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Los Angeles Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Do you love or hate brunch?
The meal with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. Plus, breakfast burritos, Issa Rae's new pizzeria, remembering the Napa Valley icon at the middle of the 'Apostrophe War' and 'the art world's strange relationship with food.' I'm Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week's Tasting Notes. Chefs famously hate brunch. It's not considered a 'serious' meal. All that day drinking. All that hollandaise sauce. And, in recent years, plate after plate of avocado toast. Would their Blood Mary-soused customers even notice if the food wasn't as sharp at brunch as at dinner? And yet, here in Los Angeles some of our best chefs are making brunch a meal to take seriously. As senior Food editor Danielle Dorsey points out in our newly released guide to 32 great L.A. brunch spots, the same scallop tostada, crudo and lobster bisque roll you find at dinner at Ari Kolender's Found Oyster, is served at brunch. Jenn Harris says 'Top Chef' star Brooke Williamson is serving elevated versions of brunch classics at Playa Provisions. Betty Hallock loves the Japanese breakfast picks at Azay, in Little Tokyo (where I'm also a regular). And at Neal Fraser's Redbird I love the tender biscuits with strawberry-rhubarb jam, duck confit chilaquiles plus shrimp and grits. Then there is the excess of Baltaire in Brentwood, 'with tableside mimosas, a Champagne cart, a Bloody Mary cart, caviar bumps and a raw bar,' Harris writes, as well as prime filet Benedict and a 'Wagyu cheeseburger stacked on a buttery brioche bun with truffle mayonnaise.' The whole thing 'feels like a lavish party, with music from a DJ and a crowd that arrives dressed for the occasion.' It all fits with what Dorsey says in the guide's introduction: 'Weekend brunch invites us to suspend belief. It's easy to pretend that eggs don't run $10 for a dozen as we order forearm-length breakfast burritos and plate-sized scrambles. Furthermore, it's an excuse to say yes — yes to adding avocado, bacon and another round of drinks.' Of course, 'The Simpsons' nailed the idea of brunch back in 1990 when Marge's bowling instructor Jacques (voiced with a full sitcom French accent by Albert Brooks) tried to seduce her with a brunch invitation: 'You'll love it. It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal.' Columnist Jenn Harris focused this week on the breakfast burritos of Pasadena. Namely, those of the storefront spot BBAD (her current favorite) at the Pasadena Hotel and Pool lobby and content creator Josh Elkin's breakfast chimichanga available this month at Dog Haus, with special mentions for Lucky Boy Burgers and Wake and Lake. Plus, she throws in the West L.A. spot Sobuneh for good measure. 'What makes a great breakfast burrito great,' she writes, 'is the insides, the way the melted cheese fuses with the crispy potatoes on a cushion of fluffy eggs. And the construction accounts for half of the burrito's appeal.' I knew Carl Doumani only from afar, through one of his daughters, Lissa Doumani, who ran one of Napa Valley's great now-gone restaurants, Terra, with her husband, Hiro Sone. (The two fell in love when they were young chefs in the kitchen at the original Spago in West Hollywood.) At Terra, Sone was known for his exquisite fish dishes, though I was most drawn to his earthier tripe stew, which at one point he made with Rancho Gordo beans and topped with Hokkaido scallops. I also once had the chance to stay in a guest house on Doumani's Stags' Leap Winery estate (now owned by Treasury Wine Estates) when Jonathan Gold and I were asked to speak at a food writers' conference with a few other journalists, including Ruth Reichl and the Atlantic magazine's Corby Kummer at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena. I remember a brigade of Weber grills set up on the grounds near the main house as the sun set over the vineyards for a wine-and-barbecue dinner that we attended as workshop participants. When I heard that Doumani had died last week at 92, I thought about the beauty of the land he once owned and understood one of the reasons the Los Angeles-born developer uprooted his family and moved to the Napa Valley. Food contributor Patrick Comiskey met Doumani when he was researching the Petite Sirah chapter of his book 'American Rhône.' In his obit and appreciation of Doumani, he writes about the confusion between Stags' Leap Winery and Stag's Leap Wine Cellars, which was founded by the late Warren Winiarski and won the famed Judgment of Paris. Winiarski sued Doumani when the dormant Stags' Leap Winery was revived, leading to what became as the 'Apostrophe War' when Doumani didn't back down. (Both