My name is Alma. I'm a Private Chef in beautiful Paso Robles, Ca. My style is modern California cuisine, influenced by my Mexican roots. I thoroughly enjoy creating original recipes and designing and executing menus for small, intimate dinners, private events, and winemakers' dinners. You will also find me doing cooking demos, teaching cooking classes, and doing food photography.
Before becoming a Chef, I worked in the entertainment industry for more than 20 years, as an event and TV Producer. I loved my job, and have some incredible memories, but I decided to put my TV career on the back burner, so to speak, in order to pursue my lifelong passion for cooking. I enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Hollywood and after graduating with Honors, interned under Master Chef Michael Cimarusti at one of LA’s finest restaurants: Providence on Melrose Ave. From there I helped open LAMILL Coffee Boutique in Silverlake (voted one of the 10 Best Boutique Coffee Shops in the country by Bon Appétit Magazine) and worked for several catering companies including Wolfgang Puck before making the move up the 101 to create and open Sundance Bed and Breakfast in 2012!
The Bed & Breakfast was truly a dream come true for me. Everything about it is still something I can't believe I got to do. The Tuscan Villa we turned into a magical place where strangers would trust us to provide accommodations, top service hospitality, and always great food, well, that is something I will cherish forever. We decided to close the B&B after ten amazing years because that was the plan from the beginning.
While closing the B&B (we closed June 12, 2022) was somewhat bittersweet, preparing for the next chapter has been extremely exciting. I am having a blast working as a Private Chef, and also working on my next project: publishing a fun book/magazine filled with recipes, anecdotes from the B&B experience, life in Paso Robles, and everything in between. Stay tuned!
