Exec Chef Is Smoking Out a New Menu

Benjamin Patterson, most recently assistant manager of food operations for Disneyland, has been appointed executive chef of the new El Torito Express restaurant chain.

Patterson’s responsibilities will include overseeing the development of the menu for the chain, which is designed to offer a quick lunch or dinner and is a step below the regular El Torito restaurants in terms of full-scale table service.

El Torito Express is scheduled to open a restaurant in Orange Thursday, its first in the county. A private grand opening party will be held Wednesday night.

Before his stint at Disneyland, Patterson spent four years as executive chef at the Belmont Brewing Co. in Long Beach.

“Benjamin has an impressive, well-rounded background in the culinary arts,” said James P. Winters, vice president of operations for El Torito Express. “We are very pleased with the taste and flavors he has presented so far.”

The first El Torito Express opened last summer in Pasadena, and a third location is planned for Los Angeles next year. The new eateries are considerably more casual than the traditional El Torito restaurants and the more upscale El Torito Grill chain and seek the same market as the La Salsa and Baja Fresh chains.

“It takes us into the fast, casual segment,” said Robert J. Carl, a vice president and spokesman for the parent company, Koo Koo Roo Enterprises.

El Torito Express restaurants feature American Southwest cooking and use a mesquite-burning grill to impart a sweet, smoky flavor to the food. The restaurants also offer warm tortillas prepared daily.