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Meet the Chef
Learn more about The Tasting Kitchen’s Executive Chef Travis Passerotti By Kamala Kirk ocated on Abbot Kinney in Venice, The Tasting Kitchen is a contemporary Italian restaurant designed around a central olive tree in the entrance with a New American farm to table heritage. Their menu changes regularly based on fresh seasonal produce and offers an optional tasting format as a guided dining experience. Dishes include handmade pastas, in-house cured meats and produce from farmers markets on the Westside, and the neo-classical cuisine is amplified by a purposely-curated wine portfolio and a celebrated cocktail program. Executive chef Travis Passerotti leads The Tasting Kitchen’s award-winning food program with his passion for sustainably sourced ingredients and expert knowledge of local food communities. Raised in the Pacific Northwest, he grew up exploring farmers markets with
PHOTO CREDIT: DERRICK REED
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his father, who was also a chef and restaurateur. He was also influenced by his mother’s love of culinary heritage and hospitality. Passerotti honed his culinary skills by studying under classically trained European chefs including Chef Bollag (Bruno’s Chef Kitchen) and Chef Landsberg (Inn at The Seventh Ray, King Estate Winery). He worked with Chef Landsberg at King Estate Winery, directing the charcuterie program before moving to Los Angeles in 2013. Passerotti draws inspiration from Nouvelle French and Contemporary American cuisines, the American local food movement and farmhouse ideology, and each dish he creates reflects the provenance of its ingredients while still emphasizing light, bright Mediterranean European flavor profiles that complement the flavors of Southern California.
PLAYA WEST AUTOMOTIVE Executive chef Travis Passerotti leads the award-winning food program at The Tasting Kitchen.
We chatted with Passerotti, who shared what sparked his initial interest in the culinary arts, the signature dish he’s best known for, the kitchen tool he can’t live without and more. What got you interested in cooking? It all started when I was a freshman in high school and over the summer I decided that I should receive lunch money during the off-school months as well, to which my father replied, “Why don’t you get a job?” At the time he was managing a well-known restaurant in Eugene, Oregon that had just opened up a new concept, and by the end of the week, he helped me get my food handler’s certificate and a job washing dishes. By that time I had been running around in restaurants for a while and was crazy excited to be a part of the kitchen.
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