Anne Fishbein

Chef Micah Wexler at Mezze

Hot off his 10-week, sold-out residency at Umamicatessen, chef Micah Wexler is already planning a new series of dinners. The dinners consist of a weekly, themed meal at a central kiosk at Umamicatessen, which has been transformed into a chef's table for up to 12 guests. The residency that just ended was themed "Live and Dine in L.A." and explored various neighborhoods, cultures and time periods in Los Angeles. For his next series, beginning June 6 and continuing weekly through July, Wexler will explore the theme "dead chefs."

The former Mezze chef (Mezze closed in October after a series of issues with a nearby construction site) is on his way to Istanbul today for a working vacation, but we caught up with him before he left to talk about the new series of dinners, how he came up with the theme "dead chefs" and whether we're likely to see a full-time restaurant from him anytime soon.

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Flickr/djjewelz

Open kitchen.

While planning that super sweet gesture for mom this Mother's Day -- remember, it's coming up on Sunday -- think back to all the valuable nuggets she taught you over the years. Chances are a lot of them have to do with food, right? That's certainly the case for many chefs, some of whom might have wound up on very different career paths if it weren't for family matriarchs. We've asked some of L.A.'s best pros behind the stoves to share the most important lessons they learned from their moms and/or grandmothers about food and cooking. So turn the page to hear what 13 local chefs (listed in no particular order) have to say about some of their earliest in-home teachings that came via the first ladies in their lives.

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Natasha Subramaniam and Alisa Lapidus

A still from Reverie

Faced with presenting at a Star Chefs event in New York last October, Red Medicine chef Jordan Kahn called upon filmmakers Natasha Subramaniam and Alisa Lapidus to collaborate on a film they eventually titled Reverie. They had previously showcased his technique in their stop-motion animation film Assiette, and Kahn knew from that experience that the filmmakers would be able to help him express ideas that were otherwise difficult to communicate.

"I wanted to figure out a way to show people the process that I go through, and the best way to translate it would be through moving images," Kahn says.

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A. Scattergood

Rye toast with pickled root veg and vinegar dust

If you haven't been checking your Facebook page, Twitter feed, Instagram account, etc., lately, you may be sadly unaware of the latest temporary food-as-art installation, the Amalur Project, which last night debuted at Echo Park's Cortez. I'm sorry. But the happy news is that, as is often the case, there's always dinner tonight.

The Amalur Project is brought to you by Spanish-born chef Sergio Perera, who has, according to the website, cooked in such notable kitchens as Arzak, Jean-Georges, Mugaritz -- and, perhaps most importantly, his grandfather's kitchen. Joining Perera in the project is Burbank-born, Japan-raised Jacob Takehiro Kear, who cooked at Lukshon in Culver City and Tapas Molecular Bar in Tokyo and most recently was chef de cuisine at Eva. Also in the (tiny) kitchen is Steve Monnier, born and trained in France, and who has cooked at many laudable restaurants there and here, including L'Orangerie (which may trump everybody else's fancy credits, if you're an L.A. Francophile foodist).

Yes, the chefs have pilgrimaged to Noma. Yes, they forage. Not only do they trudge out into the surrounding local hills and dales and beautiful forests but they employ professional foragers to do so for them, namely Pascal Baudar and Mia Wasilevich, who have a ton of insanely laudable credits, too.

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Myleen Hollero

Jet Tila

Use the phrase gin jay (eat vegetarian or vegan in Thai) the next time you're at a Thai restaurant if you want to make certain your dish is free of animal product, chef Jet Tila of The Charleston advises.

"We're so conditioned to using fish sauce. The idea of seafood is almost ingrained in Thai cooking. Thai people will say 'Oh yeah, I'll cook vegetarian for you' and they might use fish sauce. It's such a natural part of our diet, so we'd adjust that," says the recently appointed Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine. "Fish sauce is swapped out with thin soy or soybean sauce."

According to Tila, vegetarianism or veganism is often tied to religion. "For a lot of Thais, it's based on Buddhism. For Catholics, some will eat vegetarian during Lent. If someone just passed away, you might eat vegetarian for 30 to 90 days as an offering."

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Screen Capture, Parts Unknown Koreatown episode

Nara Plaza in Koreatown

For the second installment of his new CNN show Parts Unknown, which aired last night, Anthony Bourdain explored L.A.'s Koreatown. The show was insightful, revealing and pretty much spot-on, giving an accurate depiction of both the fraught history of K-Town and its current status as one of our city's culinary and cultural gems. Which is a relief, seeing as no food TV show ever seems to get Los Angeles right, including past L.A.-themed episodes of Bourdain's Travel Channel show, No Reservations.

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Erika Bolden

Anthony Bourdain + Roy Choi on the Guts and Glory Tour

Anthony Bourdain greeted a packed house at the Pantages last night. The Los Angeles installment of Bourdain's "Guts and Glory" tour took place in the opulent 1930 theatre with a crowd that was more academic than hip, and fiercely local as demonstrated by any reference to L.A. -- and especially during the introduction of Bourdain's co-host, Roy Choi.

The chefs opened with questions for each other, standing for a verbal tennis match, then sat and cracked beers for a more fluid dialogue, finally ending with questions from the audience. Bourdain was ruthless as ever, even mocking the audience for spending hard earned money on the tickets. But his charisma and tendency toward self-deprecation won the crowd over -- and made it clear why he's such a compelling player on the food world stage.

Bourdain made clear his abhorrence of the fois gras ban as "an embarrassment to California," and he noted that the birds aren't being asked to do "anything an adult film star doesn't do twice a day." More impromptu editorializing came when the audience asked questions, particularly one about Red Medicine's recent twitter tantrums. Bourdain said that the restaurant had gone too far in calling out patrons who never showed for their reservations; Choi that they hadn't gone far enough.

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Anne Fishbein

John Sedlar at Rivera

Since John Sedlar closed Playa early last month, he has hardly been taking time off. He's been busy running Rivera, planting Playa's rooftop garden -- which will stay as the restaurant changes names and concepts and chefs -- and planning an upcoming trip to Paris. He's also been working on his longtime food history project, the Museum Tamal, which is currently housed in a temporary location downtown and which will be opening to the public next year.

It's this museum that Sedlar will be focusing on even more than usual, now that he has just the one restaurant to run. For more about TM26, as the project is now called, as well as his restaurants, both past and present, and why the chef is taking off for France, read today's feature food story.

Myleen Hollero

Jet Tila

Jet Tila has been appointed the first Culinary Ambassador of Thai Cuisine by the Royal Thai Consul General in Los Angeles, tasked with spreading awareness nationwide and making official his unofficial -- and long-standing -- role as a guide to the cuisine.

Tila was tapped for the position after a meeting with the consul general, who sought Tila's feedback on promoting the cuisine last month. The chef's duties will include touring the United States on behalf of the Thai government, giving food demonstrations, making media appearances and coordinating events.

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fishing with chef Sal Marino

Chef Sal Marino (Il Grano, La Bottega Marino) likes to get up early. Which is a good thing, since most of the chefs who trek downtown to International Marine Products routinely get there around 5 a.m. to pick and choose among the pristine fresh fish that comes in daily to the downtown market and wholesale supplier.

As IMP isn't open to the public, the chef recently gave us a tour. A very early morning tour. Turn the page.

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