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chef john rivera sedlar, chefs, Deathbed Food, DeathbedFood, events, food events, hollywood, john rivera sedlar, LA Times, los angeles times, Paramount Studios, playa restaurant, restaurants, rivera restaurant, st. estephe restaurant, the taste, The Taste in Los Angeles
The Rivera and Playa Chef’s DeathbedFood is Healthy!
I met John after seeing him give a cooking demonstration at The Art of Mixing event at The Taste in L.A. He was joined by Chef Ricardo Zarate (from Picca) and Mixologist Julian Cox (from Picca, Rivera and Sotto) for the demo.
John Rivera Sedlar (right) with Julian Cox & Ricardo Zarate.
John Rivera Sedlar grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is known as the “Father of Modern Southwest Cuisine.” These days, he’s very busy running two very successful L.A.-based restaurants: Rivera in Downtown L.A. and Playa on the Westside.
What’s he most excited about? He’s bringing back “St. Estephe” menu items to his Rivera Restaurant. 30 years ago, he opened St. Estephe in Manhattan Beach, originally intended as a French restaurant. It evolved into the birthplace of what came to be known as Modern Southwest Cuisine, where, as John explained, they took baby steps towards fusion cuisine (“before we even had ‘fusion'”), blending French and Southwestern cuisine. To celebrate that anniversary, Saint Estèphe’s groundbreaking cuisine comes to Rivera for the entire month of September 2011. Each night at dinner, guests will be offered a menu of Modern Southwest classics along with the other Rivera menus.
I can’t wait to try Rivera and its St. Estephe menu items this month!
Meantime, I had to know, what would make John’s DeathbedFood list? Simply put, he loves fruit. He eats a half watermelon daily and pomegranates “all day long.” So, for him, FRUIT is on his DeathbedFood list. Wow, I wish my list was that healthy!
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