Show 156, January 23, 2016: Executive Chef Timothy Hollingsworth, Partner, Otium, Downtown Los Angeles Continues…

Timothy HollingsworthOtium is a contemporary restaurant that draws from the rich culinary heritage of Chef Timothy Hollingsworth. It is designed to be a social restaurant with an open kitchen merging indoor and outdoor spaces. The restaurant’s name, Otium, has its roots in Latin, a word that is meant to emphasize a place where time can be spent on leisurely social activities.

Adjacent to one of Los Angeles’ most important cultural corridors — Grand Avenue — and next to its newest, most vibrant addition, the contemporary art museum, The Broad, Otium strips away the rigid formalities of dining while focusing on the quality of food, warm service, and relaxed casual ambience, paralleling the true essence of its name. The restaurant draws inspiration from the 100-year-old olive trees planted in The Broad’s adjacent Plaza by utilizing rustic cooking with wood fire and sustainable ingredients grown in the garden of the restaurant’s mezzanine.

“Walk through the beautiful Plaza that sits between Otium and The Broad. Face Otium’s front patio. Walk left towards our far exterior wall. Turn your head right. Admire. Yes, THAT IS a Damien Hirst mural (“Isolated Elements”) adorning the outside of the restaurant.”

Opening next door to the Broad presents many exciting opportunities for Otium to identify itself first and foremost as a place for artistic expression in all its forms, and this has given me an amazing blank canvas to craft a very unique and exciting restaurant for Los Angeles,” –Timothy Hollingsworth

I’ve always been a great admirer of Damien Hirst’s work, so we were thrilled when we had the opportunity to include a mural of his as part of the restaurant’s design.” -Timothy Hollingsworth

Show 96, November 8, 2014: Mentor BKB Foundation’s Young Chefs Competition

Mentor KBK Young Chef Competition winner Lyn Wells with Thomas KellerTwo weeks ago we introduced you to the ment’or BKB Foundation (previously known as The Bocuse d’Or USA Foundation) and their Executive Director, Young Yun. The mission of the nonprofit Foundation is to inspire culinary excellence in young professionals and to preserve the traditions and quality of classic cuisine in America. The founders are Chefs Jerome Bocuse (Paul’s son,) Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller.

They also mentor and support Team USA’s participation in the Bocuse d’Or competition staged every other year in Lyon, France. The Bocuse d’Or is considered to be the world’s most prestigious and rigorous cooking competition. The standards and traditions set by Bocuse d’Or have served as a model for ment’or BKB in building their Young Chef Competitions.

Lyn WellsThis morning we have the winner of the Ment’or Young Chef Competition, Lyn Wells of Canyon Park Café, held recently in Beverly Hills at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro as well as Chef Timothy Hollingsworth who was Team USA with his Commis) in the 2009 Bocuse d’Or. Timothy will be the executive chef and partner of the ambitious restaurant that will open next Fall as part of The Broad contemporary art museum located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles.

Chef Lyn’s award is a dream three-month stagiaire (internship) at one of America’s premier fine-dining establishments. This is worth $15,000. She will have her choice of some amazing possibilities. We’ll continue to follow Lyn’s progress.

Show 73, May 24, 2014: Bill Chait, Los Angeles-based Restaurant Impresario Continues…

Bestia Restaurant in the Los Angeles Arts DistrictBill explains how his company is evolving (a catering division is in the plans) and how he approaches projects.

Many new ventures with high profile chefs are in the pipeline. Bill’s culinary partners in Bestia (Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis) have a new concept in the works for Downtown’s Arts District.

The destination restaurant at The Broad will have a lot of Grand Avenue community involvement. Its front door step will be a magnificent public park. Movie screenings there are already in the plans.

Be watching for an early Summer of 2015 opening.