Los Angeles restaurateur Bill Chait was looking for a way to cover his rent after he closed a restaurant and began reworking the space into something new.
So in late August he launched a concept called Test Kitchen in the building’s basement and invited a few “homeless” chefs — those between gigs or working on the menu for a soon-to-open concept — to take the place over for a few days at a time.
What he hadn’t anticipated was that the temporary concept would take on a life of its own, drawing some of the city’s top restaurant stars, including Walter Manzke, formerly of Church & State, “Top Chef” winner Michael Voltaggio, and John Sedlar of Rivera.
Test Kitchen has been proclaimed by local food writers and bloggers as one of the most interesting openings of the season.
Chefs are lining up to get their chance in Test Kitchen’s spotlight, and seats are sold out three weeks in advance — even before the guest chef is announced, according to Brian Saltsburg, a partner with Chait in Test Kitchen.
Now those behind Test Kitchen are wondering if there’s a way to keep the excitement going permanently — despite the logistical challenges.
“The hours this takes is unimaginable,” Saltzburg said. “No sane restaurateur would ever think this was a good idea.”
Saltzburg said the experience has been like living the restaurant version of the movie “Groundhog Day,” except every day is the restaurant’s opening day.
Test Kitchen opened Aug. 18, the week after Chait closed his concept Spark Woodfire Grill near Beverly Hills. Chait is planning to open a new restaurant called Anticucho upstairs in the building with chef Ricardo Zarate, known for his contemporary Peruvian restaurant Mo-Chica in Los Angeles.
Construction, however, is expected to take months, so Zarate is serving as “house” chef at Test Kitchen, testing the recipes planned for Anticucho and assisting guest chefs.
Visiting chefs are paired with visiting bartenders who create cocktails to match the food. Some chefs bring their own staff, while others use Test Kitchen’s team.
Though the space remains the same, with each new chef the concept is recreated every few days, from service training to the POS system. Chefs are encouraged to either offer a fixed-price menu or family-style service to keep it simple.
Voltaggio offered a 10-course fixed-price menu for $69, for example, while opening chef Jordan Kahn offered a 12-course menu for $40 featuring sample dishes from his soon-to-open Vietnamese-inspired restaurant Red Medicine.
The lineup of chefs is publicized primarily through Twitter, but guests are booking tables before they know who will be in the kitchen.
In the first few weeks, Test Kitchen attracted what Saltzburg described as the city’s “fooderati, bloggers and food chasers,” but also a surprising number of chefs have come out to dine.
The list of chefs who want to cook at Test Kitchen keeps growing, Saltzburg said, but it’s not clear how long the restaurant will last.
The concept has struck a chord — whether because so many chefs are looking for a place to exercise their talents or because Los Angeles diners love to chase the hottest new thing, even if it’s temporary.
“New restaurants today have to have some sense of urgency,” Saltzburg said. “At Test Kitchen, a lot of it may have been accidental, but we created just that.”
Contact Lisa Jennings at ljenning@nrn.com
