The Commissary Welcomes New Executive Chef Rogelio Garcia
Angéle, French Laundry veteran joins Traci Des Jardins at The Presidio’s award-winning restaurant
Rogelio Garcia
SAN FRANCISCO (November 29, 2016)— Award-winning chef Traci Des Jardins, the Presidio Trust, and Bon Appétit Management Company are pleased to announce that Rogelio Garcia has joined The Commissary as Executive Chef. With Traci’s guidance, Rogelio will continue to create a Spanish-influenced California menu inspired by the local and seasonal products for which the Bay Area is renowned. He has also launched the Open Kitchen dinner series at The Commissary, in which guest chefs prepare a four-course prix fixe focused on a single ingredient.
Born in Mexico City and raised in Los Angeles and Napa, Rogelio began his culinary career humbly, in high school as a dishwasher for a restaurant in Yountville. During stints at Napa’s Hurley and Angele, he spent his days off staging at Yountville’s Redd and San Francisco’s Michael Mina, until Angéle’s Bettina Rouas recognized his desire to grow and helped him land a job at Cyrus in Healdsburg. Positions as Sous Chef at Calistoga Ranch and Chef de Partie at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry followed. When an opportunity arose to return to Angéle as Executive Chef, Rogelio spent the next three years there creating classic dishes with a twist.
The experience of working with and being mentored by some of the great chefs of California are what prompted Rogelio to launch The Commissary’s Open Kitchen series. Named for the restaurant’s airy open kitchen and held the first Monday of the month, the series allows Rogelio to invite industry veterans he has long admired, along with younger chefs, in order “to expose the new generation to different styles and techniques that will hopefully inspire them to learn and grow.” Farmers and purveyors will also be featured guests.
For the second Open Kitchen dinner, on Monday, Dec. 5, Roland Passot from La Folie and Brett Schaublin from Reddwood will join Rogelio and The Commissary’s Executive Pastry Chef Kristi Gauslow for a decadent menu focused on caviar. (Open Kitchen dinners are $85 per person, $120 with wine pairing; reserve through OpenTable.) California Caviar will supply the caviar, and the company’s founder and CEO, Deborah Keane, will discuss the sustainable production of this delicacy.
The first dinner, Nov. 7, featured pumpkin in four mind-blowingly different courses prepared by Curtis Di Fede, chef-owner of Miminashi, an izakaya-style Japanese restaurant in Napa; Andrew Wiseheart, chef-owner of Contigo and Chicon in Austin, TX; Rodney Wages, chef/owner of R.T.B. Fillmore; and Rogelio. The January 9 ingredient will be truffles.
About The Commissary
Overseen by award-winning chef Traci Des Jardins, in partnership with the Presidio Trust and Bon Appétit Management Company, The Commissary is located within San Francisco’s unique national park at 101 Montgomery Street in The Presidio on the Main Post, San Francisco, CA 94129). The 112-seat venue features Spanish-influenced California cuisine, based on locally, sustainably sourced ingredients. The wine, beer, and cocktail lists are similarly inspired, in the form of seasonal sangria and Spanish wine varietals grown in Northern California. The full bar includes classic cocktails alongside an array of original recipes. The Commissary features traditional, communal, and bar seating; dining on the shaded front porch; or “front row” seating surrounding an open kitchen where guests can watch the chefs in action.
The Commissary is part of Presidio Foods, which also includes Presidio Foods Catering, supporting celebrations and meetings hosted in park venues; Arguello, a California-Mexican restaurant in the historic Officers’ Club; and TRANSIT, a casual eatery at the base of the Main Post.