About the Chefs:
Chef Chris Santos has over twenty years of experience as an executive chef in New York City’s hottest restaurants, as well as his expansions on the West Coast. He is a Partner at TAO Group and Chef/Owner of New York’s VANDAL as well as Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side, at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and in Hollywood, CA. Chef Santos oversees the menu development and culinary operations of all five properties. In addition to his four restaurants, Santos has been a judge on Food Network’s wildly popular show “Chopped” since its debut in 2009. He released his first cookbook, “SHARE - Delicious and Surprising Recipes to Pass Around Your Table,” in February 2017.
Antonia Lofaso is a Chef, TV Personality, Cookbook Author and is the Executive Chef and Owner of Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots and her newest concept, DAMA, named as Downtown’s Most Exciting New Restaurant and Lounge by EATER LA and boosts “a menu of meticulously designed and executed dishes” and are “consistently good” (LA Times). Antonia has quickly become one of America’s most beloved chefs and is best known for her roles on top Chef, CNBC’s Restaurant Startup, Cutthroat Kitchen, Iron Chef America, Best Thing I ever Ate and most recently, Food Network’s Guys Grocery Games.
About Beauty & Essex:
Beauty & Essex had an innovative design that starts in the restaurants’ entrance, a well-curated modern day pawn shop replete with a saxophone, boombox, quirky artifacts, vintage treasures and an eclectic array of “oneoff” pieces of jewelry. Continuing past the pawn shop, guests encounter a grand, circular staircase wrapped around a two-story chandelier, but only the adventurous will discover all that Beauty & Essex had to offer. The cuisine, much like the design, is intended to set a new course. Chef Chris Santos was one of the pioneers of the small, share plate dining trend that has swept the nation, and with the Beauty & Essex menu, he once again has created waves on the food scene.
Please note, Los Angeles Food & Wine Kick-Off Dinner Series has assigned seating and features a set menu custom-created for the experience. Please email all seating requests and food allergies no later than Monday, August 19, 2019. We may be unable to accommodate last-minute dietary restrictions. The menu is subject to change. All tickets are final.
Valet and entrance located on Selma Avenue between Wilcox and Cahuenga.
Please note, there is no wheelchair access upstairs to the second floor.
For questions, please email social.la@taogroup.com.