Bricia Lopez Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to a special Radio Cherry Bombe miniseries called Hey Hey, L.A. I'm your host, Kerry Diamond. I'm the founder and editor of Cherry Bombe Magazine, and each week I talk to the most interesting women in and around the world of food. For this miniseries, I'll be interviewing three creatives putting their own mark on the Los Angeles culinary scene. A new episode will drop each Wednesday for the next few weeks.
Our first guest is Bricia Lopez, restaurateur, author, podcaster, mom. She's even a lover of AI, as she will soon tell us. The one thing Bricia does not call herself is a chef, but she could and should, because she has held her own with some of the top talent in the industry. Bricia came to Los Angeles from Mexico when she was just 10 years old. Soon after, she was working in Guelaguetza, her family restaurant specializing in Oaxacan cuisine. Fast-forward 29 years, Bricia and her siblings run Guelaguetza today, and it has become one of the city's most iconic restaurants. Cherry Bombe managing editor Catherine Baker and I stopped by on our trip to L.A. the other week and had the chicken mole, and it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. No exaggeration. So if you live in L.A., get yourself over there. Bricia's brand-new cookbook was just published the other week. It's called Asada: The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling. It is a celebration of all the things that Bricia loves: cooking over fire, food, family, and bringing people together. I am so excited to talk to her about her life, restaurant and this book. Stay tuned for my chat with Bricia Lopez.
Our Hey Hey, L.A. miniseries is presented by Square. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business. I have a feeling most of you have seen Square in action, at farmer's markets, bake shops, and cafes. But Square today is so much more than a payments company. Square is helping restaurant operators run nearly every part of their restaurants with powerful tech that keeps the front and back of house in sync. And that's all kinds of restaurants: quick service, full service, fast casual, bars and breweries, even ghost kitchens. Square wants to give you the power to drive sales, streamline your kitchen, gain insights to help you make better decisions, and keep customers coming back with loyalty and marketing programs. If you need help and want to take your restaurant business to the next level, it's time to talk to a Square restaurant specialist to learn how Square can help you. Visit squareup.com/restaurants to learn more. We'll share that link in our show notes. Get in touch with Square and get yourself out of the weeds. Again, that's squareup.com/restaurants.
Now, let’s check in with today’s guest. Bricia Lopez, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Bricia Lopez:
Oh, thanks so much for having me. I'm such a fan. Such a big fan.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, I'm so honored to be out here and especially for such a big week for you. Your gorgeous new cookbook is out now.
Bricia Lopez:
I know.
Kerry Diamond:
Yesterday was a big day for you.
Bricia Lopez:
Publish date. It's always very nerve-wracking.
Kerry Diamond:
But lots of family, food, all the things that you do so well.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes, all the things I love to do. Yeah, it was such a beautiful day in L.A. yesterday. I had an asada for just some close friends and family to just celebrate and just welcome a new book, which is so much work that goes into a cookbook.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh my gosh, so much work. You said you had an asada. Tell us what an asada is.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. So I had an asada at the Westholme House. So Westholme, which owns Westholme Wagyu Beef, hosted me at their beautiful home, beautiful estate. It was the fanciest asada I've ever done. They have a beautiful house in Beverly Hills, and Trader came and put out all beautiful grills. And this is a very different asada. Obviously, it was an asada, but also I wanted people to cook from my book. Usually, when you go to an asada no one makes you cook, so this was like a little hybrid between promo/let's have an asada.
But having an asada is basically having people over your house, or your place, or at the park. Really, here in L.A., we're so blessed with beautiful weather. And if it's a Saturday or a Sunday, you will see all the grills lit up in the parks in L.A. with charcoal, and then the smell of wonderful meat being cooked in salsas. And then you would have clusters of families all over, just celebrating life and everything in between: birthdays, everything that you can think of. But it's just a combination of having obviously great meat, chicken, ceviche -- I feel like you always have to have ceviche at an asada. Salsas, rice, beans, cheese, chicharron, nopalitos.
Kerry Diamond:
All the good stuff.
Bricia Lopez:
All the good stuff.
Kerry Diamond:
But there's always a grilled component. That's what makes it specifically an asada.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes, there's always something being grilled, and it's very much who we are as Mexicans. We love grilling. I mean, I'm from Oaxaca and everything there in Oaxaca is just open-fire cooking all the time, whether it's just a comal. Over there, our grills are called anafres and that's where we cook our meat. In Oaxaca, actually, there's a few markets where you can buy your meat from your favorite butcher, and then in the middle of this sort of hall there is an entire row of grills, which are called anafres, they're very specific grills. And they're all lit up and people will buy the meat. They will grill them in the middle, so it's a whole hall just full of smoke. And then they'll just put it over either these wicker plates or on top of a tlayuda. And then they'll buy a salsa from the lady who they know forever and refried beans and they'll all just sit down and they will enjoy their grilled meat.
There's such a direct, I think, relationship to grilling that I have. As a little girl, I mean, I still remember passing out in that hall that I just told you as a young girl. I think I was probably four, I want to say, but I clearly remember just because of the smoke and then the people. And I think I threw up and then passed out and my mom was like, "Oh my God, what's wrong?" But I still remember that.
Kerry Diamond:
Did the sexes divide the grilling chores evenly? Were women grilling? Were men grilling?
Bricia Lopez:
Now that I think about it, there's no separation in Mexico. You see both.
Kerry Diamond:
Because it's so gendered here in the U.S.
