Interview with Chef Bricia Lopez of Guelaguetza

There are Chefs, and then there is Chef Bricia Lopez. A true Culinary Curandera, she heals the hungry with potions and poultices in the forms of mole, carne asada, and more at her family-owned restaurant Guelaguetza. With over 30 years in business to this day, Guelaguetza is the revered spot for Oaxacan cuisine and authentic block party celebrations. You'll find it in the heart of LA’s Koreatown, inside an unmistakable orange, pagoda-topped building — an Oaxacan kitchen in a Korean shell, which, as Bricia says, is about as Los Angeles as it gets. The late Jonathan Gold called it the “best Oaxacan restaurant in the country.” In 2015, the James Beard Foundation made it official, naming Guelaguetza the first traditional Mexican restaurant to win its America's Classics award. But spend five minutes with Bricia and you stop talking about awards — because she doesn't cook for plaques. She cooks because the women before her did, and she happily keeps the fires ablaze.

And that fire is everywhere. Six moles — chocolate-dark negro, herbaceous verde — draped over tlayudas and tamales. A family mezcal bar thrust into the national spotlight before the rest of the country knew what to do with mezcal. I Love Micheladas, the mix she and her brother spun out of the bar a decade ago and raised into its own iconic brand. And Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling, her love letter to fire on the page. Because here's the thing — smoke and char aren't a trend to Bricia. They're the foundation. Salsas, mole, mezcal, corn, chocolate: toasted, smoked, charred down to another level of everything.

As part of our 2026 Flavor Trend Report Series: Smoke & Char, I had the pleasure and the honor of speaking with Bricia about smoke and char as Oaxacan birthright, the gospel of carne asada (flap before skirt, with flanken ribs as the holy grail), the matriarchy that made her, finding inspiration in everything from Domino's to Thai takeout, the time-space twilight zone of tasting a dish before it ever exists, why estofado is her mole, and the thing she'd tell every young cook: stay curious, laugh a lot, and stretch the hell out of your body.

Spiceology: What inspired you to start cooking?

Man. I want to answer in the truest form. 

I think it’s more than inspiration. I continue to cook the way that the women before me cooked, and I think of it as more of a responsibility… more of a gift. A gift that was handed to me from my great-grandma even though I never got to meet her. I got to learn her teachings through my mother who learned through my grandma. My daughter is actually named after my great-grandmother. 

I don’t think anything inspired me to start cooking. I think I always cooked from within. I think that my great-grandma’s spirit has always been in me… to continue with my hands to explore and share our traditions with the next generation. 

What inspires me to continue to do this work every single day? It’s labor intensive and very taxing on your body. What inspires me is the same reason I got the gift — because I think it’s beautiful that I am able to transport this knowledge to someone else who can take it and create their own magic with it. It’s a gift of service. 

I have a son, and for me, it’s so important that he has knowledge of the food that nourishes him and brings him to who he is and to know where it comes from and appreciate the service other people give. The chefs.

Spiceology: Do you feel that sense of ownership, that the matriarchy of your family has bestowed upon you — that sense of ownership and willingness to continue to cook and nourish and feed everyone — do you feel like that empowerment is what drives you to empower other women, girls, the future of cooking?

It’s beautiful. It’s empowering to understand the power that you have to create something. It’s, you’re almost like a magician. I call myself a witch personally. I like the word witch better than magician, but it is very much like sorcery that you do. You know, it’s creating something out of nothing, and it’s even better when it’s so beautiful and delicious. 

It’s a gift, but it’s also something that you need to practice every day. You can’t just read about cooking. You can’t just hear podcasts about cooking. You can’t just watch videos. You have to actually go and do it. And practice every day and do the work. And I think that’s the hard part, because damn, it’s difficult.

Spiceology: Where do you find inspiration when you’re developing new dishes, new concepts?

Everywhere. You find creativity everywhere — from a sandwich that I love,  the combination, the contrast of the mayo and the texture of the bread… 

… to something as simple as Domino’s Pizza, where I want to understand how they were able to make their pizzas so fast — and understanding the crisp and the temperature controls and cleanliness. Because if you’re serving people, you have to understand how temperatures work and control. …

… to ordering Thai takeout and understanding the complex flavors and how Thai basil always differs from Italian basil, and how one herb can change everything. 

