Our Story
Before there was Rikas, there was Ricardina.
Rikas is a family restaurant, and it all started in a small kitchen in Peru. That's where our great-grandmother, Ricardina, cooked for the people she loved and taught my mother, Maria, everything she knew.
My mother kept those recipes alive when our family moved to Los Angeles, and she cooked them for us at home. The food has changed over the years, but the flavors are still Ricardina's.
In 2018, I opened Rikas on 3rd Street with my brother Victor and my sister Maria. Now our kids are growing up at the same table. Rikas grew from the seed Ricardina planted, and that's why the name means so much to us.
From Ricardina, to Raul, to Maria, and now to our kitchen on 3rd Street.
- Peru
A family that cooks
A grandfather who was a butcher and cook. A grandmother who ran a Chinese restaurant in Chimbote, where school vacations meant tasting everything she made.
- Early 1990s
To Los Angeles
Jose's family immigrated from Peru, and he grew up here in LA.
- After high school
Le Cordon Bleu
Culinary school in Pasadena, then the line at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
- 2018
Rikas opens
Chef Jose Baca opens his first brick-and-mortar restaurant in the heart of Koreatown.
