L.A. chefs have a wish list for 2025: ‘Don’t just keep restaurants on a list; make a plan and go’
LA TimesLos Angeles is a resilient town. Vary your restaurants — for every hot new restaurant you try, return to a restaurant that you love and become their regular.” Retire ‘authentic’ as a label — for good Vanda Asapahu, chef and partner of Ayara Thai in Westchester, hopes people stop, or at least think a little deeper before using the word “authentic” to refer to certain foods. “With food left over from the restaurants at the end of every workday and pass it along to the city’s many unhoused residents who are in dire need of food, nourishment and care,” he says. Poto also hopes for “a better initiative from our industry to reduce food waste, use eco-friendly packaging and less waste as a whole.” Lower fees and taxes for small businesses While credit card fees and taxes hit every business, they’re especially daunting for restaurants, with profit margins that typically hover around 6%. I guess I just miss the old days when food mattered and chefs had a love for the battle; the days before we lost to the cheese pull and people smashing their faces full while sitting in the driver’s seat of their cars while videoing themselves.” Among the many things Linden chef Jonathan Harris wishes for are more “cooks who love the art of cooking, menu growth and food storytelling.” In other words, it wouldn’t hurt for guests to be more open to adventurous food options.
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More than 75 big-deal L.A. restaurants closed so far this year. So why are chefs still optimistic?
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