… to going to a friend’s restaurant that just opened, a small kitchen, and being able to have a steak from someone who’s been cooking steak every single day for six years, and for them to cook you a perfectly done steak over fire. It’s just unlike anything else.
You’re able to see the craftsmanship of someone who knows exactly the way fire works. 

You can find inspiration everywhere. 

And then, it turns into how can I use this technique when I make carne asada at home? How can I take this little bit of information and grab it when I’m making lunch for my children? I went to a food tasting event the other day and one of the chefs made rice on a little skewer—blanched, salted, grilled with a little sauce, super simple—served with lettuce wraps. And I just thought, what a great lunch this is for my kids. 

Inspiration comes everywhere. 

I think it’s understanding how flavors match and going back in time. Flavor, and being a chef, is also like a cool way to time-travel. Close your eyes. Just be five years old again and bring those flavors back together. It’s like the gift of being able to sing in your mind with flavors. 

One of the most beautiful gifts I have is to be able to close my eyes, not just cook in my head but taste every element, and then bring it back and create it in real life. It’s magic. I can only imagine that’s what it’s like to create music — to hear harmonies and then bring them to life.

Spiceology: That’s the most succinct way I’ve ever heard anyone put what happens in our minds — how we can think of a dish, think of a concept, be inspired, and taste it in our heads before we ever commit.

I can literally smell it. I can smell it through this Zoom. I can feel it through your screen. I’m able to hear it and be like, dude, it’s ready. I can hear like — when you’re dressing a salad or when you put salt on something — I can already hear the lettuce getting soggy. Like, stop. 

It’s a thing that you hear in your mind and then you can close your eyes. And yes, at the end, you get to taste. And what sucks is when you think you’re in it, and then you taste, and you’re like, f***, I was off. 

And that’s when you realize you’re not in sync. Like, okay, you got to get grounded. What’s going on? You went too fast. Pay attention and understand that unless you’re with the food and you’re present, it’s not gonna be there.

Spiceology: Where did you grow up? Let’s take it back.

Where did I grow up? I have had a conundrum lately answering this, but I think I grew up in this very specific world between Oaxaca and Los Angeles. I was 10 years old when I moved to LA. I spent the first decade of my life in the most magical place in this world — Oaxaca. And it gave me my ground. Oaxaca is the foundation of who I am. But where I grew up and continued to grow and come alive is LA, baby. I’m an LA girl. 213/323, let’s go.

Spiceology: Do you have a favorite cookbook right now? Actually, before cookbook—who’s your favorite musical artist?

Oh, that’s a tough thing. My favorite music right now — I have Karol G on repeat in my head, and Kehlani. So, like, I go from Kehlani to Karol G. That just gives you the range right there. In this moment of my life.

Spiceology: What about when you’re prepping in the kitchen—who’s the first artist you put on? I’m the same where I can vibe out and lock in to almost anything I love. So it’ll be show tunes, and then all of a sudden it’s My Chemical Romance, and all of a sudden it’s Kendrick Lamar.

I mean, I can go—it just depends. I can go from West Coast heavy hip-hop, right? But I can also just go full on perreo—I just want perreo just because I want it and I want to feel it. To where I just want Banda, like El Recodo, to just hit me at that moment because I just need to channel that part of me. Or again, I can just go R&B like Usher, you know, just nice and slow. Just let it burn.

Spiceology: Let it burn. Smoking, charring — talk to me about smoking and char and how you bring it to life in your restaurant and your food.

I think smoking and charring are the foundation of Oaxacan cooking through and through. There’s just nothing else. That is who we are. We smoke and we char everything—from the salsas to mezcal to mole to tortillas to our corn to chocolate. Everything is toasted, smoked, and charred because it just hits another level of everything.

Spiceology: Favorite cookbook, Chef?

