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Yesenia Castañon

Chef de Cuisine

Chef Yesenia Castañon began honing her pastry skills in bakeries and cake shops in San Francisco. Her interest in restaurants led her to Restaurant Gary Danko, followed by a stint at Spruce. Chef Yesenia joined the opening team of Birdsong as a Pastry Assistant and rapidly worked her way to becoming Birdsong’s Chef de Cuisine.

To Chef Yesenia, tradition is her grandmother's voice telling her to pick through the beans and to wait for the tortilla to bubble. It is her mother’s flan recipe, forever engraved in her brain. She is first-generation here in the States and grew up eating simple Mexican food. While some of the ingredients she has worked with in the past five years or so are new to her, Chef Yesenia seasons with the certainty and pride of her heritage - floral notes and warm spices lending depth and richness. “You have to hold on to those little voices.”