Siesta Co. A Piece of Spain in LA — Meet Co-founder Lucía Flors

“Conservas” are foods preserved in cans or jars. They often include anchovies, mussels, white tuna, mackerel, octopus and other seafood that is packed into cans. They’re ubiquitous and can be found in any bar in Spain behind the glass display case. Conservas can be enjoyed in the aperitivo (pre-meal) with bread, a glass of wine, or you can throw them in a hearty salad. Overall, they are deeply ingrained in Spain’s culture.

In Spain, the majority of the tinned fish come from the waters of the north east of Spain: the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian sea, which covers the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country. Each region has tons of mom-and-pop conserva companies, but out of all of them, Galicia boasts the strongest canning industry. Portugal, Spain’s neighboring country, is also big on conservas. 

Tinned fish is a longstanding tradition. From the fishing techniques to the cleaning of the products before the packaging, you could say that tinned fish in Spain is almost like an art form. In the U.S., not only are Spanish conservas very expensive, but they’re considered gourmet food. 

Growing up in Spain, I vividly remember eating my mom’s freshly made green salads. Besides the simple dressing and the fresh ingredients, what I loved the most was the fresh tinned fish she added, like tuna or mackerel. When I moved to LA, it was very hard for me to replicate my mom’s salads because the tuna that is sold in the U.S. is entirely different from the tuna that is sold in Spain. My experience buying canned albacore tuna (white tuna) in the U.S. has always been lackluster. It’s watery, soggy, bland and the flavor is barely there.  

Whenever my relatives come to visit me in LA, they always bring stacks and stacks of white tuna. However, this happiness is always short-lived and only lasts a few months. I remember the feeling of despair I felt when I was down to my last few cans this year. I either ate them at work for lunch or on the weekends in a hearty salad. 

In the beginning of September on a lazy Sunday morning, I was scrolling on my Instagram Explore page and came across Siesta Co. I was enticed by the beautiful packaging and the fact that they shipped their products from Spain. Siesta Co’s tinned fish is produced in Galicia. 

I saw that Siesta Co’s products were available at Wine + Eggs, a really cool natural wine grocery store in Atwater Village, so I immediately got dressed and headed there. 

I bought one can of white tuna and one can of sardines. 

I had the white tuna in a salad I made that day with some lettuce, minced onion and cherry tomatoes. But before I tossed the white tuna in the salad, I decided to take one bite out of the can and OMG. I felt like I was transported back to Spain. The texture was so delicate and smooth, and the flavor was exquisitely rich. Siesta’s white tuna is none other than Bonito del Norte, which is Spain’s finest tuna. A far cry from the ones that are sold at most U.S. grocery stores.

Another memory I have about conservas is eating sardines with my dad straight out of the can with some toasted bread. I ate the sardines that I had bought on a different day. For this, I toasted some sourdough bread and ate the sardines straight out of the can — It was heaven! The texture was very tender and firm. The skin was so shiny and they weren’t heavily salted. The olive oil was very subtle and not overpowering. I’m going to let the picture do the talking. 

Amazed by the unmatched quality of the fish, I sent them an e-mail. The brand was founded by married couple Lucía and Carlos Flors, who are from Valencia, Spain. 

I met the co-founder Lucía in mid-November in her beautiful house in Silverlake. It’s always a little nerve wracking when I interview someone, but more so when it’s at their house! However, from the moment I met her, I felt like we had known each other for years. She had a special energy that emanated warmth and hospitality. We sat in her kitchen where she kindly offered me some snacks.

We talked about her and her husband’s professional careers, the inception of the brand, and how they ended up moving to LA. We got so carried away in the conversation that it took a while for me to turn on the recorder! Although Lucía and Carlos moved to LA in 2019, the prior years they had lived in two different states, Virginia and Missouri. 

Siesta’s values are not only reflected in the unparalleled quality of their products, but in the intricate attention to detail, from the packaging to the aesthetic of the website. 

