By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Forget Match.com, eHarmony or meeting your true love on the next reality show. If you’re looking for a serious relationship, get a job, at a restaurant.
At Santa Monica’s Rustic Canyon alone, three serious relationships have been born, most notably between owner Josh Loeb and baker Zoe Nathan, who are now married and co-owners of a second spot, the hugely popular Huckleberry. (For the curious, Loeb interviewed Nathan for the position of pastry chef, had her cook for him, was completely wowed, but lost her to Campanile, which was paying her more than he could afford. But he proceeded to, in his words, “hound her” with regular phone calls. And eventually he won and Nathan came on board. Not long after, they started dating.) Loeb and Nathan even got married at Rustic Canyon. And no, they didn’t work their own wedding.
Los Angeles is home to countless other restaurant couples. The most common arrangement appears to be husband in the kitchen, wife overseeing the front of house. There’s Quinn and Karen Hatfield of Hatfield’s, Bruno and Florence Herve-Commereuc of Le Saint Amour, Kazuto Matsumoto and Vicki Fan of Beacon. But sometimes that gets flip flopped, as with Josie Le Balch and Frank Delzio of Josie. In others cases, both halves chef: Suzanne Goin of Lucques, AOC and Tavern and David Lentz of The Hungry Cat; Brooke Williamson and Nick Roberts of Beechwood and Hudson House; Andre Guerrero and Jan Purdy of Max and The Oinkster; Monique King of the W Los Angeles - Westwood and Paul Rosenbluh of Firefly Bistro.
Working together in an industry that is famously tough has its advantages. “It definitely helps to have someone there who is also in the conversation with you,” says Loeb.
“In the beginning of our relationship,” says Le Balch, (meaning before she and Delzio opened their Santa Monica restaurant together) “We could bitch about other people.” Which she admits was fun and satisfying. Nowadays, she says, “I think it’s kind of cool to have the same things in common and yes, we have the same goal.” Not to mention the pair get to see each other on a regular basis, unlike so many modern couples.
But working in the restaurant business, especially under the same roof, can be touchy.
“I know for Frank it’s hard,” she says. “It’s harder for our situation because my name’s on the restaurant or the perception people have, when it’s truly a collaboration of both of us.”
“Marriage is hard period and the restaurant business is hard,” offers Karen Hatfield, whose restaurant is due to move from Beverly Boulevard to the old Red Pearl Kitchen space on Melrose Avenue later this year. “A lot of couples seem to fall by the wayside. I don’t think we’ll be one of them.”
Because? “We’re very good partners,” says Hatfield, “Best friends. We totally see eye to eye in the food world, more so than anyone else I’ve ever encountered.”
Perhaps the best known Los Angeles restaurant “couple that was” is Mark Peel and Nancy Silverton, unless you want to count Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff. But there’s also David Myers and Michelle Myers of Sona and Lisa Brady and Makoto Tanaka, who despite terminating their marriage, continue to operate Beverly Hills’ Mako together, she as manager and he as chef.
“So many people don’t even know [we’re divorced],” says Brady. “Customers who have been coming here I thought knew all of a sudden find out. But we truly like each other as people. We’re not one of those horror stories. It’s not the normal divorce.”
So would Brady counsel young marrieds not to open their dream café together? Nope. “I don’t think that’s the reason people get divorced,” she says. “If they share a passion and they want to do it, it could make the relationship stronger.”
The key seems to be having defined roles and doing your best to leave work at work or at least not letting it completely consume your home life.
“I think it’s about remembering that idea of, it’s not a power struggle,” says Le Balch. “It’s not a competition. The real reason you’re with someone is to make them happy. Certainly no one’s on their better behavior all the time. I certainly have been upset with something where if Frank weren’t my husband, I would have ripped him up.” But, she adds, “I’m a chef. We’re the crazy, passionate lunatics.”
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