When chef Danny Calleros and his 10-person brigade at Ardovino\u2019s Desert Crossing found out he was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef in the Southwest, there was little time for celebration.<\/p>\n
After all, there was a dinner service to contend with that night.<\/p>\n
Such is life in the kitchen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is something that we all worked hard at, even those who worked here before me,\u201d said Calleros, the executive chef at the Sunland Park, N.M. restaurant. \u201cThe nomination is great, but this is not a win; it\u2019s just motivation to keep working harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
The James Beard Foundation named Calleros a 2026 semifinalist for best chef in the Southwest region of Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
Three other area chefs, Andr\u00e9s Pablos from Acc\u00e1, and husband-and-wife Gabe and Melissa<\/p>\n
Padilla, owners of Caf\u00e9 Piro, were also named semifinalists. Taconeta was named a semifinalist in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category.<\/p>\n
Finalist will be determined March 31 with winners announced at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards Ceremony June 15 in Chicago.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ardovino’s Desert Crossing is known for its garden setting, wood-fired dishes and regional influences.<\/p>\n
Photo by Ruben R.Ramirez<\/p>\n
Ardovino\u2019s Desert Crossing, the Italian restaurant known for its garden setting, wood-fired dishes and regional influences, celebrated its 25th anniversary last year.<\/p>\n
It is owned by siblings Robert and Marina Ardovino.<\/p>\n
\u201cDanny is the best chef we\u2019ve had,\u201d Robert Ardovino said. \u201cHe really deserves all the accolades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ardovino is also ecstatic for the other James Beard semifinalist.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy the James Beard Foundation has started recognizing the region,\u201d he said. \u201cTo bring that notoriety down here is important for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like all great chefs, Calleros, who began his career busing tables for banquets at Ardovino\u2019s and washing dishes at La Cuesta Mexican Food, had to take time away from El Paso to learn to appreciate it and develop new skills.<\/p>\n
The Santa Teresa native worked in some of the country\u2019s hottest food cities \u2014 Charleston, Austin, Asheville and Nashville \u2014 and trained under renowned chef Sean Brock.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked with chef Brock in Charleston,\u201d Calleros said. \u201cThere were so many talented people working in that kitchen. When I left, I was a little upset that he didn\u2019t even know my name. I felt unappreciated. As I got older, I realized why should he even know my name if I didn\u2019t do anything for him to recognize my name?\u201d<\/p>\n
He later moved to Austin, chasing name recognition and valuable experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt never felt like home,\u201d he said of Austin. \u201cYou don\u2019t know what you have until you don\u2019t have it. That\u2019s what I love about El Paso. I didn\u2019t know what this place meant to me until I went away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calleros, 38, is appreciative of what he has learned via his culinary travels.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned Lowcountry cuisine, where Southern meets the ocean, at a family restaurant called The Firehouse Restaurant in the Charleston\/Hollywood area of South Carolina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lowcountry food is a distinctive coastal cuisine from South Carolina and Georgia, blending West African, French, Caribbean and Native American traditions.<\/p>\n
The cuisine is centered on rice and fresh local seafood such as shrimp, crab and oysters, and okra.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we learn outside of El Paso and bring back is part of the reason we are doing amazing things here,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the reason we are now being recognized on a national level. But I also have a lot of appreciation for the chefs who stayed here and struggled to keep the scene alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Calleros has worked in some of the country’s hottest food cities and trained under renowned chef Sean Brock. He is appreciative of what he has learned via his culinary travel.<\/p>\n
Photo by Ruben R.Ramirez<\/p>\n
Calleros always loved to cook, spending hours watching his grandmother and mother in the cocina, always willing to help.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had dreams of going to college but the counselors flat-out told me I was not going to college,\u201d the Santa Teresa High School graduate said. \u201cThey told me I had to choose a skill. I was put in one of those crazy classes where they taught you how to properly fill out an application and how to write a r\u00e9sum\u00e9. How to be just another skilled worker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although discouraged, it forced Calleros to follow his passion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love food,\u201d he said. \u201cI would cook at home. I watched a lot of Food Network, a lot of Emeril Lagasse, that\u2019s why I wanted to go to the Scottsdale institute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of the high cost of tuition at Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale, Calleros enrolled in the Culinary Arts Program at El Paso Community College.<\/p>\n
Under the tutelage of EPCC Culinary Arts director, chef Jesus Lugo, Calleros excelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was young and having fun,\u201d Calleros said. \u201cArdovino\u2019s was my first real job. I got to hang out with my friends, I got to eat, listen to the rowdy chefs. There was a French chef who worked here when I started. He taught me a lot and showed me around the kitchen. He was very raw. The kitchen back then was pretty brutal. You had to be tough.\u201d<\/p>\n