At the end of our interview, she gifted me a box with Siesta Co. tinned fish!! Although the company is based in LA, they ship nationwide and their products can be found in certain states at selected retailers. When I found them on Instagram, I saw that they were available at Wine + Eggs in Atwater Village, but they’re also available in 19 retailers in the LA area!

For more information, please visit their website to check their physical store locator. 

What’s the backstory of Siesta Co. and how did you and Carlos meet?  

Carlos and I met while doing our Radiology residency in Valencia. We’re both physicians. I’m from Sagunto, a city near Valencia. Carlos was born in Madrid and grew up in Alicante.

Regarding the backstory of Siesta Co, when we moved to the U.S. in 2013, we found that there weren’t many products from Spain. Unlike other European products, which are easier to find, like Italian products, it was hard to find products from Spain. You have to go to very specific places because they aren’t sold at regular grocery stores. Every time we went home to Spain to visit our family, our luggage on the way back was full of food (laughs) FULL! Most of it was conservas because we love them. Now, conservas are becoming increasingly more popular and they’re easier to find. But when we started toying with the idea of creating Siesta Co., which was a while ago, it was hard. 

I want to make sure I get the timeline right. Prior to moving to LA in 2019, you lived in Virginia and Missouri, correct?

Yes. In 2010 we came to the U.S just for a year of research fellowship. After that, we moved back to Spain and while we were there, we completed all the necessary exams to practice medicine in the U.S. with the idea of maybe coming back one day. So yeah, it was in 2013 when we permanently moved to the States for the clinical fellowship, and we stayed to work in radiology. Our daughters were born here (in the U.S.) 

Siesta is something that’s inherent in Spanish culture. Why did you choose that name?

In the beginning, we wanted to look for a name that could be widely understood by Americans. Siesta is a universal word that encapsulates our project. Siesta is an emblem of Spain, a symbol of good life. It’s important for us to stop during the day and enjoy the food, enjoy the aperitivo with your friends, with your partner, or by yourself! Siesta, that sense of pausing and relaxing, encapsulates the value of our brand really well. 

Why did you choose to create a tinned fish business specifically?

The project of Siesta was born out of our enjoyment of bringing a piece of Spain to the U.S. The goal, the dream, would be to bring not only tinned fish, but things we love about our country. We’re starting out with tinned fish because it’s what we love the most. But our dream would be to bring more things from Spain that we love.

What’s your earliest memory of eating conservas?

Conservas are ever-present in all of our meals. The aperitivo is a very important part of our country, especially on the weekends where you’re with family and friends. In Spain, as you know, gatherings and family reunions are centered around food. Growing up, there would always be canned mussels on the table. When I was little, I’d also bring a tuna sandwich with olives (bocadillo de atún con aceitunas) as a snack. 

Out of all the products in the Siesta Co. line, do you have a favorite one?

(Laughs) I like all of them. If I had to choose… probably the mussels. I love the escabeche sauce, a very traditional sauce from Spain. I like sardines, tuna… I love all of them. You can eat them in the aperitivo, but I also love eating them for breakfast. I’ll do a “pan con tomate” toast and add the tuna or the sardines. 

I love white tuna and sardines. How do you like to eat them?

You can eat them in so many different ways, many people eat them in salads. There’s tons of recipes. But we love eating them straight out of the can with some toasted bread, or with “pan con tomate”. For the white tuna, sometimes we add red peppers (Piquillo peppers) or olives. You can add them in salads or pastas but we like to keep it very simple. 

I love the vintage-style packaging. Can you tell me more about it?

We wanted the packaging to be classic and atemporal, but with a modern twist. We reached out to David Sanden, our designer. He did an amazing job and he hit the nail in the head. He works in tandem with Jara Van Herpt, a designer from Valencia. She was the one who gave a twist to the colors — you can tell there’s a feminine touch. Both of them are an unbeatable duo. 

