Ruben was raised in Mexico City and Puebla, Mexico, and learned his love of cooking and baking from his aunt, who taught him how to knead dough by hand in a hollow tree trunk. At age 17, Ruben left Mexico for the United States, landing in California and eventually joined his older brother Hugo in Texas. A 1991 graduate of the Culinary Arts Program at Houston Community College, Ruben won first-place honors in 1993 at the Texas Culinary Federation’s statewide contest. He spent two-and-a-half years with chef/restaurateur Michael Cordúa and his award-winning Américas and Churrascos restaurants as pastry cook before becoming a pastry chef at Aries restaurant. He was named Pastry Chef of the Year at the 2003 Houston Culinary Awards, and has worked with brother Hugo and sister-in-law Tracy on two cookbooks: Hugo Ortega’s Street Food of Mexico (2012) and Backstreet Kitchen: Seasonal Recipes from Our Neighborhood Cafe (2013).