Bricia Lopez:
In the U.S., definitely. It really is very much like, "Father's Day. The men are going to get their grilling kit and their apron."
Kerry Diamond:
I looked at all the books on Amazon about grilling. I just typed in "grilling cookbooks" and I think of a hundred books, three were written by women. And one of them was you.
Bricia Lopez:
Yep. It's a very, very men-driven industry, which I did not know, by the way. Again, I come from Mexico. It's not gender there, especially Oaxaca. You see everyone grilling. And when I proposed the book to my publisher, I wasn't as, "Oh, there's no women in grilling, please let me be..." It wasn't that at all, I just realized that was reality. Like you said, I looked at the grilling books when I was doing research and I could not believe that there weren't any women that were in this space, let alone Mexican women.
We have such a great relationship with it and I just couldn't believe that that didn't exist so I just knew that I needed to make the book. And I mean, I had already decided to make the book, but I realized how big of an impact it was going to make, but also the opportunities that I was able to be then providing for other women who look like me to be able to say, "Yes, we grill and that's great and wonderful." And write more books because yes, my book is very specific on asada culture. But within Mexico, within the north, south, center, there's so many different subcultures of smoking, of grilling that I'm just learning about. This is very specific of L.A. cooking of meats.
Kerry Diamond:
On Monday night at the Square event, you and I met this really lovely, hardworking young woman, Merceda, who her family, has the Viva ice cream.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. In Koreatown.
Kerry Diamond:
Everyone should go visit. She walked us through all the ice cream flavors and I was like, "What makes these specifically Oaxacan? Tell us about the Oaxacan ice cream tradition." And they had a smoked milk flavor. It wasn't like anything I'd ever tried before.
Bricia Lopez:
Here's the thing about Oaxaca. Oaxaca, you smoke everything. Okay? For mole, if you taste mole, smokey. Mescal, smokey. Salsas, smokey. And even our ice cream is smoked. It's called leche quemada. So in Spanish, the direct translation is burnt milk. It's actually, it's a reduction of milk that you let simmer super low heat to where it's borderline burnt, but not really. We in America, when we translate it, we like to use the word smoked milk because it has a little bit of a better feel than if we called it burnt milk ice cream.
It's just a very low simmer to the point where it's not burned, but it's got that semi-burned taste and that's where you make the ice cream out of. But yeah, the very traditional way of eating that one, and just to explain, it is leche quemada con tuna. And tuna is not tuna, it is the prickly pear fruit that comes out of the cactus paddles. So they make a beautiful red ice cream out of this prickly pear, and then you top it on top of your leche quemada, which is your smoked milk. And those two combinations is what makes the quintessential Oaxacan ice cream flavor. Having that-
Kerry Diamond:
As a blend.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
So you could get the two flavors separate, but then they had it sort of like a ripple, whatever you would call that.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. So it is very quintessential from Oaxaca. I love also introducing, there is a lime zest ice cream in Oaxaca, too, that's just to die for, that I used to have in water. So they would do like an agua fresca but they would get water and then you would dump the lime zest ice cream on it, so it becomes like a slushy float situation. But they would serve it on plastic bags and they would put the straw. I mean, I know that's not very eco-friendly nowadays, and they're not doing that anymore in the mercados, but it is very sentimental to me. But I love doing the three. So I love leche quemada, the lime zest and the prickly pear, and that's my go-to ice cream when I go to Oaxaca. And Oaxaca has a huge ice cream subculture. It's one of the reasons why people travel to Oaxaca and they're very iconic places in Oaxaca. And now I'm thinking, "Ooh, here's a couple of desserts." Because I do want my third book... I don't know why I'm thinking about a third book. Why do I do this to myself?
Kerry Diamond:
Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. I am so excited to share that Cherry Bombe is participating in the Taste of Santa Barbara, the week-long culinary celebration taking place May 15th through 21st. Ooh, it's right around the corner. We'll be at Mattei's Tavern in Los Olivos on Saturday, May 20th for a special networking event and wine tasting. Tickets are $100 and include all food and drink, a copy of the new issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine, and a copy of the delicious new mystery novel, Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge. Hmm, who do you think inspired that book? Head to cherrybombe.com or sbce.events, I'll say that one more time, sbce.events, for tickets and more information. You can also find the links in our show notes.
Now, back to today's guest. I want to go back to your childhood a little bit because you've talked so beautifully about Oaxaca. You spent the first 10 years of your life there.
Bricia Lopez:
I did.
Kerry Diamond:
You told us some of your memories from the market. What are some other things you remember?
Bricia Lopez:
I remember coming home from school so vividly to this day. My mom was always cleaning, she was always mopping when we arrived. My sister and I got to walk home from school every day. And now, as a grown woman with two children, I realize how special that was in my life and how it's not normal in L.A. living. That's not something people do. So I understand how blessed I was that I had that experience. And my sister and I would walk alone, unattended, her and I from school to home. And we would arrive to our home and my mom would just be mopping the floor, always in a hurry. My mom was always in a hurry, but also she was raising four children. And she would have a home-cooked meal for us every single night and a different flavor agua fresca every single night. I don't know how this woman did it.
