Lopez, who has opened a trio of fast casual Mexican restaurants called George Lopez’s Chingon Kitchen with a menu inspired by his grandmother, and a brewery called George Lopez Brewing Co. That was the only time we were ever together,” said the comedian, who is now digging into those memories for his other career.

That was the only real time she was home. That would be the only way I would ever be able to talk to her. “All of my best memories of my grandmother are the times we spent cooking in the kitchen. But she worked long hours and there was little family time in the household except for when it came to food. His father abandoned him when he was an infant his mother did the same when he was 10 years old, leaving his grandmother to raise him.

George Lopez has often drawn deep from his childhood memories for his stand-up act, talking about growing up poor in a Mexican American household that was far from perfect.