Ashley Kurtz

Ashley Kurtz’s training and first kitchen posts show the usual progression of the trade: start with fundamentals, then earn speed, then earn trust. Vancouver Community College gave Kurtz the base; Cactus Club supplied the repetition and the pressure of service, where line work and timing had to hold up in real time. That sequence matters in any kitchen, because the habits built early tend to set the ceiling for what comes next.

Progression to Executive Chef and Business Partner at St. Lawrence in Vancouver, BC (from 2023) places Kurtz in the category of chefs who have moved beyond execution into oversight and judgment. The role signals not just more responsibility, but the ability to manage a kitchen’s standards, pace, and people. Today, as chef of Sol de Mexico, Kurtz brings that same accumulated discipline into a different restaurant environment.

At Sol de Mexico, Kurtz’s work is defined by the daily demands that keep a restaurant running: consistency, coordination, and control under service conditions. The role is not framed by showmanship so much as by the practical requirements of the pass, where precision and timing have to line up. Kurtz has said, “I can’t think of any other restaurant in the city I would want to work with. I have immense respect for J-C and consider him a mentor – not only for his great culinary skills but also his business acumen and ability to retain staff.” Read plainly, that speaks to the trade realities behind the kitchen: leadership, retention, and the working respect that makes sustained service possible.

Mole manchamanteles and house-made sopes are the dishes, and together they point to a kitchen vocabulary built on depth, texture, and careful assembly. They suggest a cook attentive to structure as much as flavor, with dishes that hold together through balance rather than excess.

Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) is the listed recognition, and it sits as a straightforward marker of what this work has already achieved. In a competitive city, that kind of acknowledgment reflects a kitchen standard that has been seen and measured from outside the brigade as well as within it.