PARTNER, CHEF, VACA GROUP
WHY: Arguably OC’s best-known culinary figure, with Laguna Beach’s Broadway restaurant and Costa Mesa’s Vaca. With business partner Ahmed Labbate, was Business Journal’s Restaurateur of the Year in 2020.
IN THE NEWS: Used his latest star turn on Bravo’s “Top Chef” series to plot a new restaurant expansion outside OC. Opening another Vaca restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, near 7th and Wilshire.
QUOTABLE: “People ask me if I have fun while I am there,” Santana said of Top Chef. “I always tell them no, it’s not fun, it’s a competition, you are always stressed, it’s minute by minute, you don’t know what is next. That’s what I love about the show, the surprises are real.”
