L.A. Chefs Ian Gresik of Drago Centro, Brandon Boudet of Dominick’s and Little Dom’s, and Micah Wexler of Mezze endorse Skuna Bay
LOS ANGELES, CA (February 1, 2012) Skuna Bay, Vancouver Island Craft Raised Salmon, North America’s first craft raised farmed salmon, is pleased to welcome Chef Ian Gresik, Chef Brandon Boudet and Chef Micah Wexler as Skuna Bay ambassadors.
“Skuna Bay is so pleased to have the endorsement of some of LA’s top young chefs. These chefs share our goal of delivering to the highest standards and creating a great salmon dining experience for their customers,” stated Stewart Hawthorn, Head Farmer and Managing Director at Skuna Bay. “We identified chefs that we wanted to work with and invited them to see our farms and experience it for themselves. We are pleased that what they saw impressed them and encouraged them to support us.”
Each chef had different reasons for supporting Skuna Bay. Chef Gresik felt that it was “clearly the highest quality salmon available on the market 365 days a year,” while Brandon Boudet made the connection with the craftsmen farmers and “the passion they brought to their job of raising good fish”. Chef Micah Wexler, a proponent of wild salmon felt that “the transparency and incredibly high standards for everything Skuna Bay did made supporting them the right thing to do”.
The Skuna Bay Chefs have created thoughtful recipes to showcase the salmon while bringing their own personal style and taste to the table. Ian Gresik, Executive Chef at Drago Centro in Downtown Los Angeles, brings his expertise in combining old world tradition with modern flavors in a Skuna Bay Salmon Agnolotti with Fava Bean Puree & Olive Oil Foam. Chef Brandon Boudet created two simple yet refined dishes -- Charcoal Grilled Skuna Bay Salmon Collars with Salsa Verde and Cedar Plank Roasted Skuna Bay Salmon with Roasted Fennel.
To showcase the raw texture and taste profiles of the salmon, Chef Micah Wexler has created a dish of Pickled Skuna Bay Salmon, Rye, Onion, and Crème Fraîche.
Said Hawthorn in conclusion “These delicious and innovative dishes are representative of the approach of all of the chefs we have come across in our new partnerships in Orange County, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas. We are grateful for their support and expect to have more updates to share soon on new additions to the Skuna Bay family.”
For more information on Skuna Bay, please visit www.SkunaBaySalmon.com . Follow Skuna Bay on Twitter at @SkunaBay.
ABOUT SKUNA BAY CRAFT RAISED SALMON: Offering a premium selection of craft raised salmon, Skuna Bay is made possible by its small group of experienced and passionate farmers. Dedicated to raising fish in their natural ocean environment, the farms of Skuna Bay are located in an isolated region off the coast of Vancouver Island. Here glacier fed waters, strong tidal currents and ideal salinity combine to provide perfect waters for raising good fish. Patented innovations in packaging exclusive to Skuna Bay in its market and an exclusive method of inspecting, selecting, hand cleaning and packing allow their salmon to be delivered in perfect condition by Santa Monica Seafood so that chefs experience the same fish as it was when pulled out of the water by its farmers. By reliably providing the highest standards for salmon in North America, Skuna Bay not only provides chefs with salmon “fresh from the ocean”, but it also provides a valuable service in reducing pressure on wild fish populations and is the first salmon farm in the world to have multiple sea farms certified as Best Aquaculture Practices by the Global Aquaculture Alliance and be endorsed by Seafood for the Future, a sustainable seafood education program managed by the Aquarium of the Pacific at Long Beach.
ABOUT CHEF IAN GRESIK: Ian Gresik began displaying his love for food at an early age. His journey into the world of haute cuisine began with local culinary schools and finished with him graduating at the top of his class at the California School of Culinary Arts Le Cordon Bleu. A chef of many talents, his passion for fine cuisine landed him the position as Pastry Chef at Patina Restaurant, where he cultivating his gift for creating delightful endings to every meal. He then traveled to Europe to redefine his culinary style. Although Ian's love for Southern California brought him back from Europe, the love he acquired for European culinary arts held strong. Creating remarkable flavors and unique concepts, Ian successfully blends old world traditions with contemporary techniques and ingredients. As Executive Chef at Drago Centro, Ian brings more than ten years of expertise in all facets of cooking and management, and invites you to share in the timeless delight of European cuisine.
ABOUT CHEF BRANDON BOUDET: Brandon Boudet’s culinary career began in the kitchens of several noted chefs and restaurateurs including Paul Prudehomme’s K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, Emeril Lagasse’s NOLA, and Sean McPherson’s Los Angeles venues Bar Marmont, Swingers, El Carmen and Jones, as well as The Park in New York. Upon settling in Los Angeles, Boudet began opening string of popular restaurants with his business partner Warner Ebbink, the first of which was Hollywood’s 101 Coffee Shop in 2001 where the menu focused on classic American diner fare prepared with ingredients straight from the Hollywood Farmer’s market. In 2004, Boudet and Ebbink, both proud of their Italian heritage, couldn’t resist buying the historic Dominick’s in West Hollywood—originally established in 1948—where Boudet created a menu of straightforward Italian fare with a Southern California influence that led Los Angeles Times critic S. Irene Virbila to award the restaurant two-and-a-half stars, saying, “These guys have it pitch perfect.” In 2008, Ebbink and Boudet opened Little Dom’s, an inviting East-side neighborhood spot reminiscent of big brother Dominick’s but with a decidedly more New York feel. Boudet and Ebbink’s most recent project LA’s oldest Irish pub Tom Bergin’s, originally founded in 1936, is set to reopen in early 2012 with a menu that features updated Irish fare yet pays homage to the restaurant’s iconic roots.
ABOUT CHEF MICAH WEXLER: Micah Wexler always knew he wanted to be a chef and has been cooking since he can remember. A Los Angeles native, Micah Wexler truly discovered his passion for cooking at the age of 15 when we went to work under famed Italian Chef Gino Angelini at Vicenti Restaurant in Brentwood. Instantly attracted to the hustle and bustle of the kitchen, Wexler aspired to turn his passion into a lifelong career and applied to the prestigious Hotel School, at Cornell University. Upon his acceptance, Wexler honed his talents back east, but returned home every summer to establish his name in local and legendary restaurants, Melisse and Patina. In March 2011, Wexler and his partners of Real Restaurant Group, opened Mezze. A Californian restaurant with Eastern Mediterranean influences, Mezze was developed as a contemporary play on the traditional mezze style of dining consisting of small plates. Mezze, Arabic for “sharing,” continues the traditional style dining but goes beyond to offer patrons an innovative take on Eastern Mediterranean flavors by using local produce and ingredients and employing both new and traditional techniques. “Our menu incorporates the flavors found in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Morocco, and Turkey and we use high quality local ingredients that are available to us here in Los Angeles.”