Christian Bidegain
owner/chef
Raised in the small agricultural town of Sonoita, AZ, Christian’s life quickly began revolving around food. Early memories include his mother standing over the stove for hours making southern and Sonoran classics: cornbread, hock lentils, biscuits, creamed eggs, spanish style rice, machaca, enchiladas, a pot of beans forever on the back corner of the stove. This instilled the sacred idea of food and the dinner table being the ultimate connector for humanity. After seven years in the growing, bustling restaurant industry in downtown Tucson, Christian wants to build and extend his dinner table to everyone willing to sit, share ideas, and indulge in delicious provisions.
Bidegain Basque & Ranch History
Bernardo and Jesusa Bidegain began their journey to Ellis Island from Provence, France in 1906. Speaking little to no English as well as being illiterate forced Bernardo to begin moving further and further southwest to find people with a common language and find land to begin a flock of sheep like he did in the Basque country. Jesusa acted as the navigator. Being highly educated and multilingual, she gathered information eventually leading the two of them to Flagstaff, AZ. In 1918 Jesusa gave birth to their first son: Pedro Bernardo Bidegain. When Pedro was five years old his family moved and began ranching in the Winchester mountains near Cascabel. Memories of these years include running wild, Jesusa throwing rocks at Pedro and his brothers and sister at dinner time (legendarily hitting them from over 50 yards repeatedly), and carpooling with Rex Allen to go to grade school. After graduating at the University of Arizona, Pedro spent time in Mexico working with the US government trying to combat hoof and mouth disease. Upon returning to the states, he began farming in Casa Grande, AZ. In 1961, Pedro was hired by Frank C. Brophy to manage the Babacomari Ranch in Elgin, az. It is at the Babacomari that Pedro and his wife Clorene raised their family of five and begin to plant their deep roots in Sonoita, Az.
Bernardo Bidegain
Bidegain Family Hotel, Restaurant, and Market in Estérençuby, FR