ThisIsUs' Jon Huertas, was honored at the Napa Valley Film Festival with Variety Vivant’s Spice Award. More about the event:
’s Spice Award Nov. 13, has always known he wanted a career in Hollywood. But he’s something of an accidental restaurateur. No, he didn’t exactly stumble into co-owning Clutch, one of the hottest upscale casual restaurants in Venice, Calif. — but the East Coast native didn’t exactly come from a family of foodies.
So it’s unsurprising that when Huertas speaks about Clutch — which he co-owns with wife Nicole, Norma Alvarado and Oscar Hermosillo — he emphasizes that the roadhouse-themed outpost was an effort to not just create food, but community. It all started when Huertas took Nicole out on their first date — and they noticed a distinct lack of places to truly gather and eat in Venice. But a chance meeting at Alvarado and Hermosillo’s Venice Beach Wines , and the couple wanted in on their next big project. That became Clutch, which opened in 2015; the name is a partial shout-out to the mechanics of motorcycles and cars, which make up its theme — but also urban slang for “perfect, what is needed,” he says.
“Food has always brought people together,” he says, and evokes King Arthur’s round table as a partial inspiration: “No one would ever stand at the head of his table.Does he have a favorite item on the menu? That’s easy: Wings, dipped in a bitter orange sauce. “I never had wings like our wings,” he chuckles, noting that the recipes are primarily from Hermosillo’s mother.” is all about the way family interacts in loving and challenging ways, which is part of its appeal, he says.
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