As the Holiday Season is upon us, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and on those who have helped to shape our business and our life in a most significant way.  The year found us working among extraordinarily talented professionals, as well as cherished and dear friends.  We treasure these memories and relationships and we THANK YOU sincerely for touching our lives.   We look forward to working with each of you in the year to come.

We wish you a Very Happy Holiday Season and a New Year filled with peace and prosperity.

CHEERS!

Dan

“Here’s to the corkscrew – a useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, and the gate of pleasant folly.”

W.E.P. French
(From the wine list of Commander’s Palace, New Orleans, LA)

A battle rages over whether or not a young culinary apprentice should attend a prestigious culinary school or train his way through the ranks of the world’s leading restaurants.  That decision was made for Chef Jordan Lynn at an impressively young age, when he was given the opportunity of a lifetime to mentor with a culinary master.

A veteran of several local Phoenix kitchens by his early twenties, Lynn was tapped by La Grande Orange as the sole apprentice of Italian Gelato Master, Moreno Spangaro’s, intensive, old world recipes and techniques.  “Maestro Spangaro” was recently led to return to his family in Italy, leaving behind what had become a phenomenon of culinary artistry.  Mr. Spangaro, after years of break-in’s to his business to discover recipes and secret traditions, selected one individual to tutor in this very precise art.  Lynn, having manned the kitchens at next door’s La Grande Orange Grocery, was a regular of the shop, as well as a friend and fan of Mr. Spangaro.  As La Grande Orange owned the lease that Spangaro was vacating, it provided the perfect marriage.

The lessons Spangaro offered were irreplaceable.  They were also completely from memory, as Mr. Spangaro, in an effort to closely guard all of his secrets, had never committed a single recipe to paper.  And neither would Lynn.  The lessons of the old world would be taught in an old world manner. “The most important lesson that Moreno taught me,” begins Lynn “was that you can focus upon perfection without becoming a psychopath, if you allow it to trickle down to everything else that you do in life.  Toward the end my training, Mr. Spangaro would repeat, ‘You’ve got all of these skills, but making a great product now is only the beginning.’”

A veteran of several of the Phoenix locations of La Grande Orange, Lynn was in the kitchen at the young age of fourteen.  Says Lynn, “None of the kids my age were working. I was washing dishes, wet and dirty, but these talented chefs took me under their wings and taught me a craft.  I found myself ingrained in this industry even before I realized I was interested in it.  Now, of course, it is my obsession.”

Lynn brings to The Misfit a young chefs passion for all things fresh – product and creativity.  Fortunately, his new position arrives only steps from one of the country’s leading farmer’s markets.  With a large percentage of the menu dedicated to the offerings of twice weekly trips to the market, Lynn is thrilled by the possibilities, adding “We are fortunate here that the clientele of the Misfit allows for both those that love a great burger, and those that are longing for a lighter, vegetable centered option.  It offers a chef a very exciting playground.”

Will the infamous gelato make the trip to Los Angeles, as well?  When La Grande Orange sent Lynn to be mentored by Spangaro, the company become the sole heir of all of Mr. Spangaro’s closely guarded secrets.  Renamed Grateful Spoon Gelato, “it will always remain exactly the same,” says Lynn.  “I was only taught one way to make it, and that will always be the only way that it is made.  And yes, it is on my menu now.”

The Misfit Bar | 225 Santa Monica Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA | 90401
www.themisfitrestaurant.com

Downtown’s TAKAMI SUSHI RESTAURANT once again proves that good deeds are best performed when they originate from the heart.  The entire staff of TAKAMI will sponsor a Holiday Toy Drive to benefit area children and families in need.  This year, however, TAKAMI makes it both easy on the conscience and the wallet.   Through Christmas Eve, guests arriving with one unwrapped toy of $10 value (or more!) will receive $25.00 OFF their lunch or dinner bill.  (the small print: one toy per couple, with minimum $50 purchase.)  Last year, the TAKAMI toy drive netted two truckloads of goodies.  Our charity recipient this year serves over 150 families experiencing extreme medical and financial crises.  The TAKAMI family hopes to far exceed last years’ collection of toys and good will.

For more information, or to make reservations, please call 213. 236.9600 or visit www.takamisushi.com or www.opentable.com.

