As the early morning sun cuts through the pines and rises above the mountains surrounding Lake Arrowhead, California, executive chef Christa Carretero has already started her day. Delighting guests, inspiring her team, leading meal preparation, conducting menu research and development and ensuring that items are ordered and deliveries are filled, all with a dedicated eye to making UCLA Lake Arrowhead Lodge the area’s premier dining destination, are all part of the job.
A longtime destination exclusively for the UCLA community and UC affiliates, the popular conference center and family resort has recently opened its doors — including its kitchen and North Shore Tavern — to the public.
Her windy five-minute commute is ripe with incredible scenic views, a departure from the concrete and traffic she regularly navigated between her home in East L.A. and UCLA.
After joining UCLA Dining, the nation’s No. 1 college dining program, in 2019 and serving as the executive chef at Epicuria at Covel on the UCLA campus in Westwood for the past three years, Carretero has pivoted from carefully crafted Mediterranean menus and serving roughly 2,000 guests — mainly undergraduate on-campus student-residents — to curating rustic, mountain-inspired meals for a much smaller crowd at the UCLA Lake Arrowhead Lodge. Among them are people participating in conference and group meetings, leisure travelers, families on holiday at Bruin Woods, weddings and other special event attendees — including a three-day wellness retreat in early May — and Lake Arrowhead locals.
“It’s a totally different clientele spanning all ages,” she said, adding that she wants to serve them something they can’t get anywhere else in the area.
Inspired by the Andes, the Rockies and the Appalachian Mountains, new menus include Tuscan herbed tri-tip, oak smoked salmon with beurre blanc and slow-smoked beef with Carolina sauce. Vegetarian and vegan options include roasted acorn squash with quinoa, New Englander salad and Andean potato soup, to name a few. In addition, delicious focaccia bread and artisan loaves, as well as desserts like tiramisu and blueberry cobbler, fill the air with warm, comforting aromas.
With a career spanning more than two decades, Carretero’s journey began in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where her love for cooking was nurtured from a young age. She remembered that by first grade, she would wake at the break of dawn to crack, whisk and scramble eggs for her parents. Sleepovers at friend’s houses would often culminate with her thoughtfully cooking breakfast.
This passion for the culinary arts bloomed throughout her teens, leading Carretero to win a high school competition with her grandmother’s chicken enchilada recipe. She was also increasingly inspired by the new and growing cable channel Food Network.
After completing a bachelor’s degree in communication arts at the University of Oklahoma, Carretero headed west to attend the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco. There, she got her first taste of the business through an externship at Chez Panisse, working with renowned chef, restauranteur, author and food critic Alice Waters and her team.
Following graduation, Carretero worked for José Andrés’ ThinkFoodGroup in Washington, D.C., and briefly returned to Oklahoma City to launch a catering company before returning to California, this time to Los Angeles.
As the lone female among UCLA’s 11 executive chefs, Carretero mentors others, especially motivated professionals like Sonia Gamez, who she recruited after seeing her thriving.
“I saw Sonia’s drive and work ethic when she was working as an assistant cook at Bruin Plate, and I thought I would like her to be my sous chef at Epicuria at Covel,” said Carretero, who takes pride in helping culinary professionals of all stripes advance their careers.
According to research from online recruiting agency Zippia, just 12.5% of all head chefs in the United States are female, making this a field for growth among women like Gamez, who aspires to secure such a role in the future.
“I’ve picked up a lot of great lessons from chef Christa that have shaped me and my leadership style,” said Gamez of Carretero’s mentorship.
Improvisation, making sure everything comes out great, ensuring that guests are happy and the team is developing in a manner that will help them get to the next level are among Carretero’s most notable attributes, Gamez said.
“It’s also amazing how hard she tries to get people out of their comfort zones and into a place where they can learn and be knowledgeable,” Gamez added. “She does her best to give people her time so they’re confident enough to pursue their goals, whatever they may be, whether in the kitchen or not.”
At Lake Arrowhead Lodge, Carretero’s leadership, confidence and creativity are already being noticed by those around her, including sous chef Elizabeth Arce, who said she was impressed with how Carretero took charge of her new kitchen from the get-go, sharing her time and expertise, introducing new flavors, techniques and presentation styles and expanding the imagination of the culinary team.
“I am excited to learn and just soak in everything she has to offer,” said Arce, who has worked at Lake Arrowhead Lodge since 2009. “Seeing women excel in these roles inspires the next generation of female chefs. It sends a powerful message that these positions are attainable, encouraging more women to pursue their culinary ambitions with confidence. Women bring unique perspectives, creativity and leadership styles to the kitchen. A more diverse leadership team fosters innovation, enhances workplace culture and can lead to a richer culinary experience. And the more women who break into executive chef positions, the more the industry evolves.”
Reflecting on her own journey, Carretero emphasized the importance of self-confidence and the significance of increasing female representation in her field.
“I remember when I started out all those years ago, I was so nervous and scared to say anything,” she recalled. “I want women to know that it’s OK to say how you feel and speak your mind. Don’t worry about what anybody else thinks of you because what’s important is what you think of yourself. At the end of the day, you must take care of yourself and push yourself because nobody else can do that for you.”
