Nicolás López

Nicolás (Nico) López Chef Nico oversees all culinary operations at Mercado Little Spain, Chef José Andrés’s first outpost in New York City, a 35,000-square-foot Spanish food hall and the largest project in the restaurant group. As part of his day-to-day, Nico supervises all production and execution on the culinary side, serves as a key on-the-record spokesperson for the Mercado and a surrogate for Chef Andrés, liaises with multiple departments within the Mercado and the José Andrés Grouphome office, all while continuing to work on everything from menu development and recipe creation to creating new Mercado concepts like additional food kiosks. Since opening, Mercado Little Spain has been recognized by The New York Times as the best new restaurant in 2019 and included in their list of 100 Best Restaurants in 2022. Chef Nico was also the winner of the US Sherry Cup and was awarded Best Dessert Pairing at the World Sherry Cup in 2021.

During the pandemic when restaurants were forced to close, Chef Nico oversaw the creation of 136,000 meals provided for the nonprofit World Central Kitchen to feed those facing food insecurity. In 2021, Nico was named to Nation Restaurant News’ Power List for this extraordinary work.

Prior to Mercado Little Spain’s opening, Nico spent two years as one of the primary chefs helping Chef Andrés, ThinkFoodGroup, and the renowned Adrià brothers develop the concept and its more than 1,000 recipes. He played an important role training more than 100 chefs on proper Spanish techniques and quickly acted to help entirely reconfigure concepts that were evolving even after opening. While helping with R&D for Mercado Little Spain, Chef Nico also contributed to menu development at other Andrés restaurants, including the two-Michelin-starred minibar by José Andrés and Jaleo, and helped in the development of Andrés’ cookbook, Vegetables Unleashed.

Before coming to the U.S., Nico led a prestigious culinary career. He began cooking professionally at 16, studying in Madrid while staging (interning) at the Michelin-starred restaurant Zalacain. He then left for London to join the team at three-Michelin-starred restaurant The Fat Duck, and later working with two-Michelin-starred Chef Paco Roncero in Madrid. During his time with Roncero, Nico worked in the R&D department for the two-Michelin-starred La Terraza del Casino, helped develop and conceptualize Sublimotion in Ibiza, the world’s most expensive restaurant where audio visual technology and gastronomy intertwined to create the first multisensorial gastronomic experience in Europe, and opened Version Original in Bogota, Colombia. He also played a role in teaching master classes for Master Chef Colombia and Master Chef Junior Colombia, where he trained contestants on different techniques and ingredients in advance of competitions where they would be required for use. Nico stayed in Colombia for three years before moving to Washington, D.C.