Born and raised in Bogota Colombia, Santiago Lopez found his calling to cuisine while an Engineering student at UCF in Orlando in 2001. Santiago left his studies to pursue his new career with passion. After beginning at Café Tu Tu Tango, He secured a position as a Sous Chef at The Peabody Hotel working under the direction of classically trained Corporate Executive Chef Karl Edlbauer.
Returning to Café Tu Tu Tango as an Executive Sous Chef, Santiago quickly became an indispensable asset to the restaurant, bringing his exquisite palate, passion, and creativity to everything he touched. Santiago has an abundance of knowledge with a variety of cuisines including Asian, Spanish, and Italian.
After being named Executive Chef, Santiago moved to assist at our operations in Alexandria VA. including Executive Chef roles at Virtue Feed and Grain, The Majestic, Palette 22 and Vola’s.
In his current role as Corporate Operations Chef, Santiago is involved in collaborating with new restaurant concepts in addition to hiring, training and mentoring our BOH Management Teams
On any given day Chef Santiago can be found creating dishes under the direction of our Corporate Chef Brandon Whitestone. He believes the most flavorful cuisine is made simply with the best, highest quality products.
Santiago is graduate of Valencia College