Aitor Arregi was born in Getaria and grew up with his grandmother Joxepa in the kitchen of the family bar, and with his mother Mari Jose in the dining room and on the grill at the side of his father Pedro, in the Elkano restaurant. These are three great pillars in his life who have transmitted him a “philosophy” and a ” savoir faire”, which is the family’s hallmark.

For 10 years he was a professional football player and in 2002 he returned definitively to Elkano, which he had never really left, to continue the family legacy alongside his parents. His arrival certified the continuity of the life project of his father, Pedro, and ensured the generational succession, especially since the death of Pedro, in 2014, the year in which Elkano received its first MICHELIN Star.

Aitor leads the FOH team at Elkano, guiding diners through the keys that make all the products they serve special and that represent the whole of the Culinary Landscape of the Bay of Biscay. Aitor is very much loved by the customers and friends of Elkano, and in 2007 he was voted the best FOH Manager in the Basque Country. His motto is always: “his father’s philosophy is still alive, I still think that Pedro will be alive as long as Elkano exists”.

In 2016 Aitor embarked on a new project, running the restaurant “Cataria” in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cádiz) together with the Head Chef of Elkano, Pablo Vicari, adapting the gastronomic offer to the Culinary Landscape of the coast of Cádiz.

In 2018, the international gastronomic spotlight was focused on Elkano when it entered The World’s 50 Best list in the N#77. The following year, in 2019, it once again became the focus of attention in the gastronomic world, climbing more than thirty positions and reaching N#30 on this prestigious list, position which it would repeat in 2020.

In the year 2021 Elkano receives the highest distinction of the prestigious Spanish Restaurant Guide Repsol, receiving the 3 Soles and in the same year it made another big leap up in The World’s 50 Best list, as it climbed to N#16, which repeated once again in 2022.

In October 2022 Aitor received ex aequo, together with Bittor Arguinzoniz the Origen Award from Comer – La Vanguardia Newspaper.

In 2023 Elkano is once again among the top 50 restaurants in the world at the position N#22 of The Wold’s 50 Best. In August of the same year 2023, the Elkano team opened a new restaurant in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain) called Guethary to cook the culinary landscape of the Mediterranean Sea and cook it on fire.