At 14, Wolfgang Puck left his home in Austria to move to France to pursue a career as a chef. In 1973, that dream took him to the USA. Almost a decade later, he would open his first restaurant, Spago, on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip –and the rest, as they say, is history. These days, he has more than 30 restaurants around the world, from Cut in the Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, to Spago in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands. Here, Puck shares his favourite things to see and do in his adopted hometown, Los Angeles.
In LA, I generally go to two restaurants: Angelini Osteria and Matsuhisa (above). Both are old friends of mine. The Italian, Angelini, is great with the kids. When they were little, I called up Gino, the chef, and said, “Gino, I’m coming!”. In 10 minutes, he had put a pizza on the fire and some Bolognese on, so when the kids arrived, they got their food and they ate.
If you visit LA, go to the Getty Museum. LACMA also has beautiful art. If somebody loves contemporary art, The Broad (above) is probably the best place to go to in LA. Eli Broad, who is a friend of ours, built his own museum because he has 2,000 pieces of art. Next to it is the Walt Disney Concert Hall, with architecture by Frank Gehry. These places are important for the culture of LA.
If you want to hang out, go down to Venice Beach on the weekend – the boardwalk is nice. Or drive out to Malibu.
In summer, the Hollywood Bowl (above) is the perfect place to attend a concert. It is an outdoor venue and you can listen to classical music. The LA Philharmonic plays there. You bring your picnic, you relax, you eat and when the show starts, you drink your wine.
– TEXT BY RACHEL LEES
PHOTOS: SUPPLIED, MATSUHISA BEVERLY HILLS
This article was originally published by Singapore Press Holdings.
