Mario Garcia began as a dishwasher at Sanderlings eight years ago and rose to line cook. He’s now a sous chef for the restaurant at Seascape Resort, which is staying open during renovations to gear up for the summer.
SCW: What have you eaten today?
MARIO GARCIA: When I got in, one of the chefs made a pizza, and I just ate a piece right now. Our diets are not as nice as the stuff we make. Either we wait, and at the very end of the meal make something for everyone, or we’ll wait until banquets are done. But we’re always moving and always busy. So, you can never have a set meal, and it will probably be something crappy for you.
What does a sous chef do?
I control the restaurant side. There are two sides—banquet and Sanderlings Restaurant, and I’m in charge of Sanderlings. I oversee the other cooks and make up the menu and make sure food costs are in order.
Does that ever get dry?
I don’t think this industry ever gets dry. If you get bored of it, you just change. There’s Italian. There’s French. There’s Asian, Pacific Asian. You never get bored of it. I’ve been in almost 10 years, and I’m still having fun, still learning things. There’s always so much to learn, so much to master. If you get bored with something, just switch over to something else. If you get bored with food, you can go into winemaking or sales.
How do you make Dungeness crab cakes?
We take fennel. We add some onion, celery, and we add the Dungeness crab, mix it around—onion, mayo, salt and pepper. It’s really simple. Mix it up. A little panko breadcrumb makes a little crust crunchy. It’s really a favorite among the people that come here.
What do you do on your breaks?
If you’re here all day, you take a nice walk along one of the trails here down to the beach and back up, and you’re good to for another couple hours and relax.
What’s the worst dish you’ve ever made?
When we tried to infuse Chinese and Italian together (laughing). It didn’t turn out very well. We should just let these two be their own, and not mess with them. We didn’t serve it. We were just messing around in the back, but that one didn’t turn out so good. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, but what we did wasn’t that great.