names were allowed to stand.) Doumani's 'general obstreperousness,' as Comiskey put it, attracted other 'like-minded winery owners' who 'came to be known as the GONADS, or, the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory [sic] Society.' The wine icon 'lived the life of a bon vivant and raconteur that amounts to a fading breed in the Valley.' We loved talking with so many readers this past weekend at our Food x Now Serving booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. We'll have more on the authors who appeared next week. Meanwhile, Stephanie Breijo wrote about the new initiative launched this week by cookbook store Now Serving to help those who lost their homes in the Eaton and Palisades fires rebuild their cookbook collections. You can help by either buying requested cookbooks or participating in a series of raffles to raise money to replace the books that burned. Last week's Cooking newsletter, which is sent out on Sundays — here's a link if you don't subscribe to the free newsletter — came from Food contributor Carolynn Carreño, who wrote about 'the simple and decadent combination of bread and chocolate' and included four recipes from the Times archives: Nancy Silverton's Bittersweet Chocolate Tartufo With Olive Oil-Fried Croutons, Ray Garcia's Chocolate and Banana Bread Pudding and Pinot Bistro's Chocolate Croissant Pudding and Emily Alben's Chocolate Gelt Babka With Hazelnut Amaretti Filling and Chocolate Espresso Glaze. Thanks to the sorely missed Carolina Miranda, who used to write this paper's Essential Arts newsletter (plus many more essential stories), for sending me this essay from ArtReview by Chris Fite-Wassilak, which looks at 'the art world's strange relationship with food.' 'Food is art, great,' Fite-Wassilak writes. 'So why does it need to be constantly reframed as something transgressive or new to art?'
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Carl Doumani, Napa Valley icon, dies at 92
Carl Kheir Doumani, a mid-century Los Angeles developer-turned-wine-country icon, died April 22 in his sleep at his home in the Napa Valley, according to his family. The former owner of Stags' Leap Winery, once at the center of a wine-country legal battle called the Apostrophe War, was 92. Doumani moved to the Napa Valley in the late 1960s, founded three wineries, sold two of them, and lived the life of a bon vivant and raconteur that amounts to a fading breed in the Valley. Winemaker Stu Smith said he knew Doumani was slowing down when he'd missed a couple of lunch dates with his pals, a standing monthly commitment that he and 11 other friends had kept since the late 1970s. In his later years Doumani showed signs of dementia, a reminder that all of them were getting old. 'There weren't a lot of us left,' says Smith, who with his brother founded Smith-Madrone winery in 1971. Doumani was born in Los Angeles to Lebanese parents and raised in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, according to his daughter, Kayne. She says that her father's uncle homesteaded property in Palm Springs, and as a youth Doumani was hired to build 'dingbats,' rapid-construction apartment dwellings that soon filled with California newcomers. He began attending college at UCLA, but early in his studies was offered the chance to purchase a bar and restaurant in Westwood Village called Dudes — despite being a few years shy of legal age. So began a lifetime of development, property management and entrepreneurship. Eventually this took him to the Napa Valley in 1969. 'I think he was looking to buy about five acres,' says Aaron Pott, a longtime friend who made wines for Doumani for decades, 'but the broker was offering about 400.' Those acres were in the heart of the Stags Leap District, one of Napa's most esteemed grape-growing regions. He pulled together investors and struck a deal, intending to build a hotel and restaurant. But in 1971 he revitalized Stags' Leap Winery, founded in 1893, making wine from the property's existing mature vineyards. The name immediately earned him the ire of Warren Winiarski, the founder and proprietor of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Winiarski sued over the name, and Doumani did not back down. The matter wasn't resolved until 1986, when the California Supreme Court affirmed Doumani could use the name Stags' with an apostrophe after the 's,' thus ending what came to be known as the Apostrophe War. (The two resolved their differences sufficiently to bottle a joint effort, called Accord, after the settlement.) Doumani's general obstreperousness — he would routinely clash with the Valley's vintner's association and conservation organizations or anyone who told him what he could and could not do with his land — attracted like-minded winery owners who took it upon themselves to vent at monthly lunches. The group of 12 came to be known as the GONADS, or, the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory [sic] Society. The GONADS met monthly at one another's wineries for over 50 years, sharing bottles, cigars and endless stories. 