Where, Women in White
Femme phenoms finally take the helm in O.C. kitchens.
Remember those archaic beliefs about a woman’s place being in the kitchen? Watch TV these days, and you gt the feeling there may be something to them. Luscious Nigella Lawson seduces us with her wanton midnight refrigerator raids. The cookbooks of Rachel Ray and Giada DeLaurentiis are recipes for success. And barefoot contessa Ina Garten gets our attention with the hedonistic feasts she lavishes on pampered husband Jeffrey. Given the likes of Nigella, Giada and Ina, aiming a spotlight on the female chefs of Orange County might seem a bit passé. But not if you really think about it. Are any of those telegenic meida darlings rough-and-tumble chefs? The sort who are the linchpin of a dynamic, high-pressure restaurant kitchen? With all due respect: to Julia Child, do any of them even own – let alone work in – a restaurant? Of course not.
Fact is, restaurant kitchens have always been a male domain. And at the risk of sounding like a relic from the Eisenhower administration, it’s worth nothing that restaurants have been painfully slow to place women in power positions even when cooking is concerned. Though Los Angeles is seeing its share of female chefs rise to the top toque slot, the tide is only beginning to change in Orange Count. Which makes the rising kitchen stars all the more conspicuous. Gabbi Patrick (Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen in Orange), Lauren “Lulu” de Rouen (Leatherby’s Cafe Rouge, Costa Mesa), Cathy Pavlos (Lucca Cafe, Irvine), Ashley Ewart (Hush, Laguna Beach) and Miriam Ramirez (Quattro Café, Costa Mesa).
Two of our femme phenoms made it to the top the risky way: They launched their own restaurants, independent of corporate sponsors of franchise safety nets. Both Patrick and Pavlos, unknowns at the time, burst onto the scene with fully realized restaurants that seemed to spring from nowhere.
Gabbis Mexican Kitchen and Lucca Cafe may not be related, but they are alike in that both instantly conveyed a district and assured culinary outlook.
Gabbi Patrick stirred things up in Old Town Orange when she and Husband Ed set out to offer more refined, regional takes on Mexican food in this county that is teeming with taco stands. Today in a rustically hip vintage storefront with no sign, Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen lures fans of her fine Mayan Puerco Poc-Choc or earthy Quesadillas de Huitlacoche. Patrick says she grew up in the business around “Latin men and much machismo” – her father owned several eateries near LA – and realized early on the the hard work and sacrifice required to chase her ambition. “I give up a lot”, says the mother of two young ones “My fantasy is sleeping in until 8 a.m. But when I think about how far the restaurant has come, I see my dreams coming true every day.”