A Food Network competitor brought tamales, street corn and buñuelo dessert tacos to downtown Bethesda on Thursday, Aug. 20, serving a four-item Mexican-inspired lunch at MI Cafe inside Marriott International's global headquarters.

Chef Chris Jara, a San Antonio native who has appeared on Food Network's Holiday Wars and Summer Baking Championship and Netflix's Sugar Rush Christmas, was the latest participant in the cafe's recurring guest chef series. He served the special menu from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the publicly accessible cafe at 7750 Wisconsin Ave., according to Robert Dyer's Bethesda blog.

The menu was built around Mexican flavors. The four dishes could be purchased individually or together as a complete lunch: Red Chili Pork and Hominy Tamales topped with cabbage and radish slaw and served with charred salsa; a Mexican Street Corn Salad with cotija cheese and lime; a Jamaica Hibiscus drink; and a Buñuelo Dessert Taco filled with coconut tres leches cake, cheesecake mousse and pineapple caramel.

Jara studied culinary arts at Johnson & Wales University and worked as head pastry chef at several luxury San Antonio hotels, including the Thompson San Antonio-River Walk, the St. Anthony Hotel and the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa. He competed on Season 4 of Holiday Wars and Season 2 of Food Network's Summer Baking Championship, where 10 bakers vied for a $25,000 grand prize.

That San Antonio identity shapes his cooking. "A lot of the flavors I used are inspired by what I grew up eating here in the city," Jara told mySA in May 2024, describing his approach on the Food Network show. The same philosophy was on display in Bethesda, where his menu leaned on tamales, street corn and hibiscus agua fresca.

MI Cafe, which operates inside the lobby of Marriott's 21-story, 785,000-square-foot headquarters building, is open to the public Monday through Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to noon. The guest chef series is irregular, with no fixed schedule. Previous participants have included PBS host and Chevy Chase resident Pati Jinich, who ran a week-long burrito pop-up at the cafe in November 2025.

Marriott has not announced the next guest chef appearance at MI Cafe.