Mourning Chuy Lopez: ‘He was a culinary rock star...but you never would have known it.’
Even if you didn’t know Alfredo “Chuy” Lopez, you probably ate and loved his food.
Lopez, who died recently, was big in stature and was known for having an even bigger heart from his earliest days as a line chef at several of Sacramento’s well known restaurants before becoming the owner of his own food business
He was an immigrant who had an immigrant’s love for Sacramento, his adopted hometown. Here Lopez toiled in the shadows of kitchens and bistros, but it was like a dream of fellowship and community freely shared by a man. He probably didn’t know how many people loved him.
Only 42, and suffering a host of health challenges not uncommon in the brutally demanding world of culinary work, Lopez had pneumonia and died on Wednesday. Some wondered if Lopez had COVID-19, but his family told me he didn’t.
In the end, the cause of Lopez’s death was less significant than how he lived, and how he loved people and his community.
“He was a family man,” said Gerardo Lopez, his nephew. “Very humble. Always looking out for everyone,” “He never said ‘no.’ ”
This was especially true when it came to feeding the homeless and hungry.
Cooking with kindness
Paul Somerhausen, founder and CEO of SactoMoFo, the decade-old food truck catering service in Sacramento, said Lopez felt compelled to feed people.
“So he would get up at 4:30 a.m. on his day off and make 150 burritos for the people at St. John’s Program for Real Change,” he said. “He would feed people at Loaves & Fishes (Sacramento’s largest homeless charity. ) I’m convinced that if he were standing next to you and you were shivering, he would give you his jacket.”
People such as Lopez too often don’t get the recognition they deserve in death, much less in life. But we need countless souls to make a community, and this man, in his own way, made his community better with his humanity.
Lopez was a working man who came to this country with little money and precious few English language skills. He was a teenage dishwasher before he prepped food and worked as a line chef. Working and living in Sacramento for nearly 30 years, Lopez became a kind of statesman in his business who taught others how to cook properly. But he did so with compassion and caring.
The restaurant business has its share of screamers, of exacting perfectionists who take their frustrations out on the people working below them. Lopez taught people differently.
“He taught people how to be cooks with kindness,” said Patrick Mulvaney, co-owner of Mulvaney B&L with his wife, Bobbin. “Not by yelling, but by gentle reaffirming. With heart and persistence. He made a lot of cooks better.”
Most recently, Lopez was the owner/operator of Azteca Street Tacos. He prepared and sold splendid burritos and tacos for profit and charity.
Just the sight of his faintly psychedelic food truck was enough to trigger full on foodie reverence from his legions of fans. They would line up for the pleasure of sampling his food – a pleasure Chuy Lopez shared because he loved to see people eat. He took pride in the smiles created by his gifts.
“There were just layers of flavors,” said Chris Macias, the former Bee food and drink writer who knew Lopez for years. “Chuy would (make) this beautiful salsa that was spicy but wouldn’t kill your taste buds. He just knew how to put food together. He put such care into whatever he was cooking....There was never a bad meal.”
From Mexico to Sac’s kitchens
Lopez was the protege of chefs such as Mulvaney, Stu Edgecombe, Brad Cecchi and others at restaurants such as Grange, Ella, Piatti, and Esquire Grill. He started as a dishwasher at the River City Brewing Company when it was at the now-demolished Downtown Plaza that was replaced by Golden 1 Center and Downtown Commons.
“He was shy, had trouble talking, he kept his head down in the dish washing pit,” Mulvaney said. “But he had an innate talent for cooking and an other worldly ability to grab a sizzling platter out of the broilers. He did the work of three people.”
A native of Mexico City, Lopez followed his brothers and other family members to Sacramento. They worked in Sacramento kitchens as the city experienced a kind of Renaissance in its food scene – which could not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of workers from Mexico like Lopez.
“He was a culinary rock star in town but you never would have known it,” Somerhausen said. “He was always one of my top performing trucks, always early, always ready to help in a pinch. He never participated in the gossip of the restaurant business. He just put his head down and got things done.”
Great food was part of the successful recipe. The other was Lopez: His caring, his dedication, his endless drive to make something of himself and to help his family and community.
Lopez built that reputation one hard working day after another. He was one of those people whose sweat and toil produced goodness where it didn’t exist before. He always had three jobs going at once, was always selling stuff and buying stuff, always in motion.
What hurts now is the knowledge that while he was caring about others, he was suffering.
“He had a heart attack in his 30s,” Mulvaney said.
Said Somerhausen: “Self-employment brings (stress) and a lot of us process that through eating and weight gain...He had been in and out of doctor visits.”
Somerhausen said Lopez’s death came as a particular shock because Lopez had been so key in helping keep food trucks in business during the terrible year of 2020 that was upended by COVID-19.
His death showed how a person doesn’t have to be rich or well known to make a mark in this life. Or to be born in this country to touch people’s hearts in American communities , and here in Sacramento.
Alfredo Lopez was an immigrant who should make every anti-immigrant ashamed of himself.
Lopez leaves a wife and four kids ranging in ages from 11 to 20, Gerardo Lopez said. Memorial services are pending and his friends are hurting.
“He and I were both first-generation immigrants who shared a cultural background and the experience of trying to make it in this country” said Somerhausen, who is from Spain. “He started from scratch. In this business I try to keep a professional distance but it was hard to do that with Chuy. He was a very special man and he left a trail of gratitude behind him.”
Correction: A photo caption with this story that incorrectly identified Lupe Lopez, daughter of Chuy Lopez, was corrected on Monday evening.
This story was originally published January 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