The venerable LOLA’S on Fairfax has teamed up with The Cirque du Soleil for the month of December to benefit Circus founder, Guy Laliberte’s philanthropic group – the One Drop Foundation. He and Loren Dunsworth (Lola’s owner, and creator of the famed APPLE MARTINI that filled every bar menu in America for a decade!) are Canadian expats, as well as dear, old friends.

Together, they have created the IRIS MARTINI , which will be sold throughout the month of December, with ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of all sales to fund the One Drop Foundation.  As well, discounted tickets to IRIS will be available for all LOLA’s guests.  This offer will be available into the foreseeable future.  (the small print: IRIS discount available with any brunch or dinner purchase.)

For more information, or to make reservations, please call 323.654.5652 or visit www.lolasla.com or www.onedrop.org .

The East side’s CITY SIP WINE BAR,  fresh from an interior make over by designer Troy Silva, rejoins forces with The Green Beacon Foundation for the holiday installation of FOOD FOR THOUGHT, a seasonal supper that will sponsor the Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles, a non-profit community development corporation that has initiated the Veggie Voucher Program.  This program allows low income shoppers to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables directly from the growers at the Echo Park Farmer’s Market.

Tis The Seasonal Supper will feature a four course meal created by Chef Gloria Felix of Reservoir Restaurant, along with wine pairings by City Sip’s Nicole Daddio. This special dinner is Sunday, December 11, 2011, 7pm GBF Home Tour, 8pm Dinner.  $68.00 pp.  (the small print: One Hundred Percent of proceeds go to Veggy Vouchers and local farmers.)

For more information or to make reservations, please visit www.greenbeacon.org or call 213.483.9463.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

ESQUIRE MAGAZINE NAMES FIRST EVER HISPANIC CHEF

AMERICAN CHEF OF THE YEAR

LA’s Chef John Rivera Sedlar Wins Chef of the Year & Best New Restaurant

In an ode written to young, aspiring cooks throughout the United States and the world, Esquire magazine Restaurant Critic John Mariani pens an appreciation to a veteran chef of Hispanic decent that has forever altered the way that the world understands and appreciates the history and culture of Latin foods.  From the Esquire awards site, Mr. Mariani writes the following:

Dear young chef: Congratulations on your graduation from culinary school! Unless you’re busy competing on a TV show to become a celebrity chef, the smart move would be to apprentice yourself to a master like John Sedlar. He’s twice your age, but he cooks with more verve and a deeper understanding of ingredients than any ten cooks you went to school with. He was born in Santa Fe and always married Mexican and South American food with a southern-California swagger — cutting edge neo-Latino cuisine. At Playa, his thrilling new restaurant, he presents reflexiones (his translation: “windows into memories”), thematic dishes that reflect his favorite chefs or movies — A Clockwork Orange was a recent theme. After you get your pig tattoo, order a mess of tortillas he calls “maize cakes” — one is made with wild mushrooms, black garlic, olives crushed to look like soil, L’Explorateur cheese, and mushroom foam. Try to assess the delicacy of a dish like corn custard with Cotija, black quinoa, and squash-blossom sauce, and learn how he builds flavor into piquillos relleños with Gruyère, golden raisins, and chorizo. Then beg him for a job peeling vegetables.

Chef Sedlar owns two restaurants in Los Angeles, California – the critically acclaimed RIVERA in downtown Los Angeles, and the new Playa, named by Esquire as among the Best New Restaurants in America.  These awards arrive on the heels of the Thirtieth Anniversary of his historic Saint Estephe Restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California, a dining room that was the first American restaurant to witness foods such as the tamale and the blue corn tortilla – indeed, the foods of his childhood – served in a fine dining, white tablecloth restaurant.  The month long retrospective enjoyed a wealth of media attention, honoring Chef Sedlar as one of the primary architects of Modern Latin & Southwest Cuisines.

Upon being named the first chef of Hispanic origin to receive this award, Mr. Mariani generously suggested that the award was not simply in recognition of the two critically acclaimed restaurants currently doing business in Los Angeles, but for a lifetime of commitment to the chef’s Hispanic heritage, indeed of introducing the foods, culture, and history of Latin cuisine into the popular culture of American diners.

