Cayao and the expanding Pacific horizons of Los Cabos cuisine

There are things to kick astir successful Los Cabos. But the prime of nutrient is not 1 of them, arsenic implicit the past 30 years, the country has evolved from comfortableness nutrient and “you-hook-it-we-cook-it” seafood offerings to a world-class culinary capital, attracting immoderate of the world’s apical chefs on the way.

The latest illustration of this is Cayao, the Richard Sandoval edifice astatine the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas astatine Cabo del Sol. As the sanction — a stylized mentation of Callao, the Peruvian metropolis — suggests, Cayao specializes successful Nikkei cuisine, the fusion of Japanese and Peruvian techniques, ingredients and flavors that has proven progressively fashionable successful caller years. 

A caller destination eating edifice successful Los Cabos

It’s not conscionable tiraditos and ceviches, Nikkei favorites, that separate Cayao, which opened astatine the Four Seasons edifice 5 months aft the spot premiered successful May 2024. Its coastal mounting overlooking the Sea of Cortés (as the Gulf of California is ever called successful Los Cabos) and Punta Ballena, the evocatively whale-shaped headland that is simply a staple of views astatine Cabo del Sol, is exceedingly picturesque, peculiarly astatine sunset. Downright beautiful, successful fact.

The service, first-class but with the informality diagnostic of laid-back luxury of Los Cabos, is likewise excellent. But what truly sets Cayao isolated are the talented chefs progressive successful creating its dishes. Not conscionable Sandoval, whose conceptual imaginativeness and consultations signifier Cayao, but besides Michoacano Miguel Baltazar, the resort’s enforcement chef, and Gino Dávila, the Jalisco autochthonal who runs the edifice connected a night-to-night basis.

“When I heard astir Cayao astatine Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas astatine Cabo del Sol, I knew it was an breathtaking opportunity,” Dávila said upon taking the job. “Here, we tin instrumentality inspiration from the richness of Baja’s ingredients and harvester them with thoughtful, precise techniques. It’s astir creating honorable nutrient afloat of spirit and texture that guests remember.”

The flavors are exceptional, and yes, particularly successful the ceviches and tiraditos: similar the Cayao ceviche made with shrimp, scallops, octopus, sriracha and coconut foam; and the kampachi tiradito with coconut leche de tigre (tiger’s milk), a Peruvian marinade fashionable with seafood dishes. But originative flavors are contiguous adjacent successful much modular paper items similar the rib-eye steak, served present with yuzu kosho chimichurri — a Japanese-Argentine fusion — and yakiniku, a Japanese BBQ dipping sauce.

Indeed, Cayao is 1 of the champion restaurants successful Los Cabos, and different successful an progressively agelong enactment of those embracing Pan-Pacific fusions.

The Pan-Pacific clasp among high-end Los Cabos restaurants

When Enrique Olvera, the acclaimed cook down the two Michelin stars awarded Pujol successful Mexico City, opened Manta astatine The Cape Hotel successful Los Cabos successful 2015, helium told me: “Baja has a Pacific influence, truthful that’s wherefore we’re playing astir with Peruvian and Japanese flavors; due to the fact that a sashimi, a tiradito and a Mexican ceviche person a communal language.”

Scallop ceviche with curry leche de tigre, basil oil, cucumber and ají amarillo astatine Cayao. (Cayao Cabo)

Olvera was hardly the archetypal to instrumentality a Pan-Pacific culinary attack successful Los Cabos. Chefs Ángel Carbajal and Masayuki Niikura had been fusing Japanese techniques with Mexican ingredients astatine Nick-San successful Cabo San Lucas since 1994, and Chef Volker Romeike pioneered “Pacific-Rim” fusions astatine Pitahayas Restaurant arsenic aboriginal arsenic 1995. 

But Olvera was portion of the culinary displacement distant from “Baja Med,” the Mediterranean fusion benignant developed successful Baja California cities similar Tijuana and Ensenada during the aboriginal 2000s — notably, by Chefs Miguel Ángel Guerrero and Javier Plascencia — that had go precise influential successful Los Cabos, and backmost towards the Pacific predisposition which has ever seemed much due for Pacific-facing Los Cabos. As was Sandoval, whose Toro Latin Kitchen and Bar opened successful precocious 2015, pairing Mexican and South American influences with Asian ones. Toro, aft all, not lone means “bull” successful Spanish but besides “tuna belly” successful Japanese.

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, whose aboriginal Nobu restaurants successful Los Angeles and New York helped enactment Nikkei cuisine connected the map, had opened a Nobu Restaurant astatine the Nobu Hotel successful Cabo San Lucas by 2019, furthering the section inclination towards Pan-Pacific fusions.

Richard Sandoval’s planetary power and Los Cabos legacy

Although Matsuhisa and Sandoval some diagnostic Nikkei cuisine astatine restaurants successful Los Cabos, their approaches are different. Yes, each cook puts a precocious premium connected locally sourced ingredients and sustainability. At Cayao, Sandoval sources astir each of his seafood from the Baja California peninsula — bluefin tuna and oysters from Ensenada, soft-shell crab from La Paz, for lawsuit — with lone a fewer shellfish similar shrimp and scallops coming from Sonora.

But the Mexico City-born Sandoval is overmuch much committed to Mexican influences, and it bears noting that helium is without adjacent successful taking Mexican cuisine astir the globe. To date, helium has opened immoderate 60 restaurants crossed 4 continents. No different Mexican cook comes close. Olvera, his closest rival among celebrated Mexican chefs, has opened 14 restaurants successful North America and Europe. 

Sandoval has besides established a important bequest successful Los Cabos, with Cayao being his 3rd edifice locally, pursuing the aforementioned Toro successful 2015 and La Biblioteca de Tequila (since closed) astatine Breathless Resort successful Cabo San Lucas successful 2016.

The galore attractions of the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas astatine Cabo del Sol

Ambiance and ambiance are affluent astatine Cayao, but so, too, are the Mexican ingredients and Japanese and Peruvian flavors. (Cayao Cabo)

Cayao is simply a precise bully crushed to sojourn the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas astatine Cabo del Sol, for guests and locals alike; yes, the second are invited astatine the resort, though reservations are recommended for edifice dinners. 

But determination are truthful galore more. For starters, you tin get aboriginal and locomotion (or instrumentality the elevator) up to Sora, the rooftop barroom that is simply a cleanable spot for a pre-dinner cocktail, vino oregon brew (try the Piedra Lisa, a Colima IPA). The Mercado adjacent the lobby is besides worthy visiting, with its enactment of wines and artisanal Mexican products, positive caller coffee, pastries and a superb enactment of gelatos. The champion clip to sojourn is connected Friday nights, erstwhile the edifice hosts its play La Plaza Mágica, with a mariachi set playing successful the cardinal plaza and unfastened entree to edifice features similar the Mercado, the mezcal-rich lobby barroom and El Taller, the creation workplace which showcases enactment from section artists.

The sanction La Plaza Mágica is inspired by Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos and determination is thing magical astir it. On my archetypal visit, a mule cervid went bounding by connected the Uber thrust out. It was the largest subordinate I person ever seen successful Los Cabos, and arsenic strikingly magnificent arsenic 1 would expect astatine a thousand-dollar-a-night Four Seasons property.

Chris Sands is the erstwhile section adept for Cabo San Lucas connected the USA Today question website 10 Best and the writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos question guidebook. He’s a contributor to galore websites and publications, including Tasting Table, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise, Cabo Living and Mexico News Daily.