Chef Marco Gonzalez, Class of 1993

Top Chef 

A professional gourmet chef fluent in four languages, Chef Marco Gonzalez began his career in France at the prestigious universities in the culinary world, L’institut Paul Bocuse and the Universite du Vin. He prepared creative dishes in restaurants across Europe in France, Italy and Spain. 

He returned home to Cancun, Mexico, where he opened his own restaurant called Peppermint. Despite the category five winds of hurricane Wilma in 2005, Peppermint survived and peaked in creative culinary delights, crowds and success. Chef Marco also wrote wine pairings and articles for a popular gastronomy magazine called Sabor e Arte. Now he resides in Austin and is currently cooking up plans to open a new restaurant.

Marco recalls walking into Mr. Webster’s office and wondering, “how mean could a guy be with so many toys and gags in his office?” As a kid Marco used to play soldier games, but he attributes The Academy’s military program as a way to implement discipline into his life today. He said, “Discipline has been a vital part of my success and my everyday life. A professional kitchen is very much like the military – there are ranks and hierarchy and when people follow it, a restaurant just works like a clock.”