Aaron Sanchez Biography
Aaron Sanchez is a Mexican celebrity award-winning chef, philanthropist, cookbook author, television personality, and restaurateur. In addition, Sanchez is the executive chef and part-owner of the Mexican restaurant Johnny Sanchez in New Orleans. Moreover, Aaron is a judge on FOX’s hit culinary competition series MasterChef and MasterChef Junior.
Aaron Sanchez Age|Birthday
Sanchez was born on February 12, 1976. Therefore, he is 46 years old as of 2022 and celebrates his birthday on the 12th of February every year.
Aaron Sanchez Height|Weight
Sanchez’s height is 5 feet 8 inches (approximately 178 centimeters). Moreover, he weighs 62 kilograms.
Aaron Sanchez Family
Sanchez was born in Chihuahua, Mexico to his parents Zarela (mother) and Adolfo (father). In addition, his mother was a restaurateur and author of several cookbooks. Moreover, he has a twin brother Rodrigo who is an attorney in New York City.
Aaron Sanchez Wife
The 46-year-old chef met his ex-wife, Mora at a mutual friends’ dinner party. Moreover, the couple realized they lived four doors away in the same building. They soon began dating and in 2009, the couple took their wedding vows. In addition, Mora, his ex-wife had a daughter, Sofia from her previous marriage. In addition, she gave birth to their son named Yuma. However, the couple’s marriage did not last long as they got divorced in 2012. Unfortunately, Sanchez’s career was one of the reasons for his split with his ex-wife.
Aaron Sanchez Career
Sanchez returned north to study culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1996 after working under Prudhomme. In addition, the chef returned to New York and worked in the kitchen at Patria under nuevo-Latino chef, Douglas Rodriguez. He met his future business partner, Alex Garcia while working there. Moreover, Garcia took Aaron to help open the restaurant when he left Patria in 1996 to open Erizo Latino.
Furthermore, he became executive chef at L-Ray which specialized in foods from the Caribean and Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, in 2000, he was hired by Eamon Furlong to open a pan-Latin restaurant on the Lower East Side. Moreover, it won Time Out New York’s award for Best New Lower East Side Restaurant in 2001 after opening in February that year. In addition, in their 2002 Eating and Drinking Guide, the restaurant went on to be named the Best Latin American Restaurant.
Moreover, the chef went on to become a chef of the Mexican New York eatery Centrico which closed in 2012.
Johnny Sanchez Restaurant
Aaron opened the restaurant, Johnny Sanchez, in Baltimore with fellow chef John Besh in August 2014. However, in September 2017, the Baltimore location closed. Additionally, in October 2014, the duo opened a second Johnny Sanchez location in New Orleans. However, as of February 2019, Besh was no longer a part of Johnny Sanchez. Miles Landrum, Dre Mire, and Sanchez are the three partners who purchased the restaurant. Additionally, the three partners are eyeing the Mid-City area to develop a second restarant though the name and location have not been announced.
Sanchez graduated in 1994 from high school and began to work for a restaurant called prudhomme. Moreover, after working there Aaron came back to study culinary art at the Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
MasterChef
Sanchez joined MasterChef US Season 8 as a judge alongside Gordon Ramsay and Christina Tosi, replacing Graham Elliot to taste and help judge contestants’ cooking and backing Ramsay and Tosi in order to crown the next MasterChef. Aaron is an expert in many cooking techniques and global cuisines whose specialty of cooking traditional Mexican cuisine is often used throughout the season.
Moreover, in 2019, the chef guest-starred on the first episode of Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back Season 2 as an extra expeditor and revealed he lives nearby The Trolley Cafe in New Orleans. Additionally, he announced that he will be releasing a memoir, Where I Come From: Life Lessons From a Latino Chef on October 1, 2019.
Aaron Sanchez’s Net Worth
Sanchez’s net worth is $4 million.