'We were all quite strong in our opinions,' says Smith, 'and Doumani was no shrinking violet.' Lunches routinely ran into the dinner hour; the only forbidden topic was politics and, needless to say, the wine flowed freely — so freely that Doumani eventually bought an Airporter-style van so that all of the 'NADS could get home safely. Doumani sold Stags' Leap Winery to Beringer Vineyards, then California's longest continually operating vineyard, in 1997. Soon after he founded a winery called Quixote, named for another character prone to tilting at windmills. An avid, lifelong art collector, Doumani persuaded the renowned Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser to design the winery, which is one of the most fanciful and unique structures in Napa Valley. Doumani himself was never a winemaker; in 2008, he hired Pott to make the Quixote wines. 'He made me a deal,' says Pott. 'He said, 'You can make your wine here, and I'll give you fruit from one-and-a-half acres.'' As monthly payment, Pott received a piece of art from Doumani's collection. Pott has artworks from Robert Motherwell, Cartier Bresson, Calder and Cocteau, which speaks not only to Doumani's largesse, but to the depth of his collection. Pott also lunched with Doumani weekly for more than a decade and heard stories of a well-lived life. In the mid-1970s family commitments obliged Doumani to take over the management of the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, decades before that city's family-oriented, G-rated years. 'This was the height of the mob era,' says Pott. 'He had stories that could have been right out of Scorsese's 'Casino.'' Doumani sold Quixote in 2014, and he started a third winery, ¿Como No?, which ceased production in 2018, as he was approaching the age of 90. I got to know Doumani because of his love of Petite Sirah (on his labels he always spelled it Petite Syrah), a gruff, age-worthy red grape variety well-represented among the older plantings on his original property. My book about Rhône varieties on American soil titled 'American Rhône' included an entire chapter on Petite Sirah for which I interviewed Doumani, the grape's fiercest advocate. He always took the contrarian position that Petite Syrah was better suited to the Napa Valley than Cabernet Sauvignon, especially when it had some bottle age — and in this he may be right. 'He never understood why others didn't love it like he did,' says Pott. 'If you get to try an old wine, from the '70s, you'd know.' Doumani is survived by three children, Lissa, Kayne and Jared. With her husband, Hiro Sone, Lissa ran Terra restaurant in St. Helena, which hosted many a Carl Doumani dinner until it closed in 2018. He also is survived by two brothers, Michael and Peter; two grandchildren, Gianna Lussier and Imogen Doumani; and his sister-in-law, Carol. A fund has been set up in his memory at Providence Community Health Foundation. Funeral arrangements were private. A celebration of life is planned; more details at Sign up for our Tasting Notes newsletter for restaurant reviews, Los Angeles food-related news and more. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Carl Doumani, Napa Valley icon, dies at 92
Carl Kheir Doumani, a mid-century Los Angeles developer-turned-wine-country icon, died April 22 in his sleep at his home in the Napa Valley, according to his family. The former owner of Stags' Leap Winery, once at the center of a wine-country legal battle called the Apostrophe War, was 92. Doumani moved to the Napa Valley in the late 1960s, founded three wineries, sold two of them, and lived the life of a bon vivant and raconteur that amounts to a fading breed in the Valley. Winemaker Stu Smith said he knew Doumani was slowing down when he'd missed a couple of lunch dates with his pals, a standing monthly commitment that he and 11 other friends had kept since the late 1970s. In his later years Doumani showed signs of dementia, a reminder that all of them were getting old. 'There weren't a lot of us left,' says Smith, who with his brother founded Smith-Madrone winery in 1971. Doumani was born in Los Angeles to Lebanese parents and raised in the Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, according to his daughter, Kayne. She says that her father's uncle homesteaded property in Palm Springs, and as a youth Doumani was hired to build 'dingbats,' rapid-construction apartment dwellings that soon filled with California newcomers. He began attending college at UCLA, but early in his studies was offered the chance to purchase a bar and restaurant in Westwood Village called Dudes — despite being a few years shy of legal age. So began a lifetime of development, property management and entrepreneurship. Eventually this took him to the Napa Valley in 1969. 