Claudette Zepeda's Stunning Recipes for Aguachiles, Birria, and More

Chef Claudette Zepeda is the San Diego-based chef behind Chispa Hospitality, which includes restaurants in California, Mexico, and Australia. The chef's vibrant dishes reflect her ingredient experimentation and influences from growing up in Tijuana, traveling throughout Mexico and around the world, and working extensively in California restaurants.

The chef, acclaimed for her time as chef de cuisine at Bracero and chef and partner at El Jardín, helms the dining concepts at Alila Marea Beach in Encinitas, California, including cliffside restaurant Vaga, which won over our travel editor. Zepeda has contributed to F&W cooking guides for Mexican specialties like aguachiles and birria, with stunning dishes you'll see among her recipes here.

"Mexico is a complex melting pot of people, where the story stops being about why we're so different and starts being about why we're so similar," Zepeda says. "Chinese laborers built the city of Tijuana; Japanese immigrants established the entire seafood industry in Ensenada. These are the stories that inspire me."

Here are some of our favorite recipes the celebrated chef has shared with Food & Wine, from her famous birria to a cocktail made with the recipe's leftover broth.