SeaWorld executive sous chef reveal the passion behind the menu

Jose Vargas isn’t your typical restaurant chef. He always liked the challenge of cooking in unorthodox places.

“I love the adventure of it all,” said Vargas, who started as a 16-year-old dishwasher saving up for his first car. Over a 30-year career, he worked his way up to creating dishes at a grocery store chain and another job at the Milwaukee Brewers’ ballpark.

Today, Vargas is the executive sous chef at SeaWorld Orlando. He feeds the masses — thousands of people each week — who are hungry after riding roller coasters and seeing animal shows.

“My job never stops,” Vargas said. “I’m constantly just studying and trying new things, and I love what I do.”

Vargas works in R&D, helping roll out the menus for the theme park’s special events, which takes months of planning with his culinary team.

At SeaWorld, Disney World and Universal Orlando, food festivals and special holiday dishes are part of the appeal to draw crowds and increase company profits.

Vargas approaches it with data and creativity — part scientist, part artist.

“Failure is the mother of all success,” Vargas said about what it’s like to do his job. “No one ever sees it. They don’t know the backstory to all this blood, sweat and tears, and the disappointment sometimes or the success that comes with it all.”

Vargas and his team have the receipts to know what food was a big hit and what people turned their noses at.

Vargas knows the bison burger and the lamb (meat!) were high sellers. The pot pie didn’t do so hot, so Vargas and the culinary team reimagined last year’s recipe with a new presentation and new recipe.

Developing the menus for the recent Christmas festivities meant lots of meetings and research. Vargas studied what’s big in the foodie world and what competing theme parks are doing.

It’s hard to be different.

“I know that doing the research, ube is very popular this year. How can we take that flavor profile and make it our own?” Vargas said.

Two months later, Vargas’ team unveiled an ube cupcake from the purple yam.

“It’s a lot of trying and tasting and test kitchens and going back to the drawing board. I don’t know how many times I’ve started with one dish, and by the time I’m done, it’s a completely different dish,” Vargas said.

Another invention one SeaWorld Orlando restaurant made in house.

Vargas took holiday bread pudding and used banana pretzel bread instead. He topped it with caramel and chocolate sauce. The finale? Pour some banana liqueur and fresh bananas on top “which is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen before,” Vargas said.