Lauren Herman, chef de cuisine at A.O.C. in Los Angeles, California, comes by her love of the farmers’ market honestly. As a born-and-raised Angeleno who has spent the last four years working for A.O.C.’s chef-owner, Suzanne Goin, weekly trips to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market are a way of life.
When she shops the farmers’ market for the restaurant, she also buys ingredients for herself and her partner, Christina Olufson, who is the pastry chef at A.O.C. and its sister restaurants, Lucques and Tavern. When asked about her pantry staples, Herman does not list mainstays like peanut butter or fancy olive oil, but instead rattles off a laundry list of fruits and vegetables.
Herman makes a concerted effort to cook at home on her nights off, preparing rustic, seasonal dishes. For the latest edition of the Sous Chef Series, she prepared a peerless variation of the now-classic beet-and-goat-cheese salad.
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