When word spread across the blogosphere that Nancy Silverton was planning to open a hamburger stand in the original Farmers Market in Los Angeles, my reaction was: well, of course she is. Nancy made her bones by redefining (and refining) bread in Los Angeles at her iconic La Brea Bakery. After that, she changed the way we perceive pizza at Pizzeria Mozza. Then, she opted to fool around with mozzarella in its myriad forms at the adjacent Osteria Mozza. That she would focus her seemingly faultless sense of taste on the Great American Burger is natural. Indeed, if anything, she's a bit behind the curve – more than a few boldface names have foie grased and short-ribbed their creations already.
But there's no way that Nancy won't do something unique – it's not in her DNA to do the same old, same old. And so, we called her to find out where the process stands. But since chef Silverton would (famously) rather spend her time in the kitchen pounding bread dough, spinning pizzas and playing with soft cheese than actually talking about what she's doing, she had her partner in the burger project, Amy Pressman, call us back.
Amy, it should be added, may be the most famous chef in Los Angeles that you've never heard of. She's a diminutive sprite of a woman, who was one of Wolfgang Puck's original line cooks at Spago. In the years since, she's created the menu for the much-loved Parkway Grill in Pasadena (along with many of the other restaurants owned by the Smith brothers). For a decade, she ran the outlandishly indulgent Old Town Bakery. She's had her hand in a multitude of other restaurants, always behind the scenes. But when it comes to Nancy Silverton's burger joint, she's the designated spokes-chef. She's also having the time of her life – reinventing the burger is a lot more fun than reinventing the wheel.
Merrill Shindler: Amy! You and Nancy! All these years after you worked together at Spago – you're back together again!