Alan Jackson, Lemonade
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Alan Jackson's name might not be familiar. But the original Lemonade, which the veteran LA chef opened on Beverly Boulevard in Spring of 2008, and the three that followed, are some of the most popular eateries in town. (There are more on the way FYI.) The concept is simple, and simply irresistible: beautiful prepared salads, sandwiches, roasts and of course, lemonade, in a variety of unexpected but delicious flavors such as cucumber-mint and peach-ginger. There’s no table service. You order at the counter. But people seem to be happy to wait in line for the stuff, including us.
Is anyone in your family in the business?
They’re all in entertainment.
What is your first food memory?
My grandmother burning butter and putting boysenberry jam on toast.
Lemonade seems like exactly the right concept for now. Did you just get lucky?
I had been cooking a long time. The question every night is, “What’s for dinner?” When I’m not working, the last thing I want to do is cook when I am at home. The options for take home were minimal. It’s what I wanted in my own life. I like to think of it as opening your own refrigerator and being able to pick what you want
How did you arrive at the name ‘Lemonade’?
It was one of those ‘aha’ moments. We had tried every kind of word game to describe what my food is like: this food, that food, the larder. It didn’t correlate. I just finally said, “We should name it something stupid like ‘Lemonade.’”. The name itself talks to the concept, to the food we make. It’s light and bright. I play with sweet and sour.
Were you concerned that people would think it was just a lemonade spot?
Yes. But eventually they would figure it out. We had to live through that period of time where people would drive past us and didn’t know if we were a dress shop. That gave us time for us to work out the model.
How much chefing do you actually do?
I do it all. I write every menu. I write every recipe for the four restaurants and a catering company. I do armchair chefing where I’m writing the prep lists and doing organizational stuff. Then I’m on the front line. If I’m not there I’m at my commissary, a 10,000 square foot kitchen on Washington Boulevard.
How many employees do you have?
About 150.
Is it hard to find good employees?
That’s the hardest. It can be a thankless job. To find people that are truly committed and share your vision is very difficult.
So how do you do it?
By luck. After doing this so long, I realize that first impressions aren’t always the best ones. I’ve learned you can’t judge a book by its cover. Sometimes you’re surprised by people and their dedication and their ability to add value.
At one of my stores someone went to join our team who didn’t speak. I said, “If you’re going to be here you’re going to need to talk.” This guy, if I had a hundred of him, I would be retired. I would be so in luck.
One of nice things is that as we get bigger and more high profile locations, we have been able to attract more people.
Is the goal that eventually you’ll be able to sit back and collect the checks?
No. I like cooking.
What are some of the best sellers?
Cauliflower with curry.
That’s a cold salad?
Yes. And anytime we have something like persimmon salad or something with figs, we are running back to the kitchen [to replenish]. The miso beef short ribs, we go through six to seven hundred pounds each week.
And all the cooking is done in one central spot?
It’s all cooked in the commissary. We do minimal cooking and finishing at the restaurants.
A selfish question. One of my favorite dishes is the broccoli salad? How do you make it?
We roast broccoli and take the crowns. It’s really simple. We add ricotta diced…
Ricotta salata?
Yes. And we do a broken Champagne vinaigrette with Champagne vinegar and mustard.
How many different salads do you make each day?
Depending on what store. In Venice we do 24, plus different meats and fish: tuna, salmon we cook sous vide style, ten different pot roasts, two different soups, mac and cheese, ten different desserts each day.
Do you miss having a fine dining restaurant at all? I mean, do you miss having that canvas to play?
No, I would be doing it. We do fine dining. We’ve done the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] awards for seven years. We’ve done the REDCAT gala for three years. We’re the in-house caterer for MOCA and do much of their high-end events.
Speaking of MOCA, was it a coup to get that café space? Joachim Splichal, who had it previously, seems to have every museum café in town.
I wouldn’t say coup. It’s a nice high profile space and a good relationship. They [MOCA] share our vision. It was very nice to receive a phone call from Joachim after winning it. It was time for change. Things have a life cycle. One day we’ll run out of time there too.
Were you concerned about having two spaces Downtown?
I thought the distance between them was enough we wouldn’t be pulling from the same audience. We were able to rationalize the overlap. MOCA is small and the concentration is on Saturday and Sunday when we’re closed at the other store.