And that memory of having something made by your mom was, I think, to me, one of the most cherished memories I have. And then every single Sunday, like clockwork, we would drive out to Mitla. So we lived in the city and every Sunday morning we would drive to Mitla. So Mitla is a town that's about a 45-minute drive from Oaxaca City where my mom's family's from. We would stop in Tlacolula, which is not midway point, but is a little bit, three-fourths to the way to Mitla, at the market, which is where I fainted for the smoke. We would buy meats and we would buy tortillas and any chiles, chickens. And we would then drive to my grandma's house where she would prepare an entire meal for us. And I lied about the chicken, we never bought chickens because my grandma raised the chickens, actually.
And I would clearly remember this woman just ripping the head of a chicken in front of me and the chicken just running around with blood all over. And she would just grab the chicken and dump it in hot water and pluck it. And then she would make us a beautiful chicken dish. She raised pigs in the back, so we would help her feed the pigs. And she had a beautiful array of pomegranate trees all around her house so we would always eat fresh pomegranates. But those are the memories that I have. And of course, mezcal, my dad was a mezcal maker. He lived in the town next door, which is Matatlán. So my dad would drop us off at my grandma's, then he would drive to Matatlán, tend to his mezcal, come back, pick us up. And I just remember the smell of mezcal on the drive back home.
Kerry Diamond:
You need a smokey perfume.
Bricia Lopez:
Well, maybe that's my next collab.
Kerry Diamond:
Or at least a candle.
Bricia Lopez:
Hit me up. Anyone that wants to do a collab mezcal candle, let me know.
Kerry Diamond:
The gals at Jupiter have a pasta water candle.
Bricia Lopez:
Oh my gosh.
Kerry Diamond:
You could have a candle.
Bricia Lopez:
I would love to have a candle.
Kerry Diamond:
So you're still a kid. Your folks tell you you're moving to America.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
But your dad had moved first.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. My dad moved to L.A. about nine months before we moved, so close to a year. And we actually came to visit him in that time that he was here. I'm going to get emotional when he talks about this moment because he took us to the airport and said goodbye to us. And he was in a very lonely place. He had no money. He was trying to figure things out for his family. But we were here for, I think, I don't remember exactly, it must have been a couple of weeks with my dad, maybe a month. I don't remember. We were still living in Oaxaca, came to visit him. And that's when we did the whole Disney, Universal Studios. He didn't have the restaurant then, so he would just take us around, showing us. I saw Toys"R"Us for the first time in my life, and let me tell you, it was crazy. I could not believe my life.
And then I remember even coming back to Oaxaca and having... You know how at Disney, you would have that journal where all the characters would sign their names? Oh my God, it was my prize possession coming back. And then my mom told us that we were going to go live in L.A. for one year. And if you speak to, I would say, 60% of immigrant kids who were brought at that age, they would tell you the same thing. Everyone comes with that one year, two-year max plan. And they never leave. My parents got to go back eventually, but yeah. And I was so excited to come to the U.S. When I lived in Oaxaca, I used to watch a lot of Saved by the Bell and a lot of Full House, dubbed, obviously.
But I would watch Saved by the Bell and I would watch Full House and then my sister and I would play-pretend that we were living in America and we would speak English. And we were sisters and we knew Zack Morris and Kelly Kapowski and AC Slater. So wild that fast-forward, I ended up going to that same school where they filmed the finale movie of Saved by the Bell, Palisades High, I ended up going there. It wasn't Bayside High, but it was Palisades High that I ended up going to, which was so funny.
Kerry Diamond:
Who knew those shows would come in so handy, right?
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. But I learned, that was my introduction to American culture. And it just seemed so fabulous to have a locker. Oh my gosh, a locker. And I remember when I got my locker in junior high, how excited I was because that was what I grew up watching on TV. And to have a locker and I just felt so cool.
Kerry Diamond:
So you were happy to be here, or did you miss home?
Bricia Lopez:
I moved when I was. My sister was 13. It was so much harder for her. At 10, I feel like you can still shape a child. And again, I came with... I loved the idea of moving to, again, Full House, Saved by the Bell kind of America.
Kerry Diamond:
The land of Disney.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah, the land of Disney. We had already come and visited my dad. So I thought it was going to be Disney. Oh my gosh, the first time that my dad took us to McDonald's... So in Oaxaca there was only one McDonald's and it opened five months before we moved to L.A. So I didn't have McDonald's for the first time in my life until I was probably eight. So the idea that there was a McDonald's down the street that you could just eat almost every day was wild, because in Oaxaca we celebrated my sister's first birthday at McDonald's. And I remember saving my Happy Meal box. It was in my room like a shrine. It was a thing that you saved, it was so precious to me. And the first time I had a Big Mac was such a big moment in my life. I thought it was so cool that I could eat Carl's Jr.
I had French toast for the first time in my life. Big Boy. There's a place here in L.A., used to be a place, I don't know if they're around anymore, Big Boy, but they had a breakfast buffet. I'd never in my life been to a breakfast buffet, okay, Kerry? I was 10 years old, and the idea you could have anything you want, with pancakes and French toast and bacon and just all this goodness. I was like, "Oh, oof." I mean, if you've never had that all your life and the first time you eat a breakfast buffet, like American breakfast buffet, it was great.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so interesting how dazzled you were by American culture. Completely understandably. I mean, it's designed to be like that. Yet you have dedicated your whole career to Oaxacan cuisine and the Oaxacan way of life.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. Because that at the end of the day, that's who I am. As much as I love this culture, I mean, I've grown up in L.A. I feel like I'm pretty much an L.A. girl for sure. But Oaxaca is my essence and who I am. And because my parents ran a Oaxacan restaurant and tradition is so deep-rooted in who we are as a Oaxacan culture, Oaxacan people are in sync with their food and their culture. When you go to Oaxaca and you visit the airport on the way back, I guarantee you 90% of the people in line will have food in their bags. There's no separation. And because of that reason and because my parents were running the restaurant, I never lost that. Day of the Dead, we celebrated from year one that we moved here. That was never lost. All the Christmas holiday that we do from Oaxaca, posadas, Día de los Muertos, during Lent season, there's so many wonderful traditions in Oaxaca.
