20-Year Montage Veteran Returns to Newport Beach - Orange County Business Journal ocbj.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ocbj.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Hospitality veteran Andy Hooper has a new restaurant opening next week, this time bringing Mexican fare to Mountain’s Edge. El Luchador Mexican Kitchen + Cantina takes over a former Burgerim space in the Mountains Edge Marketplace, close to Hooper’s other restaurant, Locale Italian Kitchen.
The 2,286-square-foot space features room for a patio up front with an occupancy of 75.
Hooper brings in chef Aaron Bryan to helm the kitchen. The Southern California native attended Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, and went on to intern with the Four Seasons Newport Beach. After a year, he was accepted into their sous chef training program before being promoted to assistant banquet chef. He worked as a chef tournant at Nero’s Steakhouse at Caesars Palace in 2006, and moved on to become a sous chef at Charlie Palmer Steak, executive room chef for Station Casinos, and chef de cuisine at Eggslut at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.