Aussie Farm to Table Chef Comes To Hollywood

I recently attended a special dinner event hosted by Cadillac, at the Eveleigh restaurant in Los Angeles.  Mingling alongside a lively, professional crowd in the rear patio, I enjoyed a vibe that spoke to the respect of the menu orchestrated by executive Chef Jordan Toft.  The theme being farm-to-table, Chef Toft noted that while they don't have a live roof top garden directly supplying their food, they are still committed to using local ingredients with inspired and changing menus every single day.

Our family style tables were filled with course after course of delicious down-home food with a sleek, elegant presentation!   

We started with a variety of green appetizers, like roasted shishito peppers, and a kale salad that featured a lemon based dressing with sunflower seeds. The highlight, of course, was a whole roasted organically fed, free-roaming lamb. The jidori chicken was also succulently prepared, as was the sliced beef, as well as generous portions of sea bass. Accompanying the meats and fish was a trio of salsas like chimichurri and a tomato-based sauce. Abundant baskets of french fries with truffle aioli sauce also beautifully complemented the meats.....Finally, to top it off, we were served these lovely little hand-crafted spiced donuts with apple jam and whipped cream. Dining side by side, elbow to elbow made this a complete,  intimate,  farm-to-table experience.

When I met chef Toft, I asked him how familiar was he with Armenian/Turkish cuisine. After all, I mentioned "I'm representing my grandmother's Armenian ancestry by way of Kayseri".  Then,  I began to describe my favorite Kayseri specialty called, "tavah mante",  He automatically identified "Adana", a city not far from Kayseri, and said while training in his native Australia, he was exposed to some of those specialty dishes that incorporate yogurt and cucumber, and highlight spices such as sumac.  Not too shabby, I thought, for an Aussie chef!



Here is a clip of Chef Jordan's work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb4Gf-POzTA