Zarela Martinez

Who is Zarela Martinez?

Zarela Martinez is a New York City-based restaurateur and cookbook author born in the Mexican border town of Agua Prieta, who learned cooking from her mother, Aida Gabilondo, also a cookbook author. She began cooking professionally out of necessity.

While taking a cooking class in New Orleans, Martinez captured the attention of Paul Prudhomme, who serves as her mentor. Other opportunities soon opened after New York Times food editor Craig Claiborne published several of her recipes under the heading “Memorable Dishes from a Mexican Master Chef." In 1983, she was asked to design a menu to be served at Ronald Reagan’s ranch in California for Queen Elizabeth II.

That same year, Martinez moved with her twin sons to New York, where she first designed the menu of the new Cafe Marimba before opening her own restaurant, Zarela, in 1997. Zarela closed after serving its last meal on February 13, 2011.

Her first cookbook, Food from My Heart was nominated for best international book of the year by The James Beard Foundation. Two more books followed, The Food and Life of Oaxaca [Macmillan, 1997], and Zarela’s Veracruz [Houghton Mifflin, 2001], which was also the companion book to the 13-part PBS series Zarela! La Cocina Veracruzana.