José Andrés
Changing the world with food
José Andrés, the Spanish born chef who oversees an expansive restaurant empire (including the Bazaar in Beverly Hills) and helped launch the small-plates revolution, has dedicated the last several months to serving meals on a much larger scale: After Hurricane Maria, he worked with his nonprofit World Central Kitchen to help serve more than 3.3 million meals in Puerto Rico and distribute food donations to survivors of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. During the California wildfires last fall, Andrés and his team at L.A. Kitchen (where he is board chair emeritus) prepped more than 1,000 meals a day for people affected by the disaster, inspiring a series of celebrity chefs to assist in his efforts. Earlier this year he was named Humanitarian of the Year by the James Beard Foundation. In conjunction with L.A. Kitchen, José Andrés will join L.A. Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold and guests Zooey Deschanel, Ron Finley ("The Ron Finley Project"), Robert Egger (founder, L.A. Kitchen), Nyesha Arrington and Alex Granados (Native Restaurant), Tim Kilcoyne (Scratch Sandwiches) and others for a conversation on the power of food. Some of L.A.'s finest sous chefs will also be featured on stage, with a challenge to prepare a dish that could be scalable for hundreds of people as part of post-disaster relief efforts. Participating chefs will be given the opportunity to join the chef relief team of World Central Kitchen, which was founded by Andrés after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Guests will be served pozole and paella from the José Andrés team. WHERE: 3790 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles WHEN: Tuesday, May 1, 7 p.m. COST: $15 - $50