What has Josh Lopez been up to?

Lopez was up there among Brisbane’s most celebrated chefs when he walked away from renewing the lease at his restaurant The Wolfe on New Year’s Eve in 2020. His reputation was built on an earlier stint at GOMA Restaurant, during which he earned the gallery fine-diner two chef hats and was announced 2016’s Queensland Chef of the Year.

He’d earlier worked at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze in London and staged at Noma in Copenhagen, back when that was the thing to do. In short, it was hard to imagine Lopez ever walking away from the industry. But here we are, six years later, and the 42-year-old, other than a bunch of festival appearances and pop-ups, has been largely dormant.

“We purchased the last two years of a five-year lease with The Wolfe, and if you remember back [to late 2020], there was still quite a lot of uncertainty at the time with the pandemic.

“The lease was to be handed back on January 24 so we had a few weeks to bump out. And during that second week was when Queensland was forced into a snap lockdown, so that vindicated that decision.

“Also, my dad had a terminal cancer diagnosis,” Lopez says. “He was my biggest hero growing up. He had stomach cancer and passed in May 2021. But we were able to spend quality time with him, and you never get that back.”

Meanwhile, Lopez took up house painting, and slowly began to get used to being around his family more.

“I studied to become a real estate agent,” he says. “I continued with the house painting. I’d never been to my kid’s basketball game, never gone to the Christmas fete – just because, when you’re [leading] the kitchen, you know that I’m going to be there.

“It dawned on me that I hadn’t been around for [my kids], and my dad’s diagnosis made that really tangible and visceral for me – that time is limited. We may not get it again.”

Lopez has remained in touch with the industry, doing the odd dinner here and there, and remains a food ambassador for the Scenic Rim. Otherwise, though, a pop-up at Megan Nunn’s Winnifred’s this week with Western Australia’s Alkoomi Wines is a rare chance to reconnect with the chef’s thoughtfulness and skill with native and seasonal produce.

“I came to be involved via [podcaster, writer and marketing consultant] Nerida McPherson Conway. We met at a Noosa Food and Wine event in 2019.

“My dad’s diagnosis made that really tangible and visceral ... that time is limited.”Josh Lopez

“Alkoomi approached her because they have an existing relationship and she talked to me: ‘We’re looking at doing a Brisbane dinner and you’d be perfect.’”

Giving Lopez extra incentive was the Australian wine industry’s current struggles in the face of dwindling global demand; it just recorded its lowest annual crush in 25 years.

“Alkoomi is from Franklin River, which is a couple of hundred kilometres east of Margaret River, the more well-known wine region of Western Australia,” Lopez says. “It’s a family business and doing amazing quality wines, and that’s why I wanted to be involved. That synergy felt perfect.”

Lopez has used the Noongar-derived word Alkoomi, which translates to “the place we choose”, as a jumping off for five courses that will drill down into local and native produce.

The menu will be finalised this week after Lopez locks in exactly what’s available on the day, but you can expect dishes such as Fraser Isle Spanner Crab with scallop, custard apple, almond and paperbark, matched to a 2023 Icon Melaleuca Riesling; or eight-to-nine score Stockyard Black Wagyu served with mushrooms, garlic, blackberry and vanilla, paired with a 2017 Icon Wandoo semillon.

“Take the spanner crab: the Hervey Bay scallops will be lightly smoked in melaleuca, being paperbark – so it’s about imparting that little bit of smokiness and earthiness, and finishing it with an ink sauce, basically.

“Just today my supplier told me that they can’t get custard apples, even though they’re technically in-season. I’m sure someone will have them, but we may have to go on a little hunt or substitute something. But that’s how it is, and how it should be.

“The biggest respect I can pay is to the producers – the people who create all that deliciousness.”

Josh Lopez and Alkoomi Wines take over Winnifred’s this Wednesday, August 19. Tickets are available here.