Chef Info

Chef Rafael Najera

Rafael Najera was born in Zacatecas, Mexico. He moved to Denver in 1982. He was a grade school teacher in Mexico when he came to visit his sister in Denver and fell in love with Colorado. After one year of teaching in Denver, he decided to pursue a career in the culinary field. He worked for Thoa Funk at Cactus, and then at Boccalino Ristorante. Rafael had a brief stint at Sfuzzi and Fourth Story, before being brought over to Washington Park Grille by the restaurant’s first executive chef, David Coder. He started as a grill cook on the line, then moved up to sous chef under Tad Pucanski. Raf became the executive chef in 1998.