West Restaurant to Introduce New Chef Over a Winemaker's Dinner

It may only be chef Mathew Woolf's second week at his new job but he is ready for his first event at West Restaurant and Lounge at Hotel Angeleno—a winemaker's dinner Thursday featuring Joel Gott wines.

"I think the challenge is to teach my new team the way I cook," he said. 

But Woolf, who said that the event was on the books at the Brentwood restaurant before he took the job, was excited about pairing a creative menu with wines made by Joel Gott, who is also attending the dinner. 

"It's kind of nice and interesting," Woolf said, adding that he was familiar with at least one of the Gott wines, which are made in the Napa Valley. "I'd only drunk the cabernet sauvignon."

He put together the menu based on six wines from the winery, including its 2009 riesling, which he matched with curried chicken oysters and Brentwood corn.

"You have this nice savory and this sweet corn, and it's going to balance really well with the wine," Woolf said.

Woolf, who made his reputation in Southern California at Fig Restaurant in Santa Monica, has been a staunch believer in using local and fresh foods since his childhood in Burnham-on-Crouch in England, where his grandparents had a fruit and vegetable store.

"I've been surrounded by it all my life," he said.

He moved to Los Angeles about a year and a half ago and has been very happy with what he's found in the way of farmers markets and the like.

"I think coming to California was such an eye-opener," he said.

The Joel Gott "Sip, Taste and Discover" event starts at 7 p.m. at the restaurant and hotel at 170 N. Church Lane, Los Angeles, CA 90049, on Thursday night. Tickets, the menu and other information is available here.

• For Pali Patch's recent article from the Palisades Farmers Market, click here.

This article first appeared on Brentwood Patch.

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