Born and raised in Seattle, cooking came very easy to Guerrero. As she says, it’s something she can almost do blindfolded and it’s the one thing that gives her confidence. In her youth, Guerrero was an introverted individual who didn’t say much and just listened, but cooking and having her own restaurant have helped her come out of her shell. “I actually enjoy going out there and talking to my costumers and getting to know them,” she says.

“What’s funny about Julie is that she is all about cooking,” says Carlos Kainz, Guerrero’s husband and business partner. “She’s not about the fame and glory.”

Guerrero’s interest in cooking began when she was a young girl. She would watch her aunt cook for their large family. Her aunt, a very head-strong woman, never wanted anyone in the kitchen while she was cooking nor did she like anyone watching her cook. Therefore, Guerrero could only observe from afar. Yet, her aunt’s cooking, especially her desserts, were what inspired Guerrero to want to be a chef. Though Guerrero still longs for her aunt’s home made tortillas, what she enjoys most about cooking is the history behind it.

“Food is history and the type of food I do is very classic cooking,” says Guerrero who believes that the historical background of food and its various tastes are a way of keeping tradition alive.

Her menu, a combination of French, Spanish, Italian, and Mexican, is a tribute to her and her husband’s heritage. Guerrero’s parents are Mexican with a Spanish background on her father’s end. Kainz is Mexican and Austrian. The menu changes by season and focuses on French, Spanish and Italian dishes throughout the year, while Mexican dishes dominate the menu during the summer time. Dulces also offers the second largest wine list in Seattle, a collection that Kainz is proud of.

When Dulces Latin Bistro first opened in 1992, it started as a bakery café in West Seattle where Guerrero and Kainz served breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three years. When they moved to the Madrona neighborhood, Guerrero and Kainz decided to focus on improving one meal – dinner – and have been doing so for the past 12 years. Guerrero and Kainz have strived to offer their guests the best service possible.

“Dulces has developed into a really nice restaurant that’s a little more like a private club,” Kainz says. “We know most of our guests by name, we know what they like and what they don’t, we know their families, their kids.” It’s this particular attention to courtesy and personal attention that Guerrero considers the key to Dulces’ success. Kainz credits their personal touch to their Latino background. Guerrero, for example, is very close to her family. On Sundays she visits her grandmother and stops by her mother’s house for a family dinner. She talks to her brothers (five in total) on a daily basis and they all live within a 10 block radius from each other.

Though she occasionally invites her family over for barbecues, Guerrero rarely cooks at home. “I guess that’s the big joke,” Guerrero says, but at least she has butter, jam and toast in her fridge, which is all that she really needs to make burnt toast.