Chef
Alejandro Guzman
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Los Angeles, California, United States
i. Biography
Jicama, pipián rojo, and grill heat sit at the center of Alejandro Guzman’s cooking at LA Cha Cha Chá in Los Angeles. The work is shaped by ingredients handled early and often, beginning in North Hollywood and moving through dish sinks, tables, a family restaurant, beverage work, a sandwich counter, and a kitchen where Mexican flavor is interpreted through California produce rather than copied whole. That gives Guzman’s food a practical register: familiar in reference, sharpened by place, and built for the city around him.
The Climb
Executive Chef at LA Cha Cha Chá is the current apex of Alejandro Guzman’s restaurant work, and it gathers several kinds of kitchen experience into one role. Early restaurant labor, family restaurant exposure, and time spent moving between front-of-house and back-of-house all feed into the way he leads now. The position reads less as a finish line than as a consolidation of skills already in circulation: service discipline, hospitality instinct, and a working knowledge of how different parts of a restaurant shape the final plate.
Today
At LA Cha Cha Chá in Los Angeles, Alejandro Guzman works as Executive Chef with a method built on adaptation rather than direct reproduction. Family-rooted ingredients remain present, but they are filtered through the precision of earlier cooking posts and the balance work developed in beverage roles. The result is composed but not formal, with plates that hold together cleanly without losing ease. "I don’t like to recreate Mexican dishes directly because in Los Angeles they would be out of place. I rather aim for a flavor profile or experience found in traditional Mexican cuisine and magnify it using California abundance." Both dishes point to a cook working through texture, chile, seed, acid, and abundance. In Guzman’s hands, those elements become a clear flavor vocabulary: jicama for crunch, roasted chile for warmth, and layered savor that builds rather than shouts.
Signature
Alejandro's signature dishes include Tostada Terraza, Tostada Monumento, and Carrot Flan.
In Their Words “I don’t like to recreate Mexican dishes directly because in Los Angeles they would be out of place. I rather aim for a flavor profile or experience found in traditional Mexican cuisine and magnify it using California abundance.” “I craft intentional tasting menus rooted in Northern California’s bounty, blending French, Mexican, and Japanese techniques with precise execution and warm hospitality.”
Recognition
Recognition around Guzman’s cooking follows the dishes that have moved with him. His résumé also shows an uncommon spread across hospitality: childhood kitchen labor, a 2019 sous chef post, the first beverage director role at Sqirl, a 2023 chef role at Fabby’s Sandwicherie, and now the Executive Chef title at LA Cha Cha Chá. That background explains the grain of the food: family ingredients, restaurant discipline, beverage structure, and a Los Angeles sense of place.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Alejandro
Where did Alejandro Guzman train or study?
He began his kitchen training at age 12 at his mother’s Mexican restaurant, El Taco Loco in North Hollywood, washing dishes, cleaning tables, and later working the grill.
What are Alejandro Guzman's most notable roles?
His notable roles include sous chef at Le Comptoir in 2019, first beverage director at Sqirl, chef at Fabby’s Sandwicherie in 2023, and Executive Chef at LA Cha Cha Chá.
