Janina Garay

Cannella | Tijuana, MX

The kitchens that she walked as a child while the enthusiastic hands of her grandmothers delicately cooked the delights of an afternoon shared with family,awaked her culinary sense that over time is perfecting in the sweet flavors and textures.

Cinnamon, vanilla, chocolate and seasonal fruits, form the personality of the flavors that trap the senses of diners who have had the opportunity to taste the high pastry of this Tijuana native who conquered southern California.

In 2015, Janina joined the Addison restaurant team, the jewel in the crown of restaurants in San Diego where French technique and cosmopolitan flavors attract crowds. Under the direction of chef William Bradley, Addison has won 5 Stars from the Forbes Travel Guide and AAA 5 Diamond Restaurant, but above all, they can boast of having Janina Garay, the Mexican who is driving the palates crazy with her mix of haute cuisine knowledge and the curiosity to create new flavors as she learned from playing with pots and homemade pans to the most specialized bakery and pastry ovens.

Janina is accompanied by years of experience that she began to cultivate professionally in 2011 when she entered the practical program of the Cenador de Amos, restaurant in Cantabria, Spain that has the distinction of two Michelin stars.

Instructed by chef Jesús Sánchez, Janina learned to master the times and demands of a kitchen that has the possibility of attending up to three weddings at the same time.

With the European aromas and flavors she worked with, plus the mastery she inherited from great chefs, Janina ventured into new territories to cultivate her cuisine. At the Topolobampo restaurant in Chicago, she found her new home to cultivate her culinary wisdom. In this one Michelin star restaurant, she delighted with a pastry full of mexican flavors that redirected her back to her roots.

The cuisine returned to Janina where it all began: The border of Mexico and the United States.

In San Diego she worked at Bracero, owned by Chef Javier Plascencia, which in 2016 was named the Best New Restaurant at the James Beard Foundation Awards.

With the same concern with which she used to see the preparation of her grandmother’s dishes, Janina takes the leap to independence, where she will delight the Tijuanenses and soon the rest of Mexico with her first solo project, ‘‘Cannella’’.