Mario Pagan

As Chef-Owner of two of Puerto Rico’s finest restaurants, Mario Pagán’s beginnings watching his mother lovingly prepare meals in his San Juan home may seem a distant past.

Yet that past, rooted in Caribbean cuisine, created in Mario a strong affinity with good food and its creation.

Before opening his restaurants, Mario spent several years in Miami working in some of the city’s best kitchens: The Grand Café in The Grand Bay Hotel, Bugatti, Tamarind Restaurant, and Norman’s New World Cuisine. By the time he was in his third year at The Miami School of Architecture, Mario’s life took a turn and he would decide to dedicate his life’s work to being a chef.

After attending the prestigious Johnson and Wales University of Culinary Arts in Bay Harbor Fl., Mario went on to train under the renowned chefs who would become his mentors. First and foremost among these is Alfredo Ayala, founding chef of Chayote Restaurant in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Pagán says: “Alfredo’s line inspired me to combine local ingredients with those found outside the island and to employ classical techniques to achieve the creation of something totally unique for the palate.”

Chef Ayala would later sell Chayote Restaurant to Mario.

Each year since 1998, Chef Mario Pagán has had Puerto Rico’s coveted “Silver and Bronze Fork” awards bestowed upon him. He has received mention in various periodicals and trade publications such as: Travel & Leisure, Food and Wine, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Esquire, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Daily News, Wine and Food Society and The Miami Herald.

In August of 2005, Chef Pagán opened his second restaurant, LemonGrass, at the Caribe Hilton Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he showcases PanAsian-Latino fusion.

Pagán recently said in an interview: “Each time we travel somewhere new, we must sample the foods that help to define that particular place. When we get home from a trip, we enjoy talking about the hotel, about the sites, and of course, about the food .

If you have not visited Chayote then you have not truly experienced Puerto Rico.”

New York City Wine & Food Festival/Terra USA