'I think he was looking to buy about five acres,' says Aaron Pott, a longtime friend who made wines for Doumani for decades, 'but the broker was offering about 400.' Those acres were in the heart of the Stags Leap District, one of Napa's most esteemed grape-growing regions. He pulled together investors and struck a deal, intending to build a hotel and restaurant. But in 1971 he revitalized Stags' Leap Winery, founded in 1893, making wine from the property's existing mature vineyards. The name immediately earned him the ire of Warren Winiarski, the founder and proprietor of Stag's Leap Wine Cellars. Winiarski sued over the name, and Doumani did not back down. The matter wasn't resolved until 1986, when the California Supreme Court affirmed Doumani could use the name Stags' with an apostrophe after the 's,' thus ending what came to be known as the Apostrophe War. (The two resolved their differences sufficiently to bottle a joint effort, called Accord, after the settlement.) Doumani's general obstreperousness — he would routinely clash with the Valley's vintner's association and conservation organizations or anyone who told him what he could and could not do with his land — attracted like-minded winery owners who took it upon themselves to vent at monthly lunches. The group of 12 came to be known as the GONADS, or, the Gastronomical Order for Nonsensical and Dissipatory [sic] Society. The GONADS met monthly at one another's wineries for over 50 years, sharing bottles, cigars and endless stories. 'We were all quite strong in our opinions,' says Smith, 'and Doumani was no shrinking violet.' Lunches routinely ran into the dinner hour; the only forbidden topic was politics and, needless to say, the wine flowed freely — so freely that Doumani eventually bought an Airporter-style van so that all of the 'NADS could get home safely. Doumani sold Stags' Leap Winery to Beringer Vineyards, then California's longest continually operating vineyard, in 1997. Soon after he founded a winery called Quixote, named for another character prone to tilting at windmills. An avid, lifelong art collector, Doumani persuaded the renowned Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser to design the winery, which is one of the most fanciful and unique structures in Napa Valley. Doumani himself was never a winemaker; in 2008, he hired Pott to make the Quixote wines. 'He made me a deal,' says Pott. 'He said, 'You can make your wine here, and I'll give you fruit from one-and-a-half acres.'' As monthly payment, Pott received a piece of art from Doumani's collection. Pott has artworks from Robert Motherwell, Cartier Bresson, Calder and Cocteau, which speaks not only to Doumani's largesse, but to the depth of his collection. Pott also lunched with Doumani weekly for more than a decade and heard stories of a well-lived life. In the mid-1970s family commitments obliged Doumani to take over the management of the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, decades before that city's family-oriented, G-rated years. 'This was the height of the mob era,' says Pott. 'He had stories that could have been right out of Scorsese's 'Casino.'' Doumani sold Quixote in 2014, and he started a third winery, ¿Como No?, which ceased production in 2018, as he was approaching the age of 90. I got to know Doumani because of his love of Petite Sirah (on his labels he always spelled it Petite Syrah), a gruff, age-worthy red grape variety well-represented among the older plantings on his original property. My book about Rhône varieties on American soil titled 'American Rhône' included an entire chapter on Petite Sirah for which I interviewed Doumani, the grape's fiercest advocate. He always took the contrarian position that Petite Syrah was better suited to the Napa Valley than Cabernet Sauvignon, especially when it had some bottle age — and in this he may be right. 'He never understood why others didn't love it like he did,' says Pott. 'If you get to try an old wine, from the '70s, you'd know.' Doumani is survived by three children, Lissa, Kayne and Jared. With her husband, Hiro Sone, Lissa ran Terra restaurant in St. Helena, which hosted many a Carl Doumani dinner until it closed in 2018. He also is survived by two brothers, Michael and Peter; two grandchildren, Gianna Lussier and Imogen Doumani; and his sister-in-law, Carol. A fund has been set up in his memory at Providence Community Health Foundation. Funeral arrangements were private. A celebration of life is planned; more details at
