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Hello!

 

Thank you for your interest in the services and my web page. I will be very happy to spend time with you and cook for your friends and family.

 

Tonatiuh Villalba



About Tonatiuh


Tonatiuh is a Nahuatl name that means The Lord of the Sun. Nahuatl is a Mexican Indigenous language that was spoken all around the Central Highlands of Mexico. Nahuatl is an important indigenous language that continues to exist and is spoken  in Mexico. The name Mexico is also a Nahuatl name that means The Belly of the Moon, and it is pronounced Meshico.

 

Tonatiuh Villalba, well known as Tona has spent years traveling & working in bars and restaurants in Mexico and Canada. Tonatiuh was born and raised in Mexico City. Tona is fourth generation in a family of cooks and restauranteurs, starting with his great-grandmother who in the late 1920's opened a traditional restaurant called Los Volantines in the state of Colima, on the Mexican Pacific coast, managed by his great aunts until November 2013 when in their late 80's, they finally retired. They were great cooks and greatly admired by Tona. This continued with his mother's restaurant-bar La Pena del 33 in Downtown Mexico City, where Tonatiuh  started his career in this industry, more than 16 years ago.


Since then he has worked and learned from great people in restaurants, bars, night & beach clubs, hotels and kitchens, throughout Canada and Mexico, including,  Mexico City, Guelph Ontario, Oaxaca and the Yucatan Peninsula. He has worked with the best in the industry, but also has had experiences with the worst. He has participated in many bartender contests in Cancun and Mexico City, gaining top recognitions for his creative cocktails. Tona created Mezcaltender, a bartending contested promoting Mezcal. Mezcal is an organically produce spirit made from the Agave plant. He managed the event, which took place in October 2007, in the city of Oaxaca, involving restaurant and bar owners, distilleries, local producers and bartenders from Mexico and USA.


Tonatiuh was teaching classes in Mexican cuisine and working as a personal chef in Canada in 2003 and 2004. In 2004 and 2005 he won local awards in Ontario, Canada for best and most popular menu at the Guelph Multi Cultural Festival and the Hillside Music Festival. After a few years he found his place one more time as a personal Chef and since 2010 he has been once again teaching Mexican cuisine and providing  private and personal Chef and Bartender services for those interested in giving the flavors of Mexico a try.