David Pérez

The Path

Taqueria work in the Marina district in Marina district, San Francisco gave David Perez his first sustained exposure to kitchen rhythm as a taqueria worker at Taqueria. The setting was practical, fast, and exacting, and it offered the daily repetition that builds basic fluency. From that floor-level experience, the shape of his later work started to emerge through service, labor, and close contact with the mechanics of a busy kitchen. Ownership and the Executive Chef role at San Pancho mark the next stage in that progression for David Perez. The shift from line-level work to leading a kitchen of his own places him on both sides of the pass: carrying forward the instincts formed early while making the decisions that define the room now. The throughline is responsibility, with the craft moving from learning by doing to directing the work.

The Work Today

A mixed approach is central to the way David Perez describes his cooking: “I think I'd like to add some of the Hispanic into it so it's a little bit of a mix.” That is a practical statement about composition, not a slogan. It points to a kitchen where more than one tradition is allowed to sit in the same frame, and where identity is built through selection, balance, and restraint rather than fixed rules. Training shaped the structure underneath that approach, and David Perez names the influence plainly: “Most of the people I trained with was Italian with French influence.” That background suggests technique first, form, repetition, and the habits that come with those lineages. Even as he brings in Hispanic elements, the cooking remains the training that gave it its frame.

In Their Words “I think I'd like to add some of the Hispanic into it so it's a little bit of a mix.” “Most of the people I trained with was Italian with French influence.”

Career - Owner, Executive Chef, San Pancho - Taqueria worker, Taqueria in the Marina district, Marina district, San Francisco

FAQ What is David Perez's current role? David Perez is Head Chef. Where did David Perez work before? David Perez's earlier career included Taqueria in the Marina district.