His first opportunity in the kitchen was also at Ardovino\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was busing tables and I told the chef that I was going to culinary school and I would like to work the pizza station,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mom says, \u2018Que no habla, Dios no le oye.\u2019 He put me in banquet service where I did a lot of chopping, a lot of filling pastas, then he let me start at the pizza station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calleros\u2019 relationship with the Ardovino family began years before, when he was knee high.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember meeting Mr. Ardovino, their dad,\u201d he said. \u201cI lived down the street and I remember my grandpa dumped a huge pile of wood on their property. He came over and he was upset. I was little kid and I remember him pointing to me and said, \u2018And you\u2019re helping, too.\u2019 He made us move the pile.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also recalls his mother paying 25 cents to swim in the Ardovino swimming pool.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll that makes this personal,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not just another person who got a job here. I grew up here. This is my backyard. This is my happy place. This is my utopia. This is paradise. It\u2019s an escape from the crazy, real world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calleros and Ardovino describe the menu as European-influenced Italian food with a border twist.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s traditional Italian cuisine, meaning it\u2019s prepared using fresh ingredients, that\u2019s what Italy is all about,\u201d Ardovino said. \u201cIt\u2019s about the fresh product, not about the sauces. We use what\u2019s available on our farms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ardovino\u2019s menu has always been based on Italian cooking. His parents and great uncle were all traditional Italian chefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in my grandmother\u2019s kitchen and my mom\u2019s kitchen, it\u2019s always been based on the roots,\u201d Ardovino said. \u201cWe still keep local ingredients on the plate and explore new ways to incorporate them in our dishes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entrees include goat cheese stuffed salmon, mushroom pasta and chicken Vincenza. The restaurant also specializes in wood-fired pizzas such as honey pizza, artichoke pizza and pizza rustica made with hot sopressate, pepperoni and mild Italian sausage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t help but add ingredients available in town,\u201d Calleros said. \u201cWe were raised on chiles, we were raised on rice and pasta. To me, it\u2019s a no brainer to implement those influences of growing up here into what we do. We do it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ardovino’s Desert Crossing is known for its garden setting, wood-fired dishes and regional influences.<\/p>\n
Photo by Ruben R.Ramirez<\/p>\n
Ardovino hopes the James Beard nomination will help border residents appreciate the local culinary scene.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reminds people of what we have in our own backyard, and that\u2019s important,\u201d he said. \u201cEl Pasoans can be complacent. They\u2019ll save their money and go out of town and spend it like crazy, but we need them to spend it here, at home, otherwise places like mine can\u2019t exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Calleros said the nomination means a lot to him, but he is not ready to take a victory lap.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert and Marina\u2019s ideas, their vision, is something I need to continue carrying on and make other people who stood before me proud of what we are doing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge, huge responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t want the recognition to change how he views service.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery service is my concern,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery person who walks through our doors is important. Sometimes we\u2019ll hear. \u2018Make this nice because it\u2019s for a food critic or make that nice because it\u2019s for a VIP.\u2019 Why should I make it nice, just for them? Why not make everything nice for everybody who comes through our doors every weekend?\u201d<\/p>\n
The success of the Ardovino kitchen will not be determined by the James Beard Foundation. It will be measured by the smiles and full bellies of its customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make every service, every day, like we are working towards an achievement,\u201d Calleros said. \u201cI don\u2019t want this to influence my daily ideals. We don\u2019t work to win. If we win, we win. If we lose, we lose. We need to carry on that same motivation and how we felt that high and work towards the next high, the next service. If we work hard, every night, hopefully we can achieve it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When chef Danny Calleros and his 10-person brigade at Ardovino\u2019s Desert Crossing found out he was named a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[83439,24797,83437,10911,23807,2325,83438,138,140,139,29722,320,29717,29718,29720,1510,30851,32910,25065,7048,67,83435,9915,83436,29719],"class_list":["post-213143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-ardovino","tag-asian-cuisine","tag-charleston","tag-chef","tag-cooking","tag-cuisine","tag-danny-calleros","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-european-cuisine","tag-food-and-drink","tag-food-and-drink-preparation","tag-food-watchlist-articles","tag-foods","tag-home","tag-italian-cuisine","tag-james-beard-award","tag-pasta","tag-pizza","tag-restaurant","tag-sauce","tag-south-carolina","tag-southwestern-united-states","tag-western-cuisine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}