If staying true to themselves has helped Shook and Dotolo build a successful empire, so has their willingness to collaborate-first with each other (the two met in culinary school and have been inseparable ever since), and then with companies and celebs like Vans, Shake Shack, and Jon Favreau. “It started like that, and it kept snowballing, and now it’s become this crazy thing.” quickly took notice.įor two guys reared in Florida’s culinary backwaters, that type of high-low inventiveness is part of their cooking DNA. “I was one of those kids who, if I was into something, I wanted to know how to do it,” says Shook after recounting his obsession with a Bordelaise-sauced mashed-potato sandwich he ate as a young dishwasher. and beyond.įrom their beginnings as Hollywood caterers, Dotolo and Shook were disruptors, adopting a decidedly punk attitude that informed the uncompromising ethos of their first restaurant in 2009. At the meat-focused spot on Fairfax, aptly named Animal, the chefs unleashed in-your-face dishes like foie-gras biscuits and gravy on a corridor of Los Angeles brimming with Supreme snapbacks. Instead, the trailblazing tag-team have paired their crackpot sensibilities with fine-dining chops to help redefine what’s cool in the food world for L.A. Follow along on Twitter Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo have never played by the rules-and for Los Angeles diners, that’s a blessing. To celebrate the rich culinary life of Los Angeles, we’ll be running special features all week that explore the city’s ever-evolving food scene-from its classic tacos, to its offbeat icons.
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