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April 5, 2010
Volume 39, Number 14
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Cutting Edge Kitchens
INSIDE
photos by Gary Leonar d
How a Group of Chefs Are Creating ‘The New Gastronomy’ And Making Downtown the City’s Culinary Center Jump in the hot tub political machine.
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Situation eases for L.A. Central.
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Ilan Hall of The Gorbals (left, with his gefilte fish and chips) and John Rivera Sedlar of Rivera (with his mussels in an ahi- and brandy-based broth) are two of the chefs whose inventive approaches are drawing attention to the Downtown culinary scene. by RichaRd Guzmán
Building action at the Brockman.
city editoR
I
t could be said that the only thing that unites them is their diversity. There’s Ilan Hall, the bespectacled “Top Chef” winner who sets tongues wagging with his bacon-wrapped matzoh balls. There’s Joseph Centeno, the soft-spoken 34-year old whose small plates lineup, including the bäcos, a mix of a gyro, pizza and taco, is drawing raves. There’s John Rivera Sedlar, a generation older than the other two, whose new Latin cuisine has drawn national attention not just for its quality but for the political
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Sampling Syrup’s decadent desserts.
messages in his spices. That’s just the beginning. There are chefs who challenge the concept of what should be stuffed in a sausage, and one not afraid to make deep fried pig’s ear a focus of his French menu. There’s a celebrity restaurateur pushing the envelope on Italian fine dining and one kicking at the limits of Latin cuisine from a food stand. Actually, in addition to the diversity, the chefs have another thing in common: They all work in Downtown kitchens. In the last five years, Downtown Los Angeles has seen an explosion of new restaurants, with scores
opening across the community. But since around the start of 2009, something else, something unexpected, has happened: A cutting-edge food scene has emerged, with a cadre of inventive chefs setting up shop and challenging each other. “This really is a defining moment of Downtown claiming its rightful place in L.A. gastronomy,” said Patric Kuh, a food critic for Los Angeles Magazine. Kuh, who last month was nominated for a James Beard Award for his coverage, recently penned an article about the 10 best new restaurants in all of Los Angeles: Four of them are in Downtown. see Restaurants, page 12
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Vocal Chords of Iron, Seasons of Pain Is Clipper Darrell, the Team’s Long-Suffering, Number One Fan, Finally Nearing a Breaking Point?
Chicago dance in Downtown.
by Ryan VaillancouRt
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staff wRiteR
18 CALENDAR LISTINGS 21 MAP 22 CLASSIFIEDS
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’m sitting a few rows behind the basket at Staples Center, watching the Los Angeles Clippers fall behind to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They’ll never catch up. I’m here to try to figure out Clipper Darrell, the team’s tireless, aisle-dancing, chant-leading and extremely forgiving number-one fan. The Inglewood resident’s story is simple: About 15 years ago, when he was just Darrell Bailey, he got fired from a job, and the guy delivering the bad news told Darrell he’d never
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amount to anything. That night, he flipped on the television and up came the Clippers. They too were being labeled losers by some commentator. He identified with their plight. This, he decided, would be his team. “I was going to ride or die with ’em,” he said. Years later, a lot has changed for Darrell. He now owns a business, customizing cars in South Los Angeles. He’s even tricked out rides for several former Clippers, including Shaun Livingston and Al Thornton. He pays $2,200 for his lower level season ticket. see Clipper Darrell, page 11
photo by Gary Leonard
“Clipper Darrell” Bailey is the undisputed number one fan of Los Angeles’ “other” NBA team. He hasn’t missed a home game in nine seasons.
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