When speaking of the importance of opening his first LA restaurant (since Saint Estephe, thirty years earlier) in the downtown historic district, Chef Sedlar was emphatic, offering that “It was critical.  Downtown Los Angeles is the crossroads of culture, heritage, race, and ethnicity.  It is the place where an entire world of Hispanic American’s arrived to settle and form homes, and families, and careers.  I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

Best New Restaurant in America.  It is a phrase that speaks to the talent and commitment of a chef.  It is a phrase that infers a staff of unparalleled knowledge and devotion.  It is a phrase that rewards a group of financial investors.  It is a phrase that changes careers and increases the awareness of a talented group of people that labor night after night after night to produce a simple product, the complexity of which most patrons will never even consider. And it is a phrase the rewards diners with the knowledge that they have snagged among the best reservations possible and will enjoy among the most innovative menus in America.

Today, three Los Angeles chefs traveled to New York City to be recognized by Esquire magazine as among the best new restaurants in America – Chefs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack of Sotto and Chef John Sedlar of Playa.  Each of these chefs epitomizes commitment to craft, and each helms the kitchens of two of LA’s most critically acclaimed, dynamic and successful dining rooms.  In addition, Chef Sedlar was named Chef of the Year, an honor that arrives on the heels of the thirtieth anniversary retrospective of his original fine dining destination, Saint Estephe.

We invite you to visit the Esquire Site for the full list of 2011 Best New Restaurant honorees and The Chef of the Year.

We then invite you to make a reservation and enjoy both of the Los Angeles recipients of Esquire magazine’s Best New Restaurant in America – SOTTO and PLAYA.

Bon Appetit.

“I can experiment in culinary school and not worry about my grades, or I can experiment at work and get fired,” begins this young chef, humorously recounting his years of youthful rebellion, from his atypical upbringing as a child in the heart of Mexico through culinary school in The United States.  The son of a Japanese father and a Mexican mother, those early years were spent at the apron of the family’s many in-home chefs, creating his first meal at the age of six – Paella!  He discovered himself relocated to Los Angeles at the age of eighteen, alongside his newly single mother, with both thrust into an entirely new world that now required employment.  Banking on the skills learned at the side of those trusted family employees of his past, Tanabe embarked upon a culinary career that would discover a wealth of twists and turns.

While a student at Le Cordon Bleu, Katsuji discovered that his real education was occurring via off-site internships in several of LA’s more prestigious restaurants.  “I decided it was time to leave culinary school when I got into serious trouble for making a pretzel in the shape of Mickey Mouse, although it turned out to be the best possible decision,” he stated.  Line cook stints soon followed at the celebrated, four star Bastide Restaurant and Loew’s Beverly Hills.  Soon thereafter, Tanabe was promoted to Sous Chef positions at Beverly Hill’s Mastro’s Steakhouse, and Hollywood’s A-List Sterling Steak House.  Through a unique twist of fate, Tanabe was approached to lead the kitchen of LA’s Kosher Steak House, Shilo’s, in the heart of the Los Angeles Kosher Corridor.  Rather than becoming restricted by the laws ruling all kosher establishments, Tanabe discovered that creativity and cooking skills could transform a cuisine that he viewed as lost in time.  “The first week, I created a menu item – A Bacon Cheeseburger! – that sounded as though I had ignored the laws that I had agreed to abide by, when in fact, I had created an entirely new dish that strictly observed all laws. The next day, I discovered myself surrounded by the kosher inspectors, asking me to recreate the burger, as well as my new “Bacon Wrapped Scallops.” When the inspectors reported that they observed no violations, I was suddenly the only chef in Los Angeles bringing fresh ideas and creativity to kosher dining.  I was just substituting inventiveness for the prohibited food items.  And suddenly, we were packed every night.”  Following five years of creating new and inspired dishes at Shilo’s, opportunity once again came knocking on his door.