We did those all the time. My dad was one of the first people to fill out the entire sports arena here in Los Angeles and organize an entire Guelaguetza festival with thousands of people. He was also doing events back then. And always rallying the Oaxacan community together. He was so involved with the Oaxacan community. I was dancing since I was 13 years old up until I was 18 years old. So we were very enthralled in the community. I never lost that and I feel very blessed to be able to do that.
Kerry Diamond:
What does the word guelaguetza mean?
Bricia Lopez:
Guelaguetza means community, creating community. That's really the essence of it.
Kerry Diamond:
That makes so much sense now.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. It's also a festival, it's also a tradition, but I think at its core it just means to create community.
Kerry Diamond:
Walk us through the timeline. So you come here, your dad knew he wanted to open a restaurant.
Bricia Lopez:
No.
Kerry Diamond:
He didn't?
Bricia Lopez:
No, no, no. He just came. He came in the mid-nineties when the peso had a big devaluation. And I think Americas have no idea what it means to go through a crazy devaluation. I think that some of us maybe right now experiencing a little bit of what that means, but in reality-
Kerry Diamond:
Inflation's not the same as-
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. It's beyond hyperinflation. It's basically if you had a $100 bill today and legit tomorrow you wake up and that $100 is now $1. That's actually what happened.
Kerry Diamond:
The prices did not go down at the same time.
Bricia Lopez:
No. Actually, what happened was that the Mexican government took two zeros away from the peso, which means if you had a hundred pesos today, that peso was not worth a hundred, just one. And it's really hard for people to understand in America, because we've never gone through anything like that. A lot of Latin American countries have. So my dad lost everything. He was a merchant, and so he was selling mezcal, people owed him money. I mean, it was just a debacle. So he moved to America trying to find a better life for his four children and his wife. Through the journey, realized that food was the best avenue to do that. To this day, my dad can't speak English fully, which is crazy to think that he was able to open a restaurant.
And there were so many wonderful souls that helped him along the way, angels that just spoke Spanish and helped him get the health certificates that he needed, get him on QuickBooks, understand how to pay taxes and just navigate how this country works. But I think this is why I love America so much because there's order in this country. And if you know how to follow that order, it's really, not simple, but there is a way to make money here. In Mexico to this day, we do have a business in Mexico, it's so difficult to navigate Mexico. It's so complicated. Where in America it's just very... You give Uncle Sam his cut and everyone is happy. They make it very easy. You don't even have to have papers to sell taxes in this country. You get your ITIN number and you pay taxes and that's all good as long as you do that.
Kerry Diamond:
The building you're in today, is that the original building?
Bricia Lopez:
No, the building that we are in today, my dad found five years in when he just wanted something bigger. And he always envisioned a place where all the Oaxacans can get together and create community and just be the epicenter of Oaxaca in L.A., which is why he wanted a big space where there was folkloric dancing and there was music, and he just always wanted a big place. So we moved in '95, I was 10, went to school here. Worked every weekend at the restaurant, never had a day off.
Kerry Diamond:
What were you doing as a little kid?
Bricia Lopez:
I was always a hostess, that was my first gig. A cashier. Waitress when I was 16 because I was in high school. I remember that was when I got my car and I had-
Kerry Diamond:
You made good money. You've told us that.
Bricia Lopez:
I made so much money. I had so much cash. I saved $16,000 by the time I was-
Kerry Diamond:
As a teenager?
Bricia Lopez:
I was 19 and I had a savings account and I had $16,000 saved just on tips. I mean, I squandered it after, in college, obviously. I wasn't financially literate. And my dad wasn't either, which was the downfall of his business and his legacy, which is eventually what led to my siblings and I taken over the restaurant. Because everything he built, he lost quickly. So I was able to witness the rise, but I was also able to witness his downfall. That happened in my early twenties. And I think that taught me a lot more to see the importance of a team.
Kerry Diamond:
I wish they taught it in school.
Bricia Lopez:
I wish they did too.
Kerry Diamond:
I can't believe-
Bricia Lopez:
Girl, I would be in there right now with the $16K.
Kerry Diamond:
You would be. I can't believe the things I had to learn in grammar school and high school and the practical things were just never taught. I would've loved to have understood mortgages and stocks and checkbooks and savings accounts and all those things. You have kids, are they teaching those things yet?
Bricia Lopez:
Believe it or not, my kids' school, I think in fourth grade it start talking about money and savings. And I tried to teach him by everyday practicality with my son. He launched a business when he was four, which is so funny.
Kerry Diamond:
It is in the Lopez blood, is it?
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. But he doesn't do it anymore. But I think it's somewhere in his mind where if he wants money and I'm like, "Well, sell something. You need money, go sell something." There's a lot of things here that you can sell. Sell something.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay. So you're a kid, you're working there. I guess things got tough with the restaurant in your twenties. Because I was curious, you have said before that family is so important. You never thought about not working with the family business. But there wasn't a moment when you thought, "There's so many other things I could do, I'd like to do?”