What about the pictures from the website?

The pictures were taken by Francho Lázaro. Jara Van Herpt collaborated with the art direction.

Siesta Co. is a brand from Spain. How do you want to be perceived by the U.S. consumer? Especially for those that have never eaten tinned fish before in their life. In other words, what’s the mission of Siesta Co. in the U.S.?

We want to bring Spain closer to the U.S. Our gastronomy is still relatively unknown to the American market and we want to be a connector between both cultures. We want Siesta Co. to be seen as a brand that offers traditional high-quality products. We also want to highlight the fact that Siesta Co. is an organic brand. There are many tinned fish companies in the market, but for us, it was very important to create an organic brand. 

That’s right! The whole line is organic.

Exactly, but we can’t have the USDA Organic label in our products. In Europe, these products are certified organic, but not in the U.S. because it’s seafood. But in the cans, there’s only the fish and the olive oil, which is organic. The mussels are marinated in an escabeche sauce that is also organic.  

Siesta Co. has been featured in renowned publications such as the NY Times and Bon Appétit. How do you feel about all the feedback the brand has been getting so far?

We’re so happy! Like I said, Siesta is a project that was born out of our enjoyment of bringing a piece of Spain to the U.S. It’s not just the feedback that makes us happy, but the fact that people are actually enjoying our products. 

How do you balance working at Siesta Co. and taking care of your two daughters?

We’re both full-time radiologists and we love our jobs (laughs). We work on Siesta in our free time. We have help, we’re a very small team but we have some help. We try to organize ourselves in the best possible way. 

When I came across the brand for the first time, I thought you worked on Siesta Co. full-time, wow! 

Oh, no. In 2017 we started with the idea, but then we had our oldest daughter four years ago, so we put that on hold. But by then, we had already started doing tinned fish tastings. We tried a lot of them. We wanted to find a good ratio between quality and price. There are tinned fish that are considered delicacies, and the price is exorbitant. We wanted Siesta Co. to be a product that you could eat for breakfast and whenever you wanted. If it were a $30 tinned fish, I wouldn’t be able to eat it every day. So it was finally earlier this year that we were like, ‘Now it’s the right time to do it’. Neither of our families are into business, so we are very new to this. When the products were shipping here for the first time, we still didn’t have a warehouse! No one wanted to take us in, but we ended up finding a fulfillment center in Atwater Village and they’re an amazing team. But yes, we work on Siesta in our free time.

What is the future of Siesta Co.?

The main core value of Siesta is our passion for Spain. So we have a lot of ideas in mind. Like I said, we would like to introduce more things from Spain in the U.S. Not only from the business side, but more so on the romantic side of it, which is to highlight the amazing things Spain has to offer. I would say the future would be bringing things from Spain to the U.S. and making them accessible to the general public. 

Note: Siesta’s Spanish botijos are now available for sale on their website! Botijos are ancient jugs made of porous clay designed for cooling water. They’re very typical in rural Spain.

Los Angeles

What do you like about living in LA?

We moved here in the summer of 2019, before the pandemic. But we already knew the city because we visited a lot. Whenever we visited, we tried to stay at Airbnbs within this area. Since we found out about Silverlake, we fell in love with it: the hills, the architecture, the walkability… It’s a very neighborly place. Los Angeles is an incredible city, it has so many neighborhoods and each of it it’s like its own world. That was one of the things we liked about LA. It’s so multicultural and the neighborhoods are so different from each other. And of course, the food scene. There’s so many amazing restaurants and chefs. The fresh produce is also insane. The weather is very similar to Mediterranean weather. Palm trees remind us a lot of Alicante, where Carlos is from. The food, the culture… that’s what captivated us about LA. 

What are your favorite places?

We have two kids, so on the weekends we’re always looking for kid-friendly activities. We love going to Pasadena and Descanso Gardens. They love it there. We also love going to Malibu. We go to Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which is very near the Malibu Country Mart, an outdoor mall that has a kid’s playground.

