Plates in Places: Santa Monica’s Food Legacy with Evan Kleiman

The Santa Monica Conservancy invites you and your friends to our exciting virtual silent auction, Plates in Places, beginning Sunday, July 18 through Sunday, July 25. We are delighted to honor Santa Monica’s food legacy and the people and places that enrich our community and its neighborhoods by feeding our stomachs and our souls! Enter the auction by clicking here.

This week-long celebration of Santa Monica’s rich and diverse food history kicks off with a special panel hosted by Evan Kleiman, “the fairy Godmother of the L.A. food scene” and host of the popular KCRW radio show, Good Food, and special guests Michael McCarty, owner and proprietor of Michael’s Santa Monica, Raphael Lunetta, co-owner and chef of Lunetta, and pastry chef and co-founder of Tartine, Chad Robertson.

Registration for this event has closed. A recording of the event is available below.

Chef, author, radio host, restaurateur and speaker, Evan Kleiman is known for her central role in bringing a community of food people together through her radio show, Good Food. As host of Good Food on KCRW since 1997, Evan has interviewed more than 6,000 guests ranging from celebrated chefs to local farmers, enabling her to explore every aspect of food and how it intersects with human life. She was also the proprietor and chef of Angeli Caffe for 28 years before its close. Kleiman now serves on the Stewardship Council for Roots of Change and is a member of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council.

In 1979, at the age of 25, Michael McCarty founded Michael’s Santa Monica, a restaurant credited as an early pioneer of California cuisine with its market-driven plates that utilize local produce and hyper-seasonal ingredients. Throughout the years, Michael has spearheaded the restaurant’s evolution, bringing in a veritable who’s who of culinary talent that includes current chef Frank Fermin, as well as opening chef Jonathan Waxman, Nancy Silverton, Brooke Williamson, Sang Yoon, Mark Peel, Miles Thompson among others.

Michael continues to walk the floor at Michael’s Santa Monica when he’s not splitting his time in New York, where he operates a different iteration of Michael’s in midtown Manhattan. Both restaurants feature modern art treasures, as curated by McCarty and his wife (an artist herself) Kim, and boast award-winning wine lists, which include the latest vintages from McCarty’s own The Malibu Vineyard. He is also the author of Welcome to Michael’s: Great Food, Great People, Great Party!, which received a 2008 James Beard Foundation Cookbook award nomination in the entertaining category.

Raphael Lunetta is the co-owner/operator and chef proprietor at Lunetta/Lunetta All Day. He was also the owner and operator of JiRaffe for nearly two decades.

A longtime surfer and local business supporter, he is also an Executive Board member on the Santa Monica Visitors and Convention Bureau, and represents the city on a national and international level. In 2014, California Tour & Travel Commission named him Chef of the Year. Raphael is a personality in food publications and on national television.

Chad Robertson is the co-founder of Tartine, now with six locations in Northern and Southern California and Seoul, South Korea. His foundational book, Tartine Bread, became the manual for home bread bakers who aspired to recreate his world-famous rustic country loaves and established him as the premier American bread baker. Robertson is also the coauthor of Tartine, written with Elisabeth Prueitt, and the author of Tartine Book No. 3. The recipient of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, Robertson has appeared in a wide range of publications, from the New York Times to Vogue.

We Thank Our Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Kate is a 20+ year, Santa Monica Realtor who cares deeply about our community.

We are proud to support the Santa Monica Conservancy.

A volunteer group of neighbors dedicated to working for the interests of all residents of Ocean Park in Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism works to strengthen our local economy by enhancing and promoting our community as a distinctive, compelling and welcoming travel destination.

U.S. Bank has been named one of the 2021 World’s Most Ethical Companies, learn more at usbank.com.

Silver Sponsors

Donors

Anne Rimer

Nina & Rob Fresco

Fred Deni

Carol Lemlein & Eric Natwig

Jan McElwee Osborn