Bricia Lopez:
I always wanted to be a few things. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be a graphic designer. I wanted to be a news anchor. There were so many things that I wanted to do that my dad never really encouraged. And I think that's the difference when you have a family who's just surviving, who hasn't really thrived and who doesn't have generational wealth and who doesn't have that safety net, we are just trying to survive. You impose the idea that this is the only way to do it, by actually doing labor. If you are doing something creative, you're never going to be able to survive that way. Obviously, that's not true. And even today at my late thirties, there's sometimes days that I'm sitting in the desk on my computer and I have to remind myself, "No, Bricia, you're actually working. This is very much of value. You do not need to be in the line. You do not need to be running around the restaurant, sweating. You do not have to be on your feet, sweating, to feel like you are being impact in your business."
So I had to reprogram my brain for that because my dad was very much of, "If you are not out there on the floor, you are not working." So I had these dreams of doing other things. Again, I wasn't encouraged. But then when my dad lost everything and we took over the restaurant, a great succession plan that I think if you were in a family business or if you are in my shoes, like I was in the early twenties where you're trying to take over your family's business, in my opinion, in my experience, it works only when that first generation steps aside. It's really difficult to try to sway the old generation into new ideas. So what happened with us, my parents moved. They left us with a lot of debt and a lot of problems, but a lot of opportunities, and also allowed us to shine and to solve the problems ourselves.
Kerry Diamond:
So all four of your siblings stepped in?
Bricia Lopez:
Three of us. Our youngest sister's not involved in the business. She loves her corporate job and she loves it and she thrives in it.
Kerry Diamond:
So it's you, Paulina and Fernando?
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. The three of us stepped in. And I could remember the days where there was not one person in the table at the restaurant. And our servers-
Kerry Diamond:
That's so shocking. You've got one of the most popular restaurants. That's shocking to me.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. We are very blessed to have people waiting. But I remember not one person. I remember lunchtime not even having one patron, and just our servers just cleaning everything because when you're a server and the restaurant's dead, the only thing that's left to do is clean and reclean and reclean and polish. To me, coming from this restaurant industry, there's nothing more soul crushing than to walk into an empty restaurant.
Kerry Diamond:
There are a lot of people listening, nodding right now. They know that.
Bricia Lopez:
Gosh, that feeling of that emptiness.
Kerry Diamond:
It's the worst.
Bricia Lopez:
And for us it was just, "Okay, what's one little win we can get?" And then one little win and just to see the light at the end of the tunnel and then start to get creative. And that's when our creativity kicked in. And then I was able to then tap into all those things that I love to do, like graphic design. And my sister and I had kids and we were like, "Well, let's launch a podcast together. Why not?" My dad ran a newspaper, believe it or not, it was called L.A. Oaxaqueña, here in L.A.
He did it because I knew he's also very creative. And he would lose money on the newspaper. But for him, the idea of the newspaper came when the L.A. Opinion, which was the big Spanish newspaper, reached out to him and offered him advertising. And I think they offered him the back cover, I don't know, something crazy like 10 grand. And back then obviously it's so much money. So he just said, "Wait, so that's how much it costs? I could just run an entire newspaper for that money, and I can just put my business and advertise it in the back all the time." So that's what he did. And I still, I think I have a picture. I used to be the model. I used to take photos and be in the back of the newspaper.
Kerry Diamond:
It's so funny to me when you said earlier you wanted to be a teacher, you wanted to be a broadcast journalist, you wanted to be a graphic designer. You are all those things and more now.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah, now I do all of them. So we launched a podcast with my sister and we said, my sister, we're just going to do the new version of what L.A. Oaxaqueña was, and we're going to call it Super Mamas and we'll advertise our businesses on the podcast. And we'll reach people and that's how we will do. So when we started getting creative, then we started launching events. We opened an online shop where we sell our products, we sell our mole starter at ilovemolestore.com. We also have ilovemicheladas.com where we sell our michelada mix and chamoy. And then started writing books. And then little by little, very long overnight success.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about the menu, because if folks live in the L.A. area and have not been to Guelaguetza, or they're visiting, they really need to go.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
So let's tell them why they need to go. And it's the food at the heart of it.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah, of course. There's no way you're coming to L.A. and not having Mexican food. If you live in this country and you're yet to go to Oaxaca or yet to go to Mexico City, the next best thing to me, in my opinion, is Los Angeles. And at the center of it, I think I will sound cocky, but I do have the best Mexican restaurant in L.A. Yes. Quote me, fact check me, come after me. I don't care. I will stand here and fight for my team. We have mole, we have tlayudas. We have the best chile rellenos you will ever have. We have an incredible taco de barbacoa that's massive. Just like I said, you were eating it at the market that I spoke about earlier. The moles, the tlayudas or chorizo. Every time I see people, they always say, "Can you just sell me this chorizo by the pound?"
I'm like, "Just go have it at the restaurant." "What do you put in this?" We make everything from scratch. We import our tortillas from Oaxaca. We import our chiles, we import our spices, we import our thyme, we import our avocado leaves. We make masa from scratch every day. I mean, it is really, it's soul food. It's Mexican soul food. It's plentiful. It's meant to be shared. It is a lot of food you're going to get on the table. It's food that you're going to be craving next week. It's food that is wonderful for leftovers. And it's just a wonderful, loud place filled with kids and family that just want to have incredible food.
