Executive Chef Jose Luis Lopez

A Mexico native, Executive Chef Jose Luis Lopez credits his grandmother for teaching him to cook when he was just eight years old, "She always told me, 'you need to learn; this might help you one day.'" From the looks of things, she was right. Chef Lopez began his career working at highly established restaurants around Dallas such as Jasper's, La Cubanita, and Pescabar. However, he began his love of Spain and Spanish cuisine over twenty years ago as a line cook in the kitchen of Ketama, an earlier restaurant by Si Tapas owner, Ildefonso Jimenez. Later, when Jimenez opened the acclaimed, Hola, he naturally brought Lopez on as a cook where his passion and talent earned him a promotion to Executive Chef.

Now, as the Executive Chef of Si, the hottest Tapas bar in trendy Uptown Dallas, he still works closely with Jimenez to create traditional Spanish Tapas with a modern twist. His dishes have appeared in D Magazine on numerous occasions and even earned him The Best in DFW award from The Dallas Morning News. As for the future, Chef Lopez continues to travel to Spain for fresh ideas, but he believes that Si's success is due in part to their consistency, "We work hard every day for our customers to get the same flavors they got the first time they fell in love with our food."