Winter 2025

148 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 5 W hen it was announced in August that Gus Trejo had been appointed executive chef at Bernardus’ Lucia Restaurant & Bar, Trejo knew he had a lot to live up to. But more than the legacies of famed chefs like Cal Stamenov and TimWood who came before him, he also carried the legacy of an entire side of his family. As a child, the half-Portuguese, half-LatinoTrejo spent most every sum- mer in Portugal, where most of his mother’s family lived—including her six older brothers, a gaggle of her nieces and nephews and her mother. Early on,Trejo was slightly too young to hunt or fish with his cousins and uncles, one of whom owned a ranch, soTrejo spent much of his time in his grand- mother’s kitchen, which lacked any of the trappings of modernity. “There were no refrigera- tors. She had a wood bread oven, and a cold cellar in the basement, and she cooked as needed,”Trejo says. “You didn’t store a lot of food. You har- vested what you needed only for a day or two and pre- served what you could.” At Lucia, Trejo of course has refrigerators—and an array of modern equipment and the staff to use it. But even now, he doesn’t keep a lot of inventory around. “I order what I need for when I need it,” he says. “If we get good food and we know where it’s coming from and we know who is raising it, we are already winning at some level. I am hyper-super local. That for me is one of the biggest things.” Trejo, who departed Jack O’Neill Restaurant & Lounge at The Dream Inn in Santa Cruz to join Lucia, previously worked in kitchens in San Diego, Maui, Granada and Monterey. He spoke about how his past informs what he wants to accomplish at Lucia: a reverence for ingredients, a menu of complex simplicity and why farmers, ranchers, bakers and foragers matter. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: As of this interview, you are six weeks into this new job.What are some commonalities you find between your past experiences and now? A: People—no matter where they are—want to know where their food is coming from. So why not give them the quality that comes with it? I want to buy as local as possible and I feel that’s made the most impact on my career.We have beautiful stuff that is in our own backyard.We have local and organic farms with beautiful carrots, so why would I ever buy processed, peeled carrots? Q: You talk about thinking about what story an ingredient tells.Where does that come from? A: My mother and aunt were phenomenal cooks and wanted to keep everyone fed, and to work with their neighbors, so there was that whole sense of being part of something bigger than yourself that always resonated with me. But it wasn’t until later in my career that I under- stood about food as a sense of community. This is the area where I got my bearings, with Tim Wood at Carmel Valley Ranch. But it doesn’t completely define who I am now. I have my own prerogatives and Tim has his, and on some levels we are aligned, especially when it comes to food and the basics. Q: How do you decide what to serve at different times of the year? A: Serving really depends on the season and what’s biting. I’d love to serve abalone, local halibut, local cod, and occasionally bluefin tuna. I don’t plan out a strict menu because I let the ingredients guide me. At Jack O’Neill, we sourced within a 60-mile radius. We have a good palate in Carmel Valley and I have great respect for this community in par- ticular. Now that I’m back here, I brought a lot of knowledge from where I source meat and fruits and fish. I know which farms have an acre of land to grow dry-farmed organic potatoes for the French fries, and which peo- Inspiring Moments From His Grandmother’s Kitchen Lucia Chef Gus Trejo Honor s Hi s Past Wi th a Modern Twi st B Y MARY DUAN “For me, food has always been what drives a community together. It con- nects me back to being a kid in Portugal, watching a man drive to Porto in a truck filled with crushed ice and come back with seafood.”