Born in
Acámbaro, Michoacán, began his love of cooking at the age of 8 when his parents moved to the United States as migrant farm workers and gave him the task of preparing simple food such as chicken soups and meat with vegetables. García began his professional career in restaurants as a dishwasher in an
Atlanta restaurant, working for Chef Scott Adair at the Purple Cactus Cafe. Chef Adair recognized his great talent and moved him to the kitchen. Chef Adair told him that he was like Escoffier recreated. When he was 16, he moved to Brasserie Le Coze in the same city, which had the same owners as
Le Bernardin in New York. After being deported, García settled in
Los Cabos Municipality, Baja California Sur, before relocating to
Mexico City. There, he worked as
head chef at
Pujol from 2007 to 2010, where he met his wife, Gabriela López. In 2011, García secured a loan from his uncle and opened
Máximo Bistrot. It became a magnet for the city's hottest new restaurants. Máximo has since won numerous awards, including a
Michelin star. In 2013 García partnered with the Japanese restaurant Rokai in
Colonia Cuauhtémoc and created the menus for restaurants De Mar a Mar, Cine Tonalá and Puebla 109. In November 2014, the Garcías opened Lalo!, a restaurant designed to serve his creations at breakfast and lunchtime at lower prices.
The Wall Street Journal characterized García as being known for "modernizing Mexico City's food scene with accessible, chic, hyper-seasonal dishes. Shining a spotlight on Mexico's bounty in an informal setting." William Reed Business Media ranked Máximo Bistrot #41 of Latin America's 50 best restaurants of 2015.
Grupo Maximus García and López founded Grupo Maximus, which integrates 11 different restaurants and bars from Colonia Roma and
Colonia Juárez in Mexico City. According to García, it was created "to operate as sustainably as possible with local sourcing, fair prices, and wages and benefits in line with the restaurant industry average". The group is conformed of the following restaurants and bars: •
Máximo Bistrot (García and López) •
Lalo! (García and López) • Panadería Gala (García and López) •
Havre 77 (García and López) •
Em (Lucho Martínez and Fernanda Torres) • 686 Bar (Martínez and Torres) • Ultramarinos Demar (Martínez and Torres) •
Martínez (Martínez and Torres) • Café Tormenta (Martínez and Torres) • Makan (Maryann Yong and Mario Alváez) • Café de Nadie (Pablo Usobiaga, Santiago Guerreiro and Billy Castro) ==References==