Kerry Diamond:
It is very family forward.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
It's a nice place to go with the group.
Bricia Lopez:
It's the best place.
Kerry Diamond:
You're not one of those restaurants where it's like, ugh.
Bricia Lopez:
No, we make it so easy. Everyone always sends us emails like "What can we do for a party of seven?" Just come in. It's fine. We get walk-ins. Not so much now, which is interesting actually, now that we're thinking about how the L.A. scene has changed. When I used to be a hostess, we'd get walk-ins of 25, I swear to you by my life.
Kerry Diamond:
Imagine trying that today, anywhere.
Bricia Lopez:
And then they would get upset at the wait. Which in my mind I'm like, "Well, where are you going to go with 25 people?"
Kerry Diamond:
But that says a lot about how they felt about your restaurant.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes, but also it's about families and big families and going and enjoying yourselves. Our big tables average of about 12. Walk-ins of 12 and 14 are not uncommon. But yeah, we used to get 25.
Kerry Diamond:
You could book online or you can do walk-in. Don't be afraid of the walk-in.
Bricia Lopez:
ilovemole.com is our website. Because we used to have guelaguetza.com, which is very difficult. That's one of the first things we did, switched, and we did ilovemole.com.
Kerry Diamond:
Your mole is so spectacular. I can't imagine your mole starter tasting as spectacular as the mole. So I want you to talk me into that I can do this at home.
Bricia Lopez:
Hundred percent. I'm a mom, I'm too. I know how difficult it is to get food on the table at night for your family firsthand. And listen, last night I had pizza for dinner. Sometimes it's paper plates and chicken takeout and call it a day. I am not above paper plates in my house. And if you are that mom that does meals like my mom, shout out to you. You deserve an award and should be a statue for you. So I understand how difficult it is. Our starters, and actually in Oaxaca, they're very popular. People use starters all the time.
It's all the essence of the mole, the chiles, the spices. We do all the hard labor for you. And all you have to do is add that starter, add some chicken broth and a little bit of tomato for acidity, tomato sauce out of a can. And I do everything out of a can. So when I test the recipes, I do everything out of a can. So I do the starter, tomato sauce on the can and chicken broth out of the box. Season it with salt, brown sugar, done. You'll have an incredible mole. And pour it over chicken, pour it over your salmon, pour it over your fish, pour it over your rice. Save it, freeze it, reheat it, and it'll be there for you whenever you need it.
Kerry Diamond:
In all the research I was doing on you, we've joked about you being the ultimate L.A. multihyphenate, one thing you don't call yourself os a chef.
Bricia Lopez:
I don't because I never went to school. I never went to culinary school. I mean, some people call me chef and I'm like, "Okay, cool, I'll take it. I mean, what else? It's not me. I'm not going to say no to you."
Kerry Diamond:
But you have worked on the line at the restaurant.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. And I've done pop-ups and I've done stuff. But it's only been at my restaurant. I've never worked lines in other restaurants. I've guest chefed in different places. I've cooked in other chef's kitchens. I've done many things. But I've never had a full-time job, paid full-time job or even stage at any other places. And I never went to culinary school. I guess it's like a little chip on my shoulders that I don't feel like I can say that. And it's almost as if you were calling yourself an attorney, but you never passed the bar. So that's how I feel about it. And I also have a lot of chef friends and I've also cooked with a lot of incredible chefs. The insecure girl inside of me is like, "Oh girl, you can't call yourself a chef." When you eat with some other incredible chef's food and you see them at work and you see their craft and that's really what they've dedicated their life to, it's really daunting to try to put yourself in that same-
Kerry Diamond:
It's one of those funny words in our industry. Some people are so quick to claim it and others, even though they've put in the work, are reluctant to.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. I can't. Again, come down, to be introduced at when my little panel, but I don't think I could. My son, though, my son loves to call me a chef. And he tells all my friends that I'm the best chef in the world, which is really sweet. I got asked to be in a competition show. I don't like to compete, I'm not going to do it. But I told them, I was like, "They want me do a competition. I don't think I'm going to do it." He's like, "Why, Mom? You're the best chef in the world. You cook Oaxacan food, Mom. I mean, come on. How can anyone beat you?" And I started to cry. I was like, "Oh my God. You do believe in me more than I do."
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about TV because you've done a lot of TV. You seem to enjoy it.
Bricia Lopez:
I love TV. I haven't done enough TV. I want to do more TV. I'm going to start putting that in the world. I would love to have a show someday. I just haven't been approached with the right project. And I think once the right project comes along and all the stars align, I would love to. There've been too many close calls. But it's L.A. and it's the industry. Being from L.A. and in the food industry and being so close to... I have so many friends in the entertainment industry, I know what it's like. And to have it so close and one signature away and be taken away from you, that's just a L.A. life.
Kerry Diamond:
The next issue of our magazine is about food television, what it even even is today, because it's changed so much. And demystifying the process because so many people want to do it. You're one step away from it, being here in L.A. and knowing all these people. It does seem like such a mystery.
Bricia Lopez:
It is. And TV's still also very much male. And it's also swaying towards celebrity now.
Kerry Diamond:
You feel that way?
Bricia Lopez:
A hundred percent, yes. Yes. Yes. It's very much now moving into celebrities that probably are not doing acting as much and who see food as a place where they can do something.
