CHOCOLATE ROYALTY
Oaxaca Unwrapped: A Journey Through Chocolate
Bricia, Paulina, and Fernando Lopez | Guelaguetza Restaurant
NHM Online Presents ChocoLAte: From Beans to Bliss, a video series celebrating the diversity of Los Angeles and its people through the lens of chocolate.
Siblings Bricia, Paulina, and Fernando Lopez are the co-owners of Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles. The trio sat down with NHM to discuss the role of family, tradition, and cultural heritage in their landmark restaurant.
Watch the video below to learn more about the Lopez family and their connection to the Oaxacan community in Southern California.
The Family Business
Guelaguetza Restaurant was founded in 1994 by Fernando Lopez Sr., an immigrant to the United States from Oaxaca. Fernando Sr. imbued his children with a love of traditional Oaxacan ingredients and cooking, and it is in the culinary environs of the incipient Guelaguetza restaurant that Bricia, Paulina, and Fernando were reared. Their mother, Maria Monterrubio, helped operate the restaurant and also contributed her wealth of traditional mole know-how to the growing menu. Fernando Sr.'s vision of a gathering place that lovingly served the food that sustained him throughout his life was a vision that was met with acclaim not only by the Oaxacan community of Los Angeles, but by gourmands the world over. In 2015, Guelaguetza was awarded the James Beard Foundation America’s Classics award in recognition of its contributions to the Oaxacan community and to the Los Angeles gastronomic scene writ large. Today, that legacy of culinary excellence is in the hands of his children, who continue to preserve and grow the family business.
The word 'Guelaguetza' means, 'to create community'...when people travel to Oaxaca they see it, they feel it. It's a feeling that you have that people will take care of you.
Bricia Lopez
Fernando Jr., Bricia, and Paulina Lopez are the co-owners of Guelaguetza Restaurant. They are inheritors of the family business started by their father, Fernando Sr.
What can be more indicative of the melting pot that is Los Angeles than a Oaxacan restaurant located inside of a Korean-inspired building?
The food at Guelaguetza is carefully crafted using quality ingredients, many imported directly from Oaxaca.
Chocolate and Mole
Chocolate is an essential part of the Oaxacan palette. However, it is typically served in liquid form, with chocolate tablets either being dissolved in water or milk. "It's just part of everyday culture in Oaxaca," Paulina explains, "when you go into someone's house, they say 'chocolate de leche o agua?'" Oaxacan chocolate is unique in its flavor profile, simultaneously bringing forth rich overtones of cacao coupled with the smoky aroma of roasted cinnamon and almonds. It is this unique flavor that elevates the mole, the principal dish of Oaxaca, to legendary status. Mole is a saucy amalgam of ingredients inspired by the multi-racial history of Oaxaca. Though its beginnings are indigenous in origin, the kinds of mole that are ubiquitous across Oaxaca's eight distinct regions are, literally, the melting pot of Indigenous, European, and even Middle Eastern influences.
"It's an ancient stew that's been developed over thousands of years with localized ingredients. It also tells the story of the cultures that lived in the area and the trades that happened."
Fernando Lopez Jr.
Oaxacan drinking chocolate is often served with a side of pan de yema, or yolk bread. On the right are two molinillos, carved wooden whisks used in the hot chocolate frothing process.
Mole is a complex blend of ingredients endemic to Oaxaca. To create mole is a time-intensive and multi-step process that necessitates roasting, pulverizing, frying, and blending a variety of different ingredients together to make a dish that is not only complex and delicious, but also deeply hued and aesthetic.
Oaxaca has eight distinct regions, with each being home to different recipes for mole. Guelaguetza Restaurant serves several different kinds of mole specifically hailing from the Valle, or valley region of Oaxaca.
The Comfort of Home Cooking
At Guelaguetza, mole, drinking chocolate, and the rest of the Oaxacan cuisine that they serve envelops the privileged eater with a sense of comfort and tradition. Each dish is enriched by the primacy of quality ingredients and the knowledge of untold generations of Oaxaqueño ancestors who communicated their love for family and community through food. Fernando Lopez Jr. reflected on what it means to take a perfect bite of mole:
It should feel like you are in Oaxaca. It should feel like you are sitting down in the zocalo, or you're in Mitla, or del Tule, and you are enjoying a good mole with your family around you. It should feel like family.
EXPLORE MORE FROM GUELAGUETZA
Click here to visit Guelaguetza's website to make reservations, order takeout, explore the menu, buy their bespoke ingredients, and learn more about their cookbook!
SPILL THE CACAO BEANS ON YOUR CHOCOLATE FAVORITES
Do you have a special connection with chocolate? Do you know another L.A. chocolate-maker who lovingly connects with their community? We want to hear from you! Join the conversation on social media and tag us @NHMLA with #chocoLAte.
Following the success of Kneaded: L.A. Bread Stories and L.A. at Play: Dolls & Figurines, we're celebrating the history, heritage, and communities of Los Angeles through the lens of different cultural traditions. This year, ChocoLAte: From Beans to Bliss seeks to inspire, captivate, and tap into the deep-rooted love for chocolate that flows through the veins of this vibrant city.
A big thanks to our sponsor
