Arizona restaurants offer a melting pot of diverse ingredients and flavors. That is often thanks to the melting pot of diverse talent in the kitchen, who bring experiences from around the world onto our plates. Case in point: these culinary leaders, each of whom hails from somewhere outside of the United States.
Hector Cruz
Today, Cruz is the executive chef of Jocque Concepts in Scottsdale, where he oversees the culinary operations for Diego Pops, The Montauk, Hot Chick, and Eat Up Drive In. However, he was first inspired to cook while growing up in Mexico City, though not wholly because of Mexican cuisine. “My father owned a popular Cuban restaurant in the region, and though I aspired to be an economist, it was impossible not to fall in love with cooking,” says Cruz, who moved to Phoenix at 17. After graduating high school, Cruz enrolled in Scottsdale Community College’s culinary program. This is back in the early 2010s, when the Jocque’s owned American Junkie, a concept where Cruz would work, eventually helping expand the brand into his native Mexico.
“For the past 10 years, I’ve grown with the family-owned business as well in my craft,” says Cruz. “Each concept, save for Eat Up as that came as a result of the pandemic, is based on the travels of the Jocques and my worldly approach to ingredients. So, there is never a dull moment, and certainly never a dull dish.”
Samantha Sanz
Like Cruz, Sanz was inspired to cook while growing up in Mexico. Her parents also owned a popular restaurant, so Sanz has memories of cooking as early as age 6, at first when her parents’ backs were turned, and then eventually together. “I moved to Arizona in 2008 for culinary school and earned my first professional job at Elements at Sanctuary soon after,” says Sanz. “Who knew that first line cook job would one day come full circle for me.”
Sanz says that because after getting her start at Sanctuary and then taking on high-profile positions at both Virtu Honest Craft and Talavera at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale Troon North (where she earned two James Beard nominations), Sanz ended up back where she started in 2020. This time, however, she is both the lead chef and the new face of Elements, Sanctuary’s award-winning signature eatery. There, Sanz is dreaming up farm-fresh American cuisine infused with Asian and Latin accents, which have become her signature over the years.
Lee Hillson
Hillson, the beloved executive chef at the Royal Palms Resort and Spa, has a cheeky grin that will always give his hometown away. “Yep, I was born in Greenwich,” says Hillson with a laugh, before adding that by “Greenwich” he means the borough in London and not the city in Connecticut.
Hillson studied his craft in England before moving to Austin for a girl (that turned out to already have a boyfriend) and then back across the pond to train across Europe. He would make a stop in the Northeast before coming to Phoenix in 2000. “I was here to interview at a ritzy restaurant in town, but drove by the Royal Palms first,” says Hillson, who never made it to the other interview as he drove up the Royal Palms driveway and earned himself a line cook position that same day.
The executive chef by 2004, Hillson’s fish preparation, as well as his pesto dishes, soon became that of legend. Though he left the resort for a spell for other adventures, Hillson made his way back to his epicurean home in 2019 to dazzle a new generation of diners at Royal Palms.
Gus Lewkowicz
Argentinians are known for their hospitality and curiosity. It should come as no surprise then that Gustavo “Gus” Lewkowicz is a native Argentinian. An entrepreneur and self-taught chef like his own father before him, Lewkowicz–who lived in New York after Argentina–moved to Scottsdale in 1999 to open Tribe American Leathers. With its success, Lewkowicz was able to find more time to devote to cooking, so much so he decided to take a leap of faith and open his own restaurant, Café Monarch, in 2013.
Continuously lauded among the top fine dining destinations in the United States by Trip Advisor for nearly a decade, Lewkowicz is a master of tasting menus, offering interactive dishes that involve all five senses. “Today, the business is a family one, with my wife and children involved as well,” says Lewkowicz. Together, the family even opened a second concept called The Reserve in 2020, which is perhaps even more high end and ambitious than even Monarch. Thanks to that famous hospitality, both brands have mouths watering around the world.
Jacques Qualin
Qualin’s culinary career feels like a movie. “I grew up in the Franche-Comté region of France and took a hotel kitchen apprenticeship at 16 years old, followed by training in Paris, where I was lucky enough to work with Michelin-rated chef Michel de Matteis and celebrated chef Claude DeLigne,” says Qualin.
Chef’s next stop? New York City. The restaurant? Le Cirque, which at one time was one of the most famous eateries in the world. As if not impressive enough, he then worked at Jean-Georges, a Two Michelin star AAA Five Diamond French eatery overlooking Central Park, earning the respect of celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten himself.
The mutual admiration eventually led Vongerichten to recruit Qualin to open and run his J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician when it opened in 2009. Chef Jacques has been the venue’s star since day one, and all these years later he continues to wow diners nightly by combining French technique, flavors from around the world, and steakhouse favorites together with what seems like ease. Or, in other words, he lived happily ever after.
Written by Alison Bailin Batz
Photography by Luke Irvin