Rafael Rios

The Path

Technique and discipline were set in motion at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, where Rafael Rios trained before moving into military service. He then served in the U.S. Army until 2012, a period that gave his work its order, pace, and attention to execution. In the restaurant, those habits show up in how he builds a plate, leads a team, and meets the daily rhythm of service. Since 2012, Yeyo’s has carried Rafael Rios’s name as a working brand and a kitchen identity. He has served as founder and Executive Chef of Yeyo’s, as owner and Executive Chef of Yeyo’s El Alma de México, and as founder and Executive Chef of Yeyo’s Mezcaleria y Taqueria. Across those roles, the through-line is not decoration or nostalgia; it is a consistent expression of taste, memory, and intent.

The Work Today

At Yeyo’s El Alma de México in Bentonville, Rios works as owner and Executive Chef at the center of a Mexican kitchen shaped by regional memory and the agricultural landscape around it. The food is grounded in place, but not locked to it; the ingredient base carries both the local table and the histories that inform his cooking. The stated frame for the work is plain: Farm-to-table Mexican food, Authentic Mexican cuisine inspired by Villa Jimenez, and the perspective of a mezcalero. Taken together, those markers point to a kitchen where tradition functions as structure, not garnish, and where flavor is built from a defined point of view rather than a loose reference to heritage. That approach is spelled out in his own words: “Family first, always. Serve others with love, and everything else will follow.” It reads as a working ethic for a restaurant floor as much as a personal credo. The same logic carries into how he manages people: “I mentor my team like family and watch them grow,” he says, placing training and stewardship inside the daily labor of service.

In Their Words “Family first, always. Serve others with love, and everything else will follow.” “I didn’t know I would become a chef, but I always knew I wanted to serve.”

Acclaim

Rafael's honors include James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: South.