As a small boy, Ivan used to stand on a chair in his family's kitchen watching and his mother and grandmother cook elaborate dishes for the family. It was there, in that humble, multi-generational home in Mexico City that he developed his lifelong reverence for traditional Mexican cooking.
Over the years, Chef Ivan’s love of classical Mexican cuisine’s traditional ingredients and processes intensified. In 2001, after graduating with a degree in the Culinary Arts from Puebla’s Iberoamerican University, he moved to New York City. There, his gift for bringing traditional Mexican cuisine was quickly recognized by several notable establishments (including Barrio Chino and Mercadito) that brought him in to both cook and, in the case of Barrio Chino, to create their original menu from scratch. He opened his first restaurant, Mesa Coyoacan in 2009 and his second, Zona Rosa in 2012.
