From a Tuscan vacation 33 years ago, to a game-changing bread bakery in LA, to a Michelin-starred restaurant, and beyond
Chef and restaurateur Nancy Silverton rented a house in Tuscany 33 years ago, and promptly became obsessed with Italian cuisine. “I fell in love with Italy then, did a lot of cooking, but mostly, I fell in love with how delicious everything was,” she recalls. “I really appreciate dishes that are very very simple.
Her inspiration may have begun in Italy, but her restaurant career began with LA’s bread scene, or lack thereof. The opening of Silverton’s La Brea bakery was a game-changer for Los Angeles. “When I created [La Brea Bakery], I didn’t know where it was going to lead,” says Silverton. “Nothing was premeditated.
These days, Silverton spends half the year in California, and the other half at her home in Umbria, cooking, learning, and meeting local restaurant owners, farmers, cheesemakers, and other food-world people who also spend their time celebrating the bounty of what the Italian countryside has to offer. “It’s my ideal vacation, because it’s a vacation that I get to cook at,” she says.
Check out the full video to learn more about how Nancy Silverton came to be the creator of some of LA’s most beloved Italian restaurants, and how she continues to learn about Italian cuisine through her insatiable curiosity. This video is part of our partnership with YesChef, a subscription-based streaming platform offering cinematic cooking classes taught by world renowned chefs.