Kerry Diamond:
Everybody's getting into food these days. It's just incredible.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. And also the networks not wanting to take a risk on people and seeing celebrities as a safer option. If they like food, then why not? It's very easy for them to do that. So I do find it that if you are a female in the industry right now, even a woman of color, it's difficult to find a place on stream TV, I would say, or network TV that believes in you. And so you have to be very adamant in exactly what you want your vision to be. I personally don't have a show that I want to do in mind and I think that's also the issue. Because if I had a show that I really felt passionate about that I wanted to do, I think it'd probably be easier. But would I get pitched for me? Nothing seems interesting.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a really good point. Well, you've broken so many barriers and you're so young still. I know you probably don't think that when you wake up in the morning and you're like, ugh.
Bricia Lopez:
I try to keep active. I try to exercise.
Kerry Diamond:
You have a youthful aura, I will say that.
Bricia Lopez:
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for saying that.
Kerry Diamond:
And you know what? That's a good transition to what I wanted to ask you about for the last bit of the show. You are very modern and maybe that's why you do project this youthful thing.
Bricia Lopez:
It's the L.A. in me.
Kerry Diamond:
It's the L.A. in you. Okay.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. It's my L.A. Latina.
Kerry Diamond:
You are one of the few people I've met who isn't freaked out by AI.
Bricia Lopez:
I love AI.
Kerry Diamond:
You have fully embraced it. Tell us, tell us.
Bricia Lopez:
I love AI. I love ChatGPT. I heard there's a new one called Bard that I haven't tried that my friend told me about, I'm going to do. Oh, legal, legal. Now I'm beginning to run contracts through ChatGPT to make sure she tells me that I'm not getting effed on a contract. Literally put anything and be like, "Can you explain this to me in a paragraph?" and it'll give it to you in a paragraph. I did an event, I needed a shot list. Normally, I mean it made a better shot list for my event than I could've in five seconds.
Kerry Diamond:
In case people are like, "What the hell are you two talking about?" So ChatGPT is an AI program and you can put prompts into it, right?
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
It does that?
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. Yes. So I have to, I guess, a little backwards. I think everyone's using it, but then I realize that no one is. Every time I show my friends, their minds get blown. I'm like, "But it's so easy." And people have heard of it, but they're like, "But how do you use it?" I feel that we are back in the, "But how do you use the internet? What is the internet? How does one enter the internet? How does one enter ChatGPT?"
Kerry Diamond:
It was hard back then. This is a little easier to jump on now.
Bricia Lopez:
This is way easier. But it's like, how does one-
Kerry Diamond:
Dial Up, remember Dial Up? Ugh.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes. Girl, yes. I had AOL. The lists that we would get in the mail. Go to just ChatGPT.ai, I think it's called. I don't even know. It's just saved on my browser. It's just how you would a website. It's just right there. And it's so simple that people don't believe that that's it. I'm challenging myself of only using ChatGPT now instead of Google. So anytime I want to Google something, I am phrasing it to ChatGPT, just because I want to train my brain and I want to expand my knowledge and I want to be able to use better prompts for it. Because it's just a box. And you can have full-on conversations.
I think right now the paid version, they only limit you to 25 messages per four hours. My friend was saying, "How to grow tomatoes, in Long Beach, California?" And it told you exactly what to do. And then it's like, "But what is pruning?" And then it'll give you a whole thing. Sure, you can Google this, but I feel like right now Google is such a mess with people that have already broken the system and already know how it works and already know what it takes to be in the top page.
Kerry Diamond:
And I think the big message is just check it out.
Bricia Lopez:
Check it out.
Kerry Diamond:
Don't be afraid of it. I haven't had time to play with it, but I did play with Dali, the art version.
Bricia Lopez:
So cool.
Kerry Diamond:
Because it's very complicated. I mean, they are clearly stealing from artwork that is out in the universe, so there's a lot to be solved on the backend in terms of credit for artists. But you know what? It's the same with ChatGPT and words. I mean, obviously they're scraping all the articles and podcast transcripts and all the work that we all put out there.
Bricia Lopez:
Oh my gosh. The first time I used ChatGPT was actually for Women's History Month because my team and I were like, "Okay, what are we going to do for Women's History Month?" And I was like, "Hold on, guys, let me figure this out." Because I heard this ChatGPT thing was crazy. I asked that to give me a "very rooted" history and culture. Gave me a great one. I was like, "Oh my God, this is crazy." Got even crazier because I said, "Can you rewrite that but give it a Oaxacan theme?" It spit out a quote from me. It gave me a quote that I had said, from I don't know when. And then the bottom said Bricia Lopez and then who I was. And I was like, "What in the world?" Because I've put so much stuff in the world and does that mean I'm able to access that database from me? I'm like, "That's crazy."
Kerry Diamond:
Starting to sound like a science fiction movie.
Bricia Lopez:
But I loved it.
Kerry Diamond:
And you know who I'm thinking this is going to be good for is the person who we know who's out there, like our friend who's got her family ice cream shop. When you are a small business and there's one of you or two of you, it is so hard to do everything. And even some of the social media scheduling platforms, like Later, which we use, they have AI now. I haven't used it, but they'll write your caption for you. I just think there's so many applications for the solo entrepreneur who's really-
Bricia Lopez:
How to even build your website.
Kerry Diamond:
... trying to keep it all together. We're going to do a little speed round because I do need to let you go. What is a treasured cookbook?
