Eliseo Garcia holds a framed picture of him shaking hands with President Ronald Reagan when he worked in California.
LOGAN – Before Eliseo Garcia moved his family to Logan 13 years ago seeking work as a chef, his experience in the Los Angeles restaurant business led him to a memorable relationship with President Ronald Reagan.
He was a chef at the Beverly Hills Marriott in the 1980s when the former president moved into an office building across from the Marriott.
”He used to come in every morning for his breakfast, or maybe sometimes a lunch,” explained Garcia. “We used to make a delicious breakfast for him. Or lunch, whatever he decided.”
Over the years, the former president had Eliseo and his staff cater events at the Reagan offices, especially for visiting dignitaries. When Garcia went to work for the Hyatt Corporation he lost contact with the president.
In 2006, Garcia brought his family on a vacation to visit a friend in Cache Valley.
”We came here and it was a paradise for us. So we decided to buy a house here and we stayed here.”
He worked for six years in the kitchen at Sherwood Hills and later ran the Cracker Barrel in Paradise. Then, in 2016 at a location on Main Street, he opened Sabores with an international food menu.
”That was my dream, you know. Make a lot of customers happy and then they can choose whatever they like.”
The Sabores menu is an eclectic sampling of international dishes, mostly from Latin American countries, but it also includes dishes from Vietnam and Italy plus Indian and Thai curry dishes.
Garcia said he wanted to offer a menu that wasn’t available in Northern Utah when he arrived.
Last fall, TV host Guy Fieri and his Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives crew spent three days at Sabores taping segments. Garcia was told the segments would likely appear on the national program this month or in February.
During the filming, he prepared two of his specialties for Fieri: the Peanut Butter Burger and Lomo Saltado, a rice dish.
Also, developers of “The Event Center” — which is scheduled for a summer opening at the site of the old Mann Theatre near the Cache Valley Mall — have asked Garcia to put together an authentic Mexican restaurant as part of their complex.
Sabores is at 255 South Main in Logan, in the west end of the building that also houses Beehive Grill.