Nancy Silverton isn’t just one of Los Angeles’s most celebrated chefs – she helped define how this city eats. Born and raised in L.A., Nancy’s career spans the city’s most iconic kitchens – from Michael’s to Spago, Campanile to La Brea Bakery, and now the “Mozza Plex”: Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, and Chi Spacca. And let’s not forget the already-iconic Max & Helen’s, the Larchmont diner she opened in partnership with Phil Rosenthal. In this episode, Nancy shares how a chance encounter in her college dorm set her on her unexpected culinary path, why she left school with just one semester to go, and what it was like to help open Spago as its original pastry chef. We also talk about the quieter forces behind her success, including the influence of her mother, and how she’s managed to wear her status as a true L.A. legend with her unmistakably effortless style. This conversation is about instinct, reinvention, and building something lasting in a city that’s constantly changing. And yes – we also get her heretical take on the iconic, L.A.-born fast-food chain she says is overrated.
Nancy Silverton isn’t just one of Los Angeles’s most celebrated chefs – she helped define how this city eats.
Born and raised in L.A., Nancy’s career spans the city’s most iconic kitchens – from Michael’s to Spago, Campanile to La Brea Bakery, and now the “Mozza Plex”: Pizzeria Mozza, Osteria Mozza, and Chi Spacca. And let’s not forget the already-iconic Max & Helen’s, the Larchmont diner she opened in partnership with Phil Rosenthal.
In this episode, Nancy shares how a chance encounter in her college dorm set her on her unexpected culinary path, why she left school with just one semester to go, and what it was like to help open Spago as its original pastry chef.
We also talk about the quieter forces behind her success, including the influence of her mother, and how she’s managed to wear her status as a true L.A. legend with her unmistakably effortless style.
This conversation is about instinct, reinvention, and building something lasting in a city that’s constantly changing.
And yes – we also get her heretical take on the iconic, L.A.-born fast-food chain she says is overrated.