Mark Peel, the chef who opened Spago and helped create California cuisine, dies

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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Damn. :smiling_face_with_tear:.

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Yeah. :pleading_face:

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Still an excellent cookbook.

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I am sitting at Republique reading this news…

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I am so sorry to hear this. I have so many fine memories from Campanile. I still look fondly at “the bar area” when entering Republique. I feel like it represents my entire youth. I miss Nick and Lonnie and all the crusty regulars.

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I’m sad I only got to Campanile once, and it happened to be grilled cheese night.

From Addison’s piece:

… in a box with the title “Is the Customer Always Right?” Peel tells the story of putting a pulled-chicken sandwich on the lunch menu at Campanile that was tossed with aioli and served with bacon. L.A. being L.A., customers right away requested the sandwich minus aioli and bacon — and then complained about it being awful.

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JGold on the closing of Campanile:

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And from Laurie Ochoa:

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Man, that’s sad.

We took my cousin, a young chef, to Campanile for dinner during their last week of business. It was very busy and it had to be a little sad, but Peel looked relaxed, happy, almost at peace as he stopped at tables to greet & chat with folks. My cousin, who is not easily impressed, said “This is the kind of restaurant I dream of having.” RIP Chef.

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Ditto. I wouldn’t set foot in Republique - which I now love - for years because I was slightly and irrationally hostile.

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Manzke standing at the pass like Bout time she shows up

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Funny! I would drive by and scowl… interlopers!

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I didn’t have the budget to go to Campanile very often, but one thing I definitely appreciated - every time I was there, I saw him in the kitchen, so the execution was top notch. He really seemed to love being there. What a shame, he was so young.

It’s also too bad that his subsequent places never hit their stride. There was the place on La Brea (near where Bludso’s is now?) whose name I forget, but it wasn’t very good and didn’t last long. And then there was the stand at Grand Central - at one point it was a sorta Spanish seafood stand, before its current iteration. Also disappointing.

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Tar Pit - perhaps not the best food in the city but always nice to get a late night cocktail and a few snacks after dinner at Bistro LQ

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Oh right, thanks for the reminder! True, the bar was lively, and I had some fun work events there.

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