Garces was born in 1981 in Chicago, Illinois. He is the second of three children born to parents Jorge and Magdalena Garces and is of Ecuadorian heritage. He played varsity football and wrestled as a student at Gordon Technical High School.[2] Garces studied Culinary Arts at Kendall College in Chicago, graduating in 1996.[3]
After graduating from college, Garces traveled to Spain to gain experience in European-style cooking and cuisine, returning to the United States a few years later to work in New York City.
Career
Chef Douglas Rodriguez opened Alma de Cuba in Philadelphia with Garces as his executive chef in 2001.
Garces opened his first restaurant in 2005, Amada, named after his grandmother. The Spanish tapas restaurant was followed by restaurant concepts with locations in Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona,[4] New Jersey, Palm Springs,[5] Washington, D.C., and New York City.[6] Following a few years of financial and legal challenges,[7] Garces filed for bankruptcy in 2018[8] and sold his restaurants to IdEATion Hospitality as part of a restructuring.
IdEATion, along with Chef Garces, now run seven restaurants in Philadelphia: Amada, Tinto, Village Whiskey, Garces Trading Company, JG Domestic, Volvér, and Buena Onda. IdEATion and Chef Garces also manage four restaurants at the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey: Amada - Ocean, Distrito Cantina - Ocean, Olón - Tropicana, and Okatshe - Tropicana.
^Nichols, Rick (25 September 2008). "Jose Garces: Tapa by delicious tapa, a true Latino empire". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. F01. Retrieved 20 March 2023. He played varsity football (guard and linebacker on the Gordon Tech Rams), and in 1990 was the wrestling champ, 178-pound class, in Chicago's Catholic League where, just a few years later, Donovan McNabb lit up the field.