The Malibu Lagoon State Beach is a very idyllic beach: the birds, the lagoon… We love going with our kids. They love running there. We usually go on Sundays and we wake up very early. Outside of the city, we love going to Ojai, it’s so cool. When we go, we go to Ojai Valley Inn. Laguna Beach is also nice. Those are the places we go to the most. Other neighborhoods in LA…when Carlos and I go out to dinner, we may go to a different neighborhood. But usually on the weekends when we’re with our kids, we ride our electric bikes on the hills and go to restaurants nearby. 

In Silverlake, there’s also beautiful and iconic mid-century style houses, like Richard Neutra’s VDL House and Studio, John Lautner’s ‘Silvertop’ residence, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House, and the houses by Gregory Ain and Rudolph Schindler.

There’s a place called Row in Downtown LA, it’s a bunch of industrial buildings with shops and restaurants. One of them is a Japanese fried chicken place called Pikunico. We love going there with the kids and browsing shops. It’s a great place for them to ride scooters and bikes. Row also hosts markets with vintage clothes and other cool stuff. 

What are your favorite restaurants?

(Lucía sent me an e-mail of her favorite restaurants sorted by neighborhood)

Silverlake

In our neighborhood, we love Cafe Stella because of their exceptional food and amazing atmosphere. We also love Speranza for Italian. The patio is very charming. When we’re in the mood for fish tacos, we go to Playita Mariscos. We love Botanica, everything is delicious and the vegetarian options are outstanding! Pine and Crane is a nice Taiwanese spot. Alimento (Italian) is also great. 

Los Feliz

Jeni’s Ice Cream is our favorite ice cream shop in LA.

Maru Coffee, their Creamtop coffee is incredible.

Echo Park

Konbi has the best Japanese sandwiches and croissants in town.

Tsubaki is a Japanese restaurant that offers amazing California-style izakaya. 

Beverly Hills / Hollywood

Chateau Marmont is so worth the visit. Beverly Hills Hotel is another classic spot with a few restaurants. Cecconi’s is an outstanding Italian restaurant in West Hollywood. 

Downtown

Manuela is a great farm-to-table restaurant located inside a gallery. The food is so delicious and the patio is perfect. Bestia is also great. The Grand Central Market is always a fun option. We love bringing our family there when they come visit us. 

Venice

We love Gjusta! Although lately it’s becoming somewhat impossible to go there because of their seemingly never ending lines. 

Malibu

The Malibu Farm Pier Cafe is a farm-to-table restaurant. My daughters love it. The views are amazing! You should also try the lobster roll at Broad Street Oyster Co.

Let’s say I’m planning a trip to Valencia. What places and restaurants do you recommend?

These are a few wonderful restaurants that are great examples of our local gastronomy:

Mimar, Casa Carmela, Casa Montaña and Bodega Anyora.

Visit any of the Ricard Camerena restaurants. His newest one is called Bar-X.

Some of these other restaurants are a bit trendier, but they’re also wonderful: La Sastrería, Ultramarinos Huerta, Bar Mistela/  Bar Cremaet, Varetto, Pelayo Gastro Trinquet and Vaqueta Gastro Mercat.

In the city you should visit: 

– Mercado de Colón has some cafes and shops nearby. There’s a nice walk to the Eixample, which is just on the other side of the Gran Vía, also with nice shops and restaurants.

– From Colón, you could walk to the opposite direction to the Catedral and its surrounding areas. These include Calle de la Paz, Plaza Patriarca, Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas, Plaza Redonda, La Lonja, Mercado Central and Barrio del Carmen.

– You could also walk along the former course of the Turia River (now with gardens)

– Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias. 

– Take a nice short day trip to the Albufera National Park. If you have time, take a boat tour. It’s magical!

Siesta Co. Website and Instagram