Chef Barbara Sibley Talks Pirates, Prohibition & La Palapa

If you're looking for an authentic, home cooked Mexican meal, let your weary feet and growling stomach take you to La Palapa, chef Barbara Sibley's East Village Mexican home-away-from-home.

Sibley, who was born and raised in Mexico City, found her way to The Big Apple to attend Barnard. She got her first taste of the restaurant world as the coat check girl at the La Tulipe restaurant and eventually worked her way up in the restaurant chain (while earning a degree in anthropology), from restaurant menu to chef to owner. 

At La Palapa, you'll find genuine Mexican cooking, the kind that Sibley herself grew up with. Even as her restaurant grows in popularity, she sticks to her roots, making her mole from scratch and not bowing to the trend of serving salsa and chips at the table.

“I still have to explain to people that chips and salsa are not Mexican,” Sibley said. “The salsa is served to accompany your food and just as you wouldn’t ask for a piece of bread and have it with ketchup on your table, the salsas are condiments, they’re not meant to be eaten with chips.”

Sibley talks about what's up next for her…

Not only does Sibley stay authentic to her cuisine, but also to her business philosopy. Sibley is a member of High Road NY, a group of restaurant industry professionals committed to the fair treatment of workers. One of the leading ladies in the movement, alongside of Francine Stevens and Amanda Cohen, she is well known for her excellent labor practices.

“I provide paid sick days, I pay people a living wage," Sibley said. "These are very basic parameters, but a lot of restaurants don’t do that.” La Palapa does that and so much more. Sibley is also committed to serving wholesome, fresh ingredients in a welcoming environment. With integrated indoor and outdoor seating, large wooden fans and festive string lights, La Palapa, at first glance, seem less fine dining and more like a family home. The smell of warm corn tortillas wafting onto the street is all it takes to lure diners into this restaurant's casual seating.

Though Mexican cuisine is Barbara Sibley's first love, she is excited to venture into new territory with the craft bar, Pirates and Poets, opening this November. The project started off slower than expected with Sibley explaining, “we have been doing this amazing renovation and it’s been great fun but it’s also been incredibly slow and difficult because it turns out that the building is in terrible shape.”

Sibley is also excited by the establishment’s history: “It was the 50th liquor license after Prohibition. We found a tunnel that goes to this other bar across the street that was also a bar during Prohibition. There’s a tunnel from that one to First Avenue; something like 15,000 barrels of liquor would come through loaded through the East River.”

As the renovation comes to a close, Sibley is shifting her focus to La Palapa, coming up with new concepts that will change the face of Mexican cuisine. “I feel like I have, in no way, exhausted the cuisine or that palate," Sibley said. "I haven’t even scratched the surface. I have not even begun to get tired of doing what I do.”