Meet Nicolas Lopez of Paso Robles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicolas Lopez

Hi Nicolas , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Born in the Bay Area and raised in the central coast. I was raised by a single mom who was determined to accomplish her life goals despite the hardship. Seeing her become a nurse and later in life a cosmetologist it really instilled a strong work ethic in me and drive . With mostly women in my life I grew up with a strong sense of showing love through cooking. As a Latina woman, she did her best raising me as a mixed child and showing me both sides of my cultures African-American and Hispanic. She ingrained a lot of the pride that comes with being amongst your people and keeping traditions alive.( but being the oldest of three and having no one before me who ever went through the trials and tribulations of not feeling fully accepted by either heritage it was difficult trying to find my place in the world.I turned to cooking as my safe haven. I learned from the elder women around me ,my great grandmas Thomasita and granny,and grandmas Lupe and Verlene. They taught me the traditional hispanic cuisines and southern classic comfort foods that helped me feel connected to who I was. In college was the true turning point for me when the two father figures I had in me life suddenly passed away months apart, I spiraled with self identity and my purpose in life I began to think about how precious and little time we truly have and that I didn’t want to spend my life doing what other people thought I needed to do and living others dreams. After I put my life back together I decided to drop out of college and try my hand at accomplishing one of my childhood dreams of becoming a chef. I would love to say it was an easy road with everything handed to me and it was a walk in the park but nothing good comes that easy. I started off working with my friends Dad a man who started off from scratch and grew an ever growing empire from a family owned food truck Chef Jose taught me a lot in our short time together but left his mark with the mindset of working for your dream is always worth it in the end. As I grew older and my pallet changed along with wanting to find more of my own identity I explored the different traveling and studied different styles from French, Japanese and traditional barbecuing techniques learning from different chefs along the way with many different backgrounds and cultures themselves. Over time I came back to the central coast and began working at a pizza shop where I started finding the mojo that help me become the Chef Nico we know and love today, I learned going my own way and following my own rules with flavor mixing and fusions. what’s different isn’t always bad and then everything went side ways when the pandemic happened I decided to leave the restaurant I knew and loved for a fresh start and found The Alchemist Garden. Truly the biggest blessing to me that I honestly stumbled on by reply to a help wanted ad while on instagram. The owners and Chef Andrew have taught me the most amongst all the chefs I’ve trained under he has motivated me and put a battery in my back like no other. The faith and pride they allowed me to feel curating specials, assisting with menu crafting and intimate dinners and tastings has allowed me to go from an at home chef to becoming a respected chef with a team by his side who truly respects and has a lot of admiration for each other. The pressure and standards he has given over the years has brought me to a level I never dreamed of. The dream is ever growing and the list of accomplishments is never ending. Without the struggles I wouldn’t have made it to where I am now. The child in me would be blown away that the quiet kid who didn’t fit in had a voice.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Dealing with being a mixed child and living in an area not as blended as other parts of California I dealt a lot with the way I was perceived and how I actually was. At a young age I was dismissed as a troubled kid dealing with being dyslexic and told I was going to grow up a thug who wouldn’t amount to anything. Hearing that amongst being called slurs and berated with the constant questions of what’s your background what’s your ethnicity you don’t look this way or that way. It was tough finding my own way and feeling truly apart of one side or the other. Over time I would follow the beat of my own drum,In college I pushed to have a program (Black Student Union) to help other students from similar backgrounds accomplish their own goals and graduate, after dropping out due to the death of my stepfather and grandfather I started to go against a lot of my cultural norms expressing my self through tattoos ,fashion and food. As a chef the hardest struggle was finding my voice in the kitchen, in my everyday life I’m a chill quiet guy who sticks to the background and people watch, but in this industry the quiet will be eaten alive, over time I find that for me personally the classic French chef approach of ruling by fear and yelling wasn’t my style. Teaching and working with different personalities takes more than treating them as a collective I found connecting and knowing the way each person learns goes a lot further than bending to my will and way.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the Sous Chef at The Alchemists Garden we are a craft cocktail bar and restaurant, we specialize in making the best cocktails and cuisine with local vendors and locally grown products. We have drinks and food items from all around the world from carnivore to vegan dishes and high quality alcohols and mocktails. I assist in running the kitchen along with my Head Chef and Owner Andrew Brune he is the true mastermind behind the food but with his guiding hands I’ve provided the public with some amazing dishes and desserts from the all vegetable lasagna (red sauce and green sauce variations), a strawberry milk tiramisu, seasonal cheesecakes, and avocado pesto duck pasta but my pride and joy is getting people to love mushrooms they are my favorite ingredients I will put them in pasta, lasagna and even stand alone in all kinds of different sauces I have them tattooed on my arm as a reminder and proof of my love. It helps set me apart as a chef along with my willingness to learn and change over time I take from all different cultures and backgrounds to make my dishes differ from the rest, the lack of fear to fail has never stopped me from making some truly remarkable and also awful creations…chocolate tamale sorry again.
As a kitchen we are always changing with the seasons with 3 menu drops a year along with new cocktails and a speakeasy we are a constant growing echo system accepting of any and all people.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My family is the most important thing to me, a lot of what I do in my career has my family in mind. My mom taught me at a young age that everything you do is a reflection of your family so with that mind set I was always aware of what I do and said. It gave me the fearlessness to stand up for what I know is right and the awareness to mind my business when it matters most. Having my grandparents come from Texas to California leaving behind all of what they knew to start fresh and seeing what they accomplished along with my uncle and mom it pushed me to be great. For my siblings as the oldest I made a promise to myself to always give them a role model to look up to and keep going no matter how hard it got. For my Mom it was to make her proud and to strive to be the reason she has something to brag about to all her friends. My wife has been the newest motivation for me seeing how hard her family has worked to be where they are I’ve wanted nothing more than to give her the world and life she deserves… she tells me I need to have a vacation(she’s probably right) but we’re still young and motivated so in my 40s seems like a better time. Whether they know it or not all I do is for my family I work long hours and constantly thinking of new ways to be better so that I can make them proud.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alchemistsgarden.com/menu
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/odmnico?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Image Credits
All credits are to Sarah Kathleen