Christian Irabién Gamboa(1)
Falls Church, VA
BIO
Christian is a self employed Chef, owner of Salt + Season Kitchen Catering and Private Chef Services, most recently stepping down from his Sous Chef position with the modern Mexican kitchen team at Jose Andres’ Oyamel in Washington, DC, where he exercised and honed his skill set and knowledge of traditional and modern Mexican cuisine. Working hard to get his own taqueria soon enough!
Christian developed an interest which quickly turned into passion for cooking at a young age. He entered the restaurant industry working as a dishwasher at the age of thirteen for the last of his grandparents’ restaurants in Texas, The Fisherman’s Cove, where he not only began to learn the food he grew up with in Mexico, but also flavors, ingredients, and traditional dishes regional to the south-east of Mexico. From there he worked his way up to prep cook, spending the majority of his teen years working the kitchen alongside his family of cooks. Taking a break from the kitchen and testing his fate in the business and finance world, he began pursuing a Business Administration degree and worked for organizations such as Deutsche Bank and the International Monetary Fund. At this stage of his life it became clear that his heart was in food and ws the turning point back into the world of food.
In 2008 Christian began culinary school, since then he spent significant time as a Sous Chef with Chef Cathal Armstrong at his Eat Good Food Group in Alexandria, VA. More recently he joined Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup in Washington, DC as a Sous Chef at Oyamel while still trying to continue his staging repertoire at places such as Hook, 2941, Birch and Barley, PS7, and most recently the Bazaar. Christian continues his culinary journey and is a firm believer and advocate for sustainable and responsible harvest of edible plants and animals and in supporting the local farming and fishing community.
Christian developed an interest which quickly turned into passion for cooking at a young age. He entered the restaurant industry working as a dishwasher at the age of thirteen for the last of his grandparents’ restaurants in Texas, The Fisherman’s Cove, where he not only began to learn the food he grew up with in Mexico, but also flavors, ingredients, and traditional dishes regional to the south-east of Mexico. From there he worked his way up to prep cook, spending the majority of his teen years working the kitchen alongside his family of cooks. Taking a break from the kitchen and testing his fate in the business and finance world, he began pursuing a Business Administration degree and worked for organizations such as Deutsche Bank and the International Monetary Fund. At this stage of his life it became clear that his heart was in food and ws the turning point back into the world of food.
In 2008 Christian began culinary school, since then he spent significant time as a Sous Chef with Chef Cathal Armstrong at his Eat Good Food Group in Alexandria, VA. More recently he joined Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup in Washington, DC as a Sous Chef at Oyamel while still trying to continue his staging repertoire at places such as Hook, 2941, Birch and Barley, PS7, and most recently the Bazaar. Christian continues his culinary journey and is a firm believer and advocate for sustainable and responsible harvest of edible plants and animals and in supporting the local farming and fishing community.