Tag archives: chef

Chef Johnny Vee stood in his test kitchen, welcoming a dozen students to his “New Mexico Combination Plate” class and trying to explain how the list of dishes we’d be preparing had grown so-o-o long. “I don’t smoke pot,” he said, “but it looks like it – like I’m going, ‘Maybe we should make enchiladas. […]

Earlier this week, Ty Warner announced a new partnership with seven-Michelin star chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller, who has been tapped to oversee all food and beverage operations at the iconic Coral Casino on Channel Drive.  “I’m excited to be part of the Coral Casino story,” Chef Keller said in a statement. “It’s an honor […]

Susanto Bhattacharya, who started his culinary career in a small town in India, is the new executive chef at the Ritz Carlton Bacara. With skills acquired in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa, including the Caribbean, he will oversee the oceanside hostelry’s six culinary venues, including the Angel Oak, housing the tony resort’s 12,000-bottle wine […]

Little did I know that my life would take the turn from young ballerina to celebrity personal chef in NYC or later that I would end up as Executive Chef and partner in a meal delivery start up in Santa Barbara. And now, I get to write to you, the readers of the Montecito Journal, […]

Come see “An Evening with Nigella Lawson” on Saturday, November 12 at 7:30 pm at the Granada Theatre, as the global food icon converses with KCRW’s Evan Kleiman about her new cookbook and the meals, people, and experiences that shaped her life. I had the chance to recently chat with Kleiman about the upcoming event […]

Saturday Dear Diary, This pandemic was so inconvenient, and awful, just awful. I’ve never felt so lonely and depressed in my entire life. Thank you for helping me get through the pandemic! I’ve kept sane with tantalizing home cooked meals and entertaining TV series like Pam and Tommy. Last night I finished the last episode […]

“We don’t talk about Bruno tonight,” joked El Encanto General Manager Janis Clapoff on a recent warm and breezy evening. She was partially making reference to the Oscar award-winning animated film Encanto, but also referring to the hotel’s Executive Chef Bruno Lopez, who was taking the night off as head chef and serving as sous-chef […]

I’ve known Mollie Ahlstrand for more than 30 years. Her high-end Italian restaurant on Coast Village Road was there for more than 25 of those years. But, the fires, the floods, the debris flow, and other disasters took their toll and she moved her place to Santa Barbara three years ago, only to run into […]

A few months ago, my bestie, Lynn, a librarian and bibliophile, gave me a vintage copy of How to Talk with Practically Anybody About Practically Anything (Doubleday & Co., 1970), a guidebook to the art of conversation, written by none other than the godmother of celebrity interviews, Barbara Walters. Among her subjects: tycoons, royalty, politicians, […]

This winter, public officials asked restaurant owners, workers, and diners to mostly stay home as lockdowns once again took effect. Now that progress is being made with vaccinations going up and COVID-19 cases going down, restaurants are opening up again just in time to unveil spring menus and debut new outdoor dining spaces. That means […]

There’s a new chef and fresh burst of inspiration in Belmond El Encanto’s kitchen. The Old Hollywood glamour-style hotel, perched on the Riviera, gets its first major menu change in four years, thanks to Bruno Lopez. He’s the former executive chef at the Ritz-Carlton Rancho Mirage and Raffles L’Ermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills and is […]

In the Kitchen with Leslie Zemeckis  When Leslie Zemeckis saunters into a room, people pay attention. That’s because the Montecito-based actress-baker-author exudes a kind of charm and poise that makes it possible to swan her way through any room – even a kitchen. Her kitchen is her temple, her place for Zen. So is her […]

On a personal note, I remember Albert Roux, the French-born chef whose London eatery, La Gavroche, was the first in Britain to earn three Michelin stars, who has died aged 85. Albert and his brother, Michel, who moved to more heavenly pastures last year, opened their restaurant, named after a character in Victor Hugo’s novel […]

When Skepticism and Humor Become the Perfect Recipe for Artisanal Bread Whenever I hear the name Le Cordon Bleu it reminds me of the time I took a “Savory Nibbles” cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu Paris with my mother-in-law, Marie. After completing the very first step of our course – to crack an egg […]

These days it’s hard to get excited about anything when days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and the only glimmer of hope is your next home-cooked meal. Same salad dressing, same lemon chicken, same wine, and the same cloth napkins (just washed). Life has been, well, uneventful. That is, up until last […]

Santa Barbara’s Singing Chef Andy LoRusso, who now lives in Naples, Florida, was diagnosed with the neurological disorder dystonia, a mild form of Parkinson’s disease, two years ago. “It causes excessive involuntary muscle contractions for which I take Botox shots every ninety days,” says Andy, who grew up in Newark, New Jersey, before finding his […]

A seasoned Ethiopian chef on the art of making injera and a new approach to communal dining during the pandemic Petit Valentien serves bistro-style French cuisine with classic offerings such as Petrale Sole, but weekend brunch is another matter. That’s when diners gather at the bohemian-style café for Ethiopian feasts of spicy meats and braised […]

Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation presents a fundraising screening of the 2017 film Charged: The Eduardo Garcia Story, which describes Eduardo Garcia‘s rehabilitation journey following injuries he suffered from a massive electric shock while hunting. A classically trained chef who found his passion for cooking at an early age, Garcia cut his teeth in the industry […]

“I’m very simple in what I prepare in the kitchen these days,” Michael Krohnen says as he stands in a small yet tidy and well-appointed kitchen of a 1910 farmhouse in Ojai’s East End. Although not a classically trained chef, Krohnen is nonetheless known throughout the world, and his thoughts on cooking have been translated […]