Rafael Covarrubias

The Path

At Hexagon Restaurant in Oakville, Canada, the work reads as a study in measured progression: Rafael Covarrubias moved through training and service with an emphasis on precision, discipline, and the exchange of ideas in the kitchen. Le Cordon Bleu and the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology gave that foundation formal shape, and the restaurant became the place where it was tested in service, timing, and teamwork. The progression from sous-chef in 2017–2018 to Executive Chef in 2018–2025 at Hexagon in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, marks a kitchen relationship built over time rather than moved on from. That continuity matters in trade terms. It shows a cook developing within one room, where technique, service, and leadership could be refined against the same standards and expectations.

The Work Today

As Executive Chef at Hexagon Restaurant in Oakville, Canada, Covarrubias continues to work inside that same line of continuity. The role sits on top of the earlier years rather than replacing them, carrying forward the opening-team discipline of Hexagon into executive responsibility. The result is a kitchen profile shaped by accumulation: skills, memory, and decision-making held together through repeated service rather than by constant change.

Signature

Rafael’s signature dishes include Mole Negro Spiced Muscovy Duck and Preserved Prune and Winter Roots. The dish names point to a cook working with contrast and season, with a vocabulary that stays grounded in the plate rather than in display.

In Their Words “We share a lot of the same ideas about food and cooking, and when picking someone as a mentor I knew I didn’t want someone who would act like a teacher or anyone who would be bossing me around.” “I’ve been cooking for a long enough time that I wasn’t really looking for tips on how to cook my own dish, or technique or anything.”

Acclaim

Rafael Covarrubias has received Canada's 100 Best Restaurants — One to Watch Award (2020). Covarrubias’s honors include the MICHELIN Young Chef Award (2024), the One to Watch Award, and North American Regional Finals winner, S.Pellegrino Young Chef Competition (2019). Read together, those awards suggest a chef whose recognition has come through consistency, restraint, and a steadily clarified point of view at the pass.