Chef Stephen George Bustamante doesn’t mind spending a lot of time in the kitchen, even if it means staying late.
“As long as the food is good, when they say it’s worth the wait, it’s worth the wait,” he told the Daily Tribune.
He first learned a little about cooking when he was around 13 or 14. His aunt gave him a simple Caesar salad recipe, and he followed it to the letter. Everyone ate it.
“They asked who made it because it tasted so good. That’s when I started learning to cook with my family,” he recalls.
However, before becoming a chef, Bustamante tried his hand at various roles. Living in California, he worked as a hotel front desk, a marketing specialist for a healthcare company, and later at a dot-com company. After being laid off in 2000, the then 27-year-old aspiring chef began to follow his heart.
He enrolled at the California Culinary Institute in San Francisco, earning an associate degree in Occupational Studies in Culinary Arts. At the time, he was also working as a product manager for a digital company.
Soon after graduating in 2002, he began working as a professional chef, working as a sous chef at Bistro Luneta in San Mateo, California from 2006 to 2007. He later became a food and beverage manager at Lucasfilm from 2008 to 2012, and then served as a senior quality assurance manager at The Melt from 2012 to 2014.
“Everyone asked him (George Lucas) what he loved most, and the answer was Mexican food. Chicken burritos were his favorite, so I had to learn to cook Mexican food, from fresh tortillas to beef stew to salsa,” he said.
Lucas was the founder of Lucasfilm, the American television and film production company behind the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Bustamante remembers catering for Lucas’ board members and hundreds of other people.
“I was there for four years. I saw everything, and the big warehouse where everything was stored. When I left, they gave me a Star Wars-themed picnic basket,” he said.
He called his stint there “a really good experience,” though he would have liked to take home a lightsaber.
But nothing beats going home. Bustamante returned to the Philippines and held several leadership positions at several of the country’s prominent restaurants. In 2017, he served as executive sous chef at the Sentro 1771 restaurant group. In 2021, he served as corporate executive chef at One World Deli, where he was also able to put his marketing expertise to use.
Today, he is the Corporate Executive Chef of Pastorelli and Vice President of PonteFino Hospitality and Restaurant Group, where he curates the cuisine for Pastorelli. Pastorelli is a new addition to the culinary experience in Batangas, blending international flavors with beloved local influences, especially with a twist on some of Batangas’s most beloved dishes.
The restaurant offers a curated menu of local and international cuisines, refreshing beverages and delicious desserts. It prides itself on serving famous Batangas dishes such as Taal Pork Ribs, Bistek a la Pobre, Sinaing na Tulingan sa Kamias, Batangas Lomi and Batangas Beef Bulalo.
The hotel also offers guests a fine dining experience with premium dishes such as Pepper Rib Eye Steak, Lamb Chops with Mint Jelly and Tuscan Salmon.
But if customers want a Filipino flavor, Pastorelli also offers famous Filipino dishes such as Crispy Pata Ajillo, Lamb Kaldereta, Tiger Prawns Sinigang and Homemade Chicharon.
“My philosophy is that I try to serve the most delicious food and let people enjoy it. It’s that simple,” Bustamante said.
Pastorelli is open for breakfast from 6am to 10am, lunch from 11:30am to 2:30pm, and dinner from 6pm to 10pm. The restaurant is also open for private events.
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