006”.

Most recently he opened Samar by Stephan Pyles, which was awarded “Best New Restaurant - 2009” by The Dallas Morning News and was a James Beard Foundation’s nominee for “Best New Restaurant in America”. He has been a cuisine consultant to American Airlines, the Dallas Museum of Art and hotels. Pyles is a founding board member of Share Our Strength, and is a recipient of the organization’s Humanitarian of the Year Award.

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