Coming to the Taste: Evan Kleiman

Evan Kleiman is the glue that holds the Los Angeles food scene together. She has been host of KCRW’s Good Food radio show for 15 years, interviewing more than 6,000 guests, ranging from celebrated chefs to local farmers.

She was also chef of the Melrose Avenue institution Angeli Caffe for 28 years and one of the first proponents of rustic Italian cooking in Los Angeles. Her improvisational style, while rooted in the cucina povera of Italy, shows her reliance on simple ingredients and economical ingenuity to produce delicious and satisfying food with a fresh, honest, pared down aesthetic that people intuitively understand and appreciate.

As an outgrowth of that approach, she’s the founder of L.A.’s Slow Food Chapter, a member of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council and author of eight books on Italian food as well as one video app, “Easy As Pie”.

She’ll be a co-host with Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold at the Flavors of L.A. event Saturday, Sept. 2. Tickets are $65 and are available at the festival website.