Bricia Lopez:
I do love Reem's [Assil] book Arabiyya. I love Mediterranean cooking and I cook a lot from that book. And that's a book that I think it's the dirtiest in my house. I've learned so much from her.
Kerry Diamond:
Most used kitchen implement?
Bricia Lopez:
Well, tongs always. I feel like tongs are my second hand in the kitchen for everything. Underrated tool that not many people have and they should have, kitchen shears.
Kerry Diamond:
I love kitchen shears.
Bricia Lopez:
I love me a kitchen shear. Yes. I think that not a lot of people have them. Worth it.
Kerry Diamond:
Snipping herbs.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
Spatchcocking chicken. All those things.
Bricia Lopez:
Everything.
Kerry Diamond:
What's a song that makes you smile?
Bricia Lopez:
Oh, Selena. Como L.A. Flor always. Anything Selena will make any Latina smile, Kerry, any time of the day.
Kerry Diamond:
You are always so stylish. What is your footwear of choice in the kitchen?
Bricia Lopez:
In the kitchen, I love me, Nike Air Max are my jam. I mean, I've tried other ones. I've tried all different. I've tried Van. Nike Air Maxes, you look cool and you're comfortable.
Kerry Diamond:
Favorite food film?
Bricia Lopez:
I love Chef. It's iconic and classic and you get to see Charlie from Charlie's Fixtures, which is an iconic place here in L.A. He passed. He's immortalized in Chef so I love that movie. It's so cute.
Kerry Diamond:
What do you start your day with, coffee? Tea? Something else?
Bricia Lopez:
Coffee, always. French press is my way to go. I grind my beans every morning. I love my Breville milk frother. I'm from L.A., so yes, we're still drinking oat milk here. Oat milk, honey on the Breville frother. Ground beans from Mariposa Coffee from Mariposa up north in California. I've tried so many. I have an Airbnb in Joshua Tree and we only serve Mariposa Coffee. I get so many compliments on the coffee.
Kerry Diamond:
How do you find your Airbnb?
Bricia Lopez:
Link in my bio. Everything is in my bio.
Kerry Diamond:
You do have a lot. I've clicked on that. You've got a lot going on.
Bricia Lopez:
But yes. Mariposa coffee, freshly ground, French press, five minutes, frother.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay, I need one of those. I love the honey-milk combination. That's really nice. I love honey.
Bricia Lopez:
Yes, I love honey.
Kerry Diamond:
Favorite childhood snack?
Bricia Lopez:
I am a Doritos girl by heart. I've just been eating Doritos all my life, I feel. But Doritos in Mexico taste different.
Kerry Diamond:
Really?
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah. So different, cheesy. I don't know, they're different. But I used to be a Frico, which was a straight-up sugared water with some sort of food coloring. Usually the purple food-colored Frico or Boing and chips, Doritos.
Kerry Diamond:
Is there any motto or mantra that gets you through the day?
Bricia Lopez:
I breathe a lot. I make sure every time where it's just like I feel a lot, I just take a moment to breathe. I'm Christian. My pastors recently did a sermon about understanding the fact that any sort of doubt never comes from God. So understand that if I have doubt, it's not coming for me, it's coming from an outside place. And I have to just remember myself that if you have faith in what you're doing, it's going to be okay. Recently, I've been telling that myself over and over again, what's meant to be will be. And if you're having anxiety, it means that something is off and you're not being rooted in faith. So just continue to be rooted in faith and everything else will follow.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. Our last question and my favorite. If you had to be stuck on a desert island with one food celebrity, who would it be, and why?
Bricia Lopez:
Food celebrity? You know what? I'm going to give it to my girl, Chef Marcela, because we have a fricking blast. Okay? Chef Marcela and I on a desert island, we'd just cook all day, talk, hang out, working out, yoga. But also having incredible Mexican food all the time.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell me who she is.
Bricia Lopez:
Chef Marcela Valladolid, she used to have a show on the Food Network. She's done a million things. Iconic Mexican chef, celebrity chef, and I love her.
Kerry Diamond:
Is she here in L.A.?
Bricia Lopez:
She's in San Diego.
Kerry Diamond:
She's in San Diego. Okay, great.
Bricia Lopez:
I think her and I would have a blast on the private island.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, sounds like you would have a really great time. Yoga, all that.
Bricia Lopez:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, Bricia, you are the best.
Bricia Lopez:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
You really are. I could talk to you for another three hours.
Bricia Lopez:
Thank you. Thank you. I hope the listeners are still here.
Kerry Diamond:
And those who need part two, you've got Bricia's podcast.
Bricia Lopez:
Oh, yeah. Super Mamas.
Kerry Diamond:
So if you enjoyed this, jump on over to there. That's a fun follow up to this. So anyway, thank you for your time.
Bricia Lopez:
Thank you. Thank you, Kerry.
Kerry Diamond:
Thank you for all the amazing stuff you put into the world.
Bricia Lopez:
Thank you. Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
And you really are the Bombe, Bricia.
Bricia Lopez:
Thank you. Thank you so much. So are you.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you for listening to the first installment of our miniseries, Hey Hey, L.A., presented by Square. Join us next Wednesday for our next episode. Be sure to sign up for the Cherry Bombe newsletter over at cherrybombe.com so you can stay on top of all Cherry Bombe happenings, pods, and events. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Our theme song is by the band Tralala. Special thanks to our friends at CityVox. Our producer is Catherine Baker and our associate producer is Jenna Sadhu. Thanks to you for listening. You are the Bombe.