Ramón Velázquez

Corazón Cocina | Santa Barbara, CA

Ramón Velázquez grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico with a love of food nurtured by his mother and grandmother, Abuelita Micaela, who cooked traditional Mexican dishes.

The eldest of seven siblings, Ramón began cooking and shopping at the local “Marcadito” (Farmer’s Market), at an early age. He cooked alongside his mother at the family “Fonda”, a small food stand that would sit outside their modest home. His memories of Mexico always surround food, especially street food, “antojitos”… small cravings.

Ramón immigrated to Santa Barbara in 1990 where he attended Santa Barbara High School. Ramón knew that food was his passion and wanted to continue his mom’s and abuelita’s legacy. He worked in various restaurants in town exposing him to a variety of different food cultures, including Japanese food, he was well known for his work as a sushi chef at Arigato for almost 9 years, after that he embraced the role of executive Chef at Cielito in Santa Barbara, using the finest ingredients that support local farmers and fisherman.

In 2014 Ramón began his own adventure of creating a pop-up with Corazón Cocina inside the Three Pickles restaurant and the SB Public Market, after this exposure he was given the opportunity to have his own restaurant inside the SB public market in which he has been very successful since day one and most recently he’s now on a new adventure to open a second restaurant called “The Project” Corazón Cocina & Taproom” located by the funk zone area in Santa Barbara.