Los Angeles Food People During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Chef Los Angeles

May 29, 2020: Daniel Cutler and wife Caitlin have overcome everything from civil unrest to predatory service fees at Ronan, their Italian restaurant on Melrose Avenue.

Food people are remarkably resilient. Even a pandemic can’t dissuade chefs and restaurateurs from feeding people, whether that’s in a restaurant, from home or a parking lot. Through the COVID-19 crisis, I still encountered many smiling culinary faces across L.A. Thankfully, we finally have more reasons to be optimistic and can envision better times. Please continue to support these strong, often underappreciated professionals more than ever.


Chef Los Angeles

July 8, 2020: Christophe Happillon started offering OYTOGO from The Oyster Gourmet, his stylish Grand Central Market stall.

Chef Los Angeles

July 14, 2020: Nguyen Bui prepared modern Vietnamese food from his West LA apartment through Ăn Cơm before popping up at Pearl River Deli in Chinatown.

Chef Los Angeles

August 6, 2020: Karen Wong and Ryan Wong run Needle, a modern Cantonese restaurant in Silver Lake.

Coffee Los Angeles

September 3, 2020: Jack Benchakul runs Endorffeine coffee bar in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza.

Chef Los Angeles

September 11, 2020: J.R. Martin, Tatang chef and co-founder, participated in dineL.A. in North Hollywood.

Restaurateur Los Angeles

September 13, 2020: Wedchayan Arpapornnopparat co-founded Holy Basil inside DTLA’s Santee Village food court.

Coffee Los Angeles

September 21, 2020: Matt Chung and Jonathan Yang co-founded Thank You Coffee, a charitable, caffeinated endeavor that shares space with Paper Please in Chinatown.

Chef Los Angeles

September 24, 2020: Josh Buckwald makes and delivers fresh pasta and sauces with Orso.

Chef Los Angeles

October 24, 2020: Gianni Vietina co-founded Bianca in Culver City at the Platform.

Restaurateur Los Angeles

November 1, 2020: Chase Valencia co-founded the modern Filipino restaurant LASA in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza before pivoting to Lasita.

Donuts Los Angeles

December 14, 2020: Rick Dowells from Nuts & Bolts made a special donut delivery.

Restaurateurs Los Angeles

December 19, 2020: John Liu and wife Rica Leon co-founded Chifa with family members in Eagle Rock, serving Chinese-Peruvian comfort food.

Restaurateurs Los Angeles

January 7, 2021: Ki Kim and Arnold Byun partnered on Naemo, a modern Korean delivery concept.

Chef Los Angeles

January 8, 2021: Tharathip Soulisak runs Pholaosouphy, a Laotian street cart.

Pastry Chef Los Angeles

January 25, 2021: Rose Wilde, Rossoblu’s pastry chef, popped up at sister restaurant Superfine for RE:Her with Red Bread pastries and bread.

Pastry Chef Los Angeles

March 6, 2021: House of Gluten founder Hannah Ziskin briefly operated out of M. Georgina at ROW DTLA before headed home to Glendale with pizza focused partner Aaron Lindell.

Chefs Los Angeles

March 7, 2021: Tagalog Takeover chef Stacy Bareng, pictured with Phil Sanad, popped up at 1802 Roasters Café in Cypress Park and also appears at Summer Social Club in West Hollywood.

Chefs Los Angeles

March 17, 2021: Angie Kim and Daniel Kim run multifaceted Interstellar in Santa Monica.

Coffee Malibu

April 6, 2021: Joules & Watts Coffee roaster Max Gualtieri and barista Madeline McVeigh serve specialty coffee that wouldn’t just stand out in Malibu.

Asian Market Los Angeles

April 14, 2021: Linda Sivrican opened Sesame LA in Chinatown. She sources produce and flowers from local urban farms, stocks shelves with Asian staples and snacks, and works with elders (like mom Judy Nguyen) to offer flavorful prepared foods and pickles.

Chefs Los Angeles

May 2, 2021: Lord Maynard Llera (Kuya Lord) and Andre Guerrero (The Oinkster) collaborated as part of Eagle Rock Brewery’s “Welcome to Our World” series that benefits Stop AAPI Hate.

Movie Villain

Noted gourmand Hannibal Lecter and Michael Myers kindly appeared on posters to promote mask wearing.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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