Fall 2026

168 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 6 A s the new(ish) executive chef at Portola Hotel & Spa, Pacifico Mata is constantly on the move, overseeing culinary operations across Jacks Monterey, Peter B’s and the hotel’s full-service catering pro- gram, which could include as little as a room service burger and as much as a banquet for hundreds. As Portola’s Food & Beverage Director Brian Hein put it when Mata’s hir- ing was announced in April, Mata has a passion for local ingredients—and local ingredients come from a landscape he knows well. After stints at the Marin Country Club, with Northwest groups Restaurants Unlimited and Pacific Coast Restaurants, and at Roy’s in Pebble Beach, Scottsdale and Newport Beach, Mata has returned home. Born in Cebu, Philippines, he was raised in the Salinas Valley, graduated from North Salinas High School and attended the California Culinary Academy. Three decades later, his food still carries French technique melded with Asian ingredients. Some things, it turns out, were always going to call him back. This interview has been edited for clarity. Q: What took you into cooking? A: After high school I enrolled at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. I went to school there and worked at a few places. After that, I went to work at Spanish Bay. The executive chef at the time was Pascal Rifflart, and he became food and beverage director there. I was hired about three weeks after they opened Roy’s, and that’s where I really started. Q: What did you learn at Roy’s? A: I worked there and learned the different areas of the hotel, including the other restaurants, and the different departments in the kitchen.Then they opened another Roy’s and I became sous chef, and later chef, at the one in Scottsdale. That was their second location in the mainland U.S. After that they opened one in Newport Beach in Orange County, and I was the opening executive chef there too. Q: Where did the road take you after that? A: I went back to Scottsdale and opened another concept, a big restaurant with my own style of food, a lot of seafood, some Pacific Rim influence, sushi too. Then I was recruited to Portland, Oregon, for a restaurant on the 40th floor of “Big Pink” (the nickname of the U.S. Bancorp Tower in downtown) called the Portland City Grill. It was huge, took up the whole floor. I was a corporate chef for the group that owned it, developing menu items for their different brands. That led me to Seattle, working with Restaurants Unlimited. Q: In the middle of all that you spent two years in Brooklyn. What brought you there? A: A friend was opening a restaurant and asked me to help. I left my job and went out to New York because I wanted to experience it. They always say you make it in New York. I learned so much and immersed myself in different cultures, the Italian community especially, trying all the differ- ent foods in Manhattan, living in Brooklyn but going into the city all the time. It was one of the best times. I learned how passionate people there are about pizza, about all the different cuisines, just being in Queens and trying everything. Q: Then back to Portland? A: They wanted to open some big restaurants and I built the menus. Portland City Grill was huge, and the dining scene there was amazing. I did my style of food—steaks, different kinds of sushi—and built another con- cept for them too. Q: You’ve mentioned “your style of food” a few times. How would you describe it? A: It’s evolved because of my different experiences. I started with classic French training, then at Roy’s I got really familiar with using Asian ingredi- ents with French technique. I evolved that further working in a lot of dif- ferent steakhouses. I love doing classic food with Asian influences, and mak- ing everything as upscale as I can. (Laughs.) I guess that’s a good question. At Home, In the Kitchen Chef Paci fico Mata returns to Cal i fornia and Finds Inspi rat ion Ever ywhere B Y MARY DUAN After stints at the Marin Country Club, with Northwest groups Restaurants Unlimited and Pacific Coast Restaurants, and at Roy’s in Pebble Beach, Scottsdale and Newport Beach, Mata has returned home.