You’re a San Fernando Valley resident right? When is Lemonade coming to the valley?
It’s on our radar. We’re opening at USC in the fall of 2010. We are looking in the Valley. I live there and I understand the demographic. I think there’s a big opportunity there because most of us are driving over the hill for this kind of food. Poquito Mas out there would have been ideal. The other location I’m interested in I would call east Encino.
What about the notion that Valley-ites are more shall we say, thrifty? Several restaurateurs have said this to me.
It’s a generational thing. In the early 90s, everybody came over from the Valley [to Jackson’s] and they’d bring their own wine. You’d be like, ‘Please!’ Really it was true. You would just know: here come the 818-ers on Saturday. I’m a Westside expat. The Valley is just an extension of the Westside now. We’ve all grown up and have kids or are having kids and live in Valley. Now the Valley has to come up around us. I heard some exciting news. I heard my friend [Jimmy Shaw] from Loteria is opening where Gaucho Grill was. The eastside is moving over the hill.
What are some of your favorite local restaurants?
That’s a hard question.
Why?
First of all, I’m busy cooking my own food all the time. I work until 10 every night. It’s hard to get out.
I guess I had this vision of you having your nights free since Lemonade closes early.
I have Lemonade and I have the catering business. And I’m in the Valley. I went to In-N-Out with my kids the other night.
How was it?
Excellent. The “Double-Double” is really good.
I was going to ask you about the state of the Los Angeles restaurant scene. But maybe you’re the wrong person to ask.
No. I think it’s great. I think we’ve had a boom in the last couple years. Cities kind of pop up around restaurants. Something like Culver City, the restaurant evolution there has put Culver City on the map. Part of the problem of Culver City is they need to put other kind of retail in as well.
All our restaurants are in odd locations, even Abbott Kinney. It’s the east side of Abbot Kinney, the new frontier.
And I assume you save on rent that way.
Yes. Also you end up carving up the same business. If you can seek out unique locations and you can fit within a sub community… it’s part of my model. Some of the more unobvious locations are little gems.
I have heard some complaints that Lemonade is too expensive.
The worst thing about being a restaurant person today is the blogs. Seriously, you can live and die by them. In some ways it’s the greatest thing: a tool to help us fix the problems.
I hear people say, “My god. This is too expensive.” The same people are willing to go buy fried wontons in a Chinese chicken salad with iceberg lettuce and a little poached chicken. I’m like, wait a minute. I’m giving you more of the protein and the expensive components for less. We have narrowed it down to those components you really want to eat. I think that’s the core of what I’m doing. It’s all the favorite things in salads. It’s all the precious stuff. Some people get it and some people don’t.
Do you have any words of wisdom for people thinking about a career in the business?
You need to understand everyone’s job inside your business and be able to do it yourself in order to have the control it takes to have your own vision.
It’s taken me twenty years of doing this to know my craft and every day I’m still learning how to do it better. There’s no one path. Every day is a series of great mistakes. Out of those mistakes are born great ideas, great solutions and great new dishes. Sometimes we run out of a certain dressing and we add another one and are like, ‘Why weren’t we doing that from the beginning?’ The broccoli salad was born out of not having lemon vinaigrette that day.
Do your kids eat better than any other kids?
Probably not on my behalf, but on my wife’s behalf. Heidi, my wife and partner, has made having the family meal important. She’s cooking at home.
I thought she’d just call in her order. That’s what I’d do.
They like my mac and cheese. They love when I bring home an apple confit cake and they’ll eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But Heidi and the lady who lives with us, they’re making burritos for their lunch today: homemade burritos.
Well kudos to your wife. I’d just be lazy.
I’ve heard people say, ‘You’ve done away with my kitchen at home because of Lemonade.’ That’s great. That’s my mission. But still Heidi finds that the process at home is very important for the kids. Just that whole going to the store is a really cool process, taking the food home and planning the meal.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a chef?
Something else with my hands. I’d probably be a landscaper. I love cutting my lawn.
Lemonade, 505 S. Flower St, Los Angeles, 213.488.0299
Lemonade, 250 S. Grand, Los Angeles, 213.628.0200
Lemonade, 1661 Abbot Kinney, Venice, 310.452.6200
Lemonade, 9001 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood, 310.247.2500
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