A restaurant space became available just across the street (the space, incidentally, boasts a stone wall, mined and transported from the quarry of The Western Wall. Value? Approximately $80,000.00!), and the building’s owner was a Tanabe fan.  Now, however, rather than adopting the title of Executive Chef, Tanabe was now the Chef, Partner, and Owner.  And he was determined to cook the food that he knew best – the beloved food of his youth, Mexican.  And it would be Kosher; in fact, the very first Kosher Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles.  Again, certain food staples of local Mexican cuisine would not be allowed – Shrimp, Pork, Dairy – and, once again, Tanabe’s creativity leaped into action.  Creating menus that include “carnitas” made from brisket braised in duck fat, and soy-based “sour cream,” Tanabe set out to construct menus that spoke to his childhood memories, as well respecting the strict laws of his very large loyal following in the Los Angeles Kosher community.  “We tried to open quietly, but the first week we sold out of food every single day and were forced to close early,” begins Tanabe.  Although busy from day one, Tanabe remains a chef and he remains restless.  Menus change weekly, specials change daily, he now offers fourteen house made salsas with more on the way.  Tanabe has discovered a world of diners that have never experienced even one bite of his childhood cuisine, and finds himself explaining basic dishes dozens of times each day (You will find Wikipedia definitions of Mole on the MexiKosher Facebook page!) and, he adds proudly, “We’ll usually see them again the very next day.  We already have a very loyal customer base.  I’m cooking the food that I love, that I eat, and that I grew up with… just with a little twist.  I don’t think of MexiKosher as a Kosher restaurant.  I think of MexiKosher as a great little restaurant that just happens to be kosher.”

MEXIKOSHER | 8832 W. Pico Blvd | Los Angeles | CA | 90035

310.271.0900 | www.mexikosher.com

Chef Sedlar, circa 1981

Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Birthplace

of Modern Southwest Cuisine, Chef John Rivera Sedlar Offers

A Saint Estèphe Retrospective at Rivera Restaurant

For thirty days in September, downtown Los Angeles’ acclaimed Rivera restaurant will present The Saint Estèphe Retrospective Celebration with menus, photo presentations, and commemorative events that will allow diners to revisit the classic dining rooms and dishes of the legendary Manhattan Beach restaurant opened in 1981 by Chef John Rivera Sedlar and Sommelier Steve Garcia.  The debut of Saint Estèphe marked a pivotal moment in the birth of modern Southwest cuisine and played a signature role in distinguishing Los Angeles as a culinary destination, signaling the emergence of California as a focal point for culinary innovation, creativity, and quality. Chef John Sedlar played a pivotal role in that movement. The Modern Southwest Cuisine he created at Saint Estèphe earned international attention and acclaim, from the Los Angeles Times to the Chicago Tribune, including Craig Claiborne’s glowing recollections in the New York Times, to publications in France, Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy, and beyond.  Chef Sedlar spent years traveling the world as teacher, mentor and celebrity chef, bringing his very personal interpretation of cooking to an eager world of budding gourmands.

Chef Sedlar plans to devote one special evening during the first week of the celebration to a private dinner for former Saint Estèphe patrons, staff, and friends, with invitees expected to arrive from every corner of the globe.  Patrons of the establishment ranked among the world’s rich and powerful, with celebrity and mogul dining alongside food critics and journalists from every major publication in the world, each arriving to experience and report this bourgeoning genre of gastronomy. Partner and Saint Estèphe Sommelier Steve Garcia will join Sedlar from Santa Fe, NM for the occasion, as well, to welcome returning guests, reminisce, and join in the commemoration of this much revered, landmark dining destination.

Throughout the remainder of the month, Rivera guests will enjoy the option of ordering from an archival menu of Saint Estèphe classics – Sedlar originals that include definitive offerings such as ‘Salmon Painted Desert,’ ‘Green Chiles Rellenos with Mushroom Duxelles,’ ‘Posole with Seared Sea Scallops and Tarragon,’ ‘Veal Chops Marinated in Burnt Chile Pesto with Sopaipillas and Rio Grande Honey,’ and ‘Blue Cornmeal Crepes with Canela Ice Cream and Grapefruit Grand Marnier Sauce.’ The Rivera classics menu will also be served.

The Saint Estèphe Retrospective | Sept 1–30, 2011 | Dinner only

Rivera Restaurant | 1050 S. Flower Street | Los Angeles, CA | 90015

For reservations, dial 213.749.1460 or visit www. opentable.com.