![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Headshot-e1769463663821.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Hinojosa is now executive chef of Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRichard Hinojosa is now executive chef of Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia<\/p>\n
Fans of chef Richard Hinojosa can now find him cooking again \u2014 and at a much larger property.<\/p>\n
The former co-owner of the acclaimed Arcadia restaurant CRUjiente Tacos is now the executive chef at Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia<\/a>. Hinojosa joined the resort, which sits southeast of Lincoln Drive and Tatum Boulevard, in December.\u00a0<\/p>\n The role marks a return to resorts for Hinojosa, who ran CRUjiente with Jason Morris until May 2025. In that time, their work garnered visits from Food Network star Guy Fieri<\/a> and an inclusion in the book \u201cAmerican Tacos: A History and Guide.\u201d<\/a> After nearly nine years in Arcadia, the restaurant owners were unable to reach new lease terms with the building owner. Fans of the restaurant watched a frustrating drama play out slowly. After learning of the closing in April<\/a>, they showed up in droves that extended service into May<\/a> before, ultimately, having to say goodbye<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a closure that we weren\u2019t hoping or planning on doing. Unfortunately, it is what it is,\u201d Hinojosa says. \u201cWhen that was coming to be, I had looked a little bit into what I was going to do next. And as much time as I\u2019ve spent over the years in standalone restaurants, I\u2019ve spent more in hotel resorts.\u201d<\/p>\n Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia<\/p>\n A new start and a \u2018fresh set of eyes\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Hinojosa\u2019s career has included local stints at Mary Elaine\u2019s (The Phoenician\u2019s former fine dining restaurant) and Wigwam Resort & Spa, as well as at Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado, and the Westin Maui Resort & Spa. He says he enjoys the \u201centirety of the hospitality experience\u201d that resorts offer guests.<\/p>\n At the Omni Scottsdale, Hinojosa oversees four restaurants: the Spanish-inspired tapas restaurant Prado<\/a>, the Arizona-Mexican Taqueria Centro<\/a>, lounge Mbar<\/a> and the quick, casual Crave Caf\u00e9<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now he\u2019s focused on getting acquainted with the resort and its cooks. He praises the resort\u2019s chefs and says he doesn\u2019t intend to overhaul any of the restaurant menus. But he says he will look for opportunities to, in his words, \u201cplay a little bit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really just a matter of a fresh set of eyes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n So far he\u2019s not planning to put any of his CRUjiente tacos on the Taqueria Centro menu.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll definitely be a little bit of an influence,\u201d he says. \u201cWhether or not it\u2019s an exact recipe from that, probably not. But we\u2019ll see where some of those things might pop up.\u201d<\/p>\n If he does incorporate specials or pop-ups featuring past CRUjiente items, Hinojosa says he\u2019ll put out the word to diners.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe good news is, we\u2019re also not that far away,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He hopes to entice diners to stop in for one of the wine- or spirits-pairing dinners he has in the works. Hinojosa is a Level 2 certified sommelier loves the interplay between food and wine.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to create a complete dining experience that progresses throughout the evening with a multitude of paired wines is my personal favorite way to dine,\u201d Hinojosa says. \u201cIt\u2019s also one of my favorite ways to cook.\u201d<\/p>\n Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia<\/p>\n 4949 E. Lincoln Dr., Scottsdale<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richard Hinojosa is now executive chef of Omni Scottsdale Resort & Spa at Montelucia. Omni Scottsdale Resort &…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":553194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,27144,1589,7600,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-553193","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-chefs","12":"tag-phoenix","13":"tag-scottsdale","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115982315553050185","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Diners](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Prado_47-e1769463797144.jpg\")
Tapas restaurant Prado is Omni Scottsdale\u2019s signature restaurant.<\/p>\n