Ramon Sanchez looks like movie star. Twisting his mustache with his finger and thumb, he could be a proud General in a Mexican-American War epic contemplating his next bold move. Instead, he is pondering over his produce order as he prepares for another busy weekend as the chef at Gulliver's Restaurant.

Satisfied that he has ordered enough to get through Sunday night's dinner rush but still talks like it's opening night and his first customer is about to walk through the door.

"I love to be at work and see happy customers, a happy server staff, and a happy kitchen and know I had something to do with it," says Ramon. Ask any guest, server, cook or manager at Gulliver's and they'll all tell you the same thing: Chef Ramon has everything to do with it.

Rosenblum decided to pay Ramon a visit. Alex sat down and talked with Ramon, explaining that he had recently taken over Gulliver's Restaurant and needed a partner who could live up to the standards that patrons of the famed location had come to expect, and who could also help attract new clientele.

Ramon described his kitchen experience to Alex, his drive to make everything he did the best it could possibly be, his dreams of coming to America and becoming a success. He told Alex his life story. He had been born in a small farming community in the town of Aahuayo in Michoacan, Mexico. Arriving in Placentia, California in 1983 he found work at El Cholo in La Habra, owned by Ron Salisbury. He started as a pot washer, and soon worked his way up to prep cook, then line cook. He found work at "The Cat" and "The Custard Cup" and worked for four years as a line cook.

In 1989, utilizing the skills he had learned and his own avid enthusiasm to succeed, Ramon landed a job at The Ritz, where he worked for ten years, apprenticing as a Sous Chef under Lupe Camarena, an Orange County legend.

"I learned so much from working at The Ritz," he told Alex. "But I feel I am ready for my own kitchen." Camarena wasn't going anywhere Ð He's still there now Ð so Ramon was excited to find out that Alex was looking for a Chef.

In 1998, Gulliver's owner Alex Rosenblum was actively seeking and experienced hand to take over his new project, which he had recently purchased from Orange County restaurateur Hans Prager. Again and again, Ramon's name was mentioned, particularly by Arthur Shegog who told Alex of a young, gifted and hard-working Sous Chef working in the kitchen of The Ritz in Newport Beach.

You have to know Ramon; to hear him, to appreciate what Alex did next. Ramon has a kind of effortless intensity, the kind that inspires, never threatens - the sort of leadership quality that makes his staff want to do the best they can, and try never to disappoint him. His handlebar mustache and easy smile frame his searing brown eyes.

Alex offered him the job on the spot.

Ramon's gratitude, and enthusiasm, for his opportunity at Gulliver's is reflected in the meticulous care he gives to every plate that leaves his kitchen. Chef Ramon believes he has the perfect recipe for happiness at Gulliver's: a client base that loves the Prime Rib, creamed corn, creamed spinach and Yorkshire pudding that still comprises 50+% of the menu mix and the opportunity to create new menu items for the restaurant-goers that are looking for something new.

Indeed, Chef Ramon has evolved the menu from a simple 13-item, never-changing set to over 25 selections and 10 new appetizer choices. Working with Rosenblum to pair his food to an eclectic selection of wine from California and around the world, the duo has seen a 100% increase in patrons ordering items other than Prime Rib from the menu.

"But I never forget what makes us what we are," he says. "A lot of our customers expect things to be the same way whenever they come in. If even one thing on the plate they love changes, they scream."

But Chef Ramon rarely hears a complaint. And happily flashes his contagious smile as he just keeps serving one of the best meals in town.