Cafe Society: Celebrity chef Jose Andres visits Thomas Fire relief efforts in Ventura

As a James Beard Award-winning chef, José Andrés is credited with introducing tapas from his native Spain to the food scene in America, his home base for more than 20 years. But it is his work with World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit he launched in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, that is making him a household name wherever disaster strikes — including Puerto Rico and, now, Ventura County.

"When the fire came, I knew we had to be there to feed people. That's what chefs do," Andrés said Monday, just hours after he'd flown from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles and driven to Ventura, where World Central Kitchen had already taken up temporary residence in O'Brien Hall behind the San Buenaventura Mission.

There, a volunteer team of residents led by local chefs Jason Collis, of Plated Events, and Tim Kilcoyne, of Scratch Sandwich Counter, was in its ninth day of preparing hot meals for Thomas Fire evacuees and first responders in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Helping guide operations were Robert Egger and a crew from L.A. Kitchen, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty by providing healthy meals prepared by chefs-in-training using food that might otherwise go to waste.

The disaster-relief dinner menu that day included tossed green salad with roasted acorn squash, feta cheese and creamy avocado dressing, plus jalapeño mac 'n' cheese with 150 pounds of smoked pork.

The latter was donated by a Ventura business that had canceled plans for its holiday party but kept its order with the barbecue caterer, said Nancy Pedersen, formerly of Sunflowers on the Square Kitchen & Bakery. She turned a separate donation of oatmeal, chocolate and amarena cherries into a crisp for dessert.

Read more: Volunteer program provides healthy meals to those displaced by Thomas Fire

When a delivery arrived from Food Forward, the nonprofit organization that collects fresh produce from backyard gardens and farmers markets for distribution to food banks and other groups, Andrés pushed the boxes up a ramp at the back of the reception hall. He was delighted to discover they contained hundreds of Kishu mandarins from the Ojai Valley.

"Five years ago, I came to beg Jim Churchill (of Ojai's Churchill Orchards) to sell me at least four boxes — not even for my restaurants, but for me," said Andrés, whose nationwide network of more than 20 restaurants includes the fine-dining The Bazaar by José Andrés in Beverly Hills.

He peeled a Kishu and held up the segments to share. "I'm sorry. But you are about to see just how little work I actually do here. The real workers are the volunteers and local chefs."

Modesty aside, Andrés' appearance caused a flurry of activity in a room already busy with dozens of volunteers planning, preparing and packing food for delivery to shelters and command posts.

Father Tom Elewaut stopped by to shake Andrés' hand. Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney presented him with a lapel pin in the shape of a miniature police badge. Collis, Kilcoyne and friend and documentary producer Nate Mook conferred with him on how best to portion out the jalapeño mac 'n' cheese. And when he wasn't shooting his own cellphone pictures and videos for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook  (hashtag: #chefsforcalifornia), Andrés happily posed for selfies with anyone who asked.

"You are the ones," he said during the taking of each photo, his index fingers pointing at a succession of volunteers.

The group included Hilda Guerrero and Paula McCowan, teachers whose respective elementary schools were closed by the fire — and who were thrilled to learn that their first day at World Central Kitchen coincided with Andrés' visit.

Midway through her fourth day as a volunteer, Oxnard resident Judy Martin snapped a quick selfie with the chef and went back to chopping brussels sprouts for a savory bread pudding that would be featured on the next day's menu. Subha Tholudur, of Thousand Oaks, laughed it off when she realized — after the fact — that she'd worn a food-safety hairnet for all of her pictures with Andrés.

"We've donated diapers and clothing and other things, but we wanted to do something physical to help, too. So this has been great," Tholudur said. 

The local effort started in Los Angeles, then moved north as the Thomas Fire grew in ferocity, and as a network of Ventura County resources came together to make it happen, said Andrés. He credited Ojai-based pediatrician Susanne Lammot, better known as Dr. Hall, for accepting the challenge of finding a commercial kitchen for the project.

She was tapped for the task by her nephew, Yuri Horowitz, who specializes in tourism development projects and had collaborated with Andrés and Mook on the 2015 documentary "Haiti Undiscovered." 

"I spoke with my close friend Nate the night before he flew out to California and connected him with Susanne to get the ball rolling, brainstorming ideas," Horowitz recalled in an email sent to The Star. Lammot, in turn, called on Collis, who as a chef and a member of the mission parish was uniquely suited to serve as World Central Kitchen's liaison with the church.