Favorite cookbook. So right now—believe it or not — I’m always pulling Kenji’s book, The Food Lab. I’m going back to the foundation. A lot of the time I think you just need great foundations to remind you — oh s***, I can build on anything. I have a lot of books that I read for inspiration. I love a great book by Chef Reem Assil — I actually have that very much tapped. But there’s something about just going back to basics. Because I think that sometimes we get too caught up. Sometimes cookbooks can be a little restrictive — not that I don’t love them, I write cookbooks for a living — but I think that often we get too caught up in the recipe, and feel like if I don’t have this ingredient, therefore I can’t make it. I like to look at cookbooks as suggestions and inspiration to build on something else. Because I come from a very specific lineage — Oaxacan — I always go back to how I can use these foundations to perfect my craft that I already know how to do?

Spiceology: Sidebar question—would you ever create a gochujang-based mole?

I think gochujang already has so much in it. I don’t know if adding a mole—it  reminds me of when people try to make a curry mole. I don’t understand that. What are you doing? Curry doing a mole? Gochujang is just already so much. The only way that I would add to that would just be to insert other chiles to bring another element — a layer of smoke and char. I don’t know what other flavor I could bring to gochujang other than maybe a little bit more sweetness, glaziness, and a deeper chile to round it out. There’s certain things — like mole mayo, all day. She’s bland. She’s ready to take it all in. Gochujang? She’s already got a lot going on. She’s already spiced up. She’s already living her life.

Spiceology: What is your favorite mole?

When I think about my favorite mole — the first thing that came to mind was estofado. Some people might think it’s not an actual mole. It’s one of those it-depends-who-you-ask situations. I just like it because it’s very approachable, easier. It’s the mole that my mom would make constantly — at least twice a month, maybe more. It’s luxurious, it’s velvety, it’s fancy, it’s deep. It’s not heavy, but you’re full. And it’s got a brininess from the jalapeño. Maybe because it’s briny — I like it the most.

Spiceology: Can you tell me about how I Love Micheladas came to be?

I Love Micheladas was born out of Guelaguetza. We’ve been known for micheladas since we opened, since the early days. One day, a friend of mine came by and wanted to buy the michelada mix. So we bottled it at the bar and gave it to him. At that moment we had opened a Shopify store and we were already selling our mole starter online, and we were trying to figure out what else we could sell, what other products could we do. And I think part of me, the little rebel part of me, just wanted to maybe push away from the restaurant a little bit because I was just — I mean, a girl’s gotta diversify. She wants to thrive in the restaurant industry in Los Angeles. So the idea of starting a michelada company was very exciting to my brother and me. It was our little project. It was our little baby since the beginning. We named it. We were having fun with it. It’s been over a decade — over 10 years that we launched the business, maybe a little bit more. And now it’s finally kind of grown up, and it’s pretty cool. And that’s really what’s taking a lot more of my life these days.

Spiceology: Can you talk to me a little bit about carne asada?

Where do we start? I wrote a whole book. Um. In the asada recipe you created — I saw it. I think you used flank, and it looked a little thick. I think you have to do a super thin flap. More and more I see butchers do it. I liked flanken ribs — those are a specific Korean cut. Those are phenomenal for an asada. And flap. Skirt, to my taste, is a little bit thick, and sometimes you really have to marinate it in a very, very deep and just overly aggressive way, because it’s just… I like a skirt if you’re maybe searing. But I don’t know. I lean more on the flap side when it comes to asada.

Spiceology: So, flap before flank before skirt—that’s my little tagline.

Yeah. Flap before skirt. And then flanken ribs are an ultimate alternative that you should search for. If you can get flanken ribs, those go the fastest at my restaurant.

Spiceology: What would you tell a budding chef or a culinary student? What’s the number one thing they should do—their call to action to become a chef and thrive in the real world?

I think for anyone, specifically someone who has to put their body through strenuous work every single day — continue to find creativity and be curious. Every single day of your career. Because if you stop being curious and stop asking questions, you’re not gonna grow within your craft. And then the strain on your body just becomes harder. There’s something about releasing creativity with what you do to help ease the strenuous work that comes with the heaviness of what you do. So: stay curious. Laugh a lot. And stretch the hell out of your body every day.

Spiceology: What spice do you think is undervalued?

Every spice is undervalued. I think that humans put more value on things they put on their body than things that they put in their body. We need to switch that.