5 Questions for Mark Gold

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor

June 18, 2012 8 AM PT

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Mark Gold is chef-owner of Eva restaurant on Beverly Boulevard and recently was consulting chef at the new Sadie LA in Hollywood. At Eva he’s known for his refined, Southern California market-fresh approach. Sadie LA’s menu might be described as Los Angeles comfort food -- salads and roasted vegetables, mezze and fried chicken. Gold also has installed a new chef de cuisine at Eva who has just wrapped up a stint at Noma in Copenhagen; expect some surprises.

What’s coming up next on your menu? Well, we just hired a new chef de cuisine at Sadie LA, Jacob Takehiro Kear, who had spent some time at Noma, so I have a feeling a lot of foraged items. And I love geoduck! More Japanese wild fish.

Latest ingredient obsession? My latest obsession is shiro dashi. We use it to season our fish, cook our vegetables and to finish certain soups or sauces. It is our secret ingredient that gives the food that umami finish.

What restaurant do you find yourself going to again and again? With two kids and not a lot of time, we tend to go to more casual places. We like Osteria Mamma and Mozza, of course! For breakfast we love Amelia’s on Main Street in Santa Monica.

The one piece of kitchen equipment you can’t live without, other than your knives? My Japanese ceramic shoyu sashi [vessels for soy sauce]. I have two of them -- one (brown) for my soy sauce and one (white) for my shiro dashi.

The last cookbook you read –- and what inspired you to pick it up? ‘Anton Le Pre Catalan’ by Frederic Anton. Michael Cimarusti had told me about it and it is very inspiring. Beautiful food.

Eva, 7458 Beverly Blvd., (323) 634-0700, Los Angeles, www.evarestaurantla.com. Sadie LA, 1638 N. La Palmas Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 467-0200, www.sadiela.com.

[Updated Monday at 10:30 a.m.: An earlier version of this post stated that Gold was currently consulting chef at Sadie LA; he is not. To clarify, Kear is chef de cuisine at Eva restaurant.]

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-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish

Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.