After he and Kilcoyne put out a call for volunteers, finding 35 to 50 people to fill each of the four daily shifts was easier than it sounds, Collis said. Among those reporting for duty: Chef David Chang of Momofuku fame, presumably with time on his hands before the opening of his new restaurant, Majordomo, in Chinatown. 

"We aim to be a meaningful organization of chefs, local leaders and fellow Americans," said Andrés, who on Tuesday was seen delivering World Central Kitchen cheeseburgers to first responders in the field.

On Thursday, as the containment figure for the Thomas Fire stood at 60 percent, plans to clean and close the Ventura kitchen by the end of the week were announced via the project's Facebook page, World Central Kitchen Thomas Fire Response. In its two-week lifespan, the kitchen served more than 30,000 meals while giving people a way to help their community, Andrés said.

"Even people who have never cooked before," he added. "Everybody is powerful; all you need is to tap their potential."

World Central Kitchen efforts continue in Puerto Rico. For information or to make a donation, click on https://www.worldcentralkitchen.org.

For more information about L.A. Kitchen, go to http://www.lakitchen.org.

(Author's note: The online version of this column was updated on Dec. 26 to correct and clarify information pertaining to how and when Horowitz met Andrés and Mook.)

OPEN, SHUT AND IN BETWEEN

In Thousand Oaks' Lincoln Oaks Plaza shopping center, Love Sushi opened in November at the space occupied for the previous 15 years by Yomama Sushi (140 W. Hillcrest Drive, Suite 118, 805-496-9102.) The new restaurant shares at least one owner with the team from Love Sushi in Moorpark (223 W. Los Angeles Ave.).

Closed on Nov. 16 by Ventura County's environmental health division for "rodent infestation" and "unsanitary conditions," Amigo's Cantina in downtown Ventura won't be coming back: The restaurant's website and phone number were still live as of this week, but a "for lease" sign is on the door (546 E. Main St.). According to online records, the business' alcohol license was suspended on Dec. 7.

At The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks, signs in the first-level food court announce the impending arrival of Pho & Tea (382 W. Hillcrest Drive, Suite 9). The restaurant is named for its focus on the Vietnamese noodle soup known as pho — which it promises to have ready to serve "in only five minutes" — and bubble tea, which features chewy boba tapioca pearls. It has a sister site, formerly known as Pholicious, at the Pacific View shopping center in Ventura (3301 E. Main St., Suite 2560, https://www.pho-tea.com).   

After months of apparent inactivity at what closed in March as a Subway, "now hiring" notices have been taped to the exterior of the proposed downtown Ventura location of Burgerim. The notices encourage would-be employees to apply by scanning a QR code with their cellphones or by clicking on https://www.burgerim.com/careers. A visit to the website reveals that a store manager, line cook, shift manager and cashiers are sought for the Ventura location (440 E. Main St.); no opening date is given.

The chain specializing in customizable, slider-sized burgers opened its first, franchisee-owned Ventura County location in Newbury Park in March (587 N. Ventu Park Road, Suite 587A). Another, separately owned site is under construction in the Camarillo Premium Outlets food court.

And in Ojai, previously reported plans to open a Topa Topa Brewing Co. taproom in the front portion of the Ojai Valley Cleaners building have taken a step forward. On Tuesday, a demolition crew was seen (and heard) jackhammering the concrete floor inside the now-vacant space (345 E. Ojai Ave.). The drycleaning business has relocated to a smaller site just around the corner (105-B S. Montgomery St.).

CHANGING OF THE GUARD

Six years after opening what is now known as Twenty88 Restaurant & Martini Lounge in Old Town Camarillo, the husband-and-wife team of Vince Pillard and Annette Natella have sold their interest in the business to Noah Skultety, one of its mixologists. He joins a partnership that includes Robert Dawson and David Martinez. Dale Peters will serve as general manager, with Alex Castillo as executive chef (2088 Ventura Blvd., 805-388-2088, http://twenty88.com).

Pillard said this week that he is launching a mobile catering business that will specialize in private gatherings and perhaps the occasional food truck event. (The name: OMG Catering. A website is in the works at cateringOMG.com.) Pillard remains a co-owner of BLVD BRGR Co., the Camarillo restaurant he opened in April 2016 with partner John Stewart (2145 Ventura Blvd., 805-389-9200, http://blvdbrgr.com).

Lisa McKinnon is a staff writer for The Star. To contact her, send email to lisa.mckinnon@vcstar.com. To have the VCS Eats newsletter delivered directly to your inbox, visit http://bit.ly/VCS_Eats and type in your email address.