Friedman & Batali at the Spotted Pig(s), how ironic.
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If she has time on her hands, maybe she could be a judge on Chopped and be just as obnoxious, pompous, self-important and self-impressed as the other cooks.
I dined at the Hearth & Hound many times and loved the space and the food but... it was a bit pricey and too heavy for LA. While it was certainly wonderful in Fall or Winter, the rest of the year it was not the lightest fare. Also, the restaurant should have opened for brunch and potentially lunch. The outdoor patio was stunning and they would have done very well. Sad to see it go.
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She seemed pleasant enough on PBS but, everyone has a back story.
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According to the women who reported the harassment and actual crimes against them, Bloomfield looked the other way, all the way. The residual damage closed her L.A. restaurant. The press tour her people launched failed. It's just too soon, a lot of the dining public still hold her responsible and accountable.
Bloomfield needs to find another way to pursue her passion for food and earn a living doing it. Perhaps she can also spearhead an initiative to educate restaurant workers about proper workplace behavior. Or Danny Meyer can add it to his hospitality consulting firm, if he already has not. These days, it's not just a "nice to have, check the box' thing. It is THE thing that can close a restaurant, with damages ricocheting well beyond investors, to employees, neighborhoods, suppliers, etc.
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@Liz DiMarco Weinmann
Who cares what this woman does? She's well-earned her disgrace, and deserves no sympathy or thoughts from us, which should rightfully go to the workers she threw out onto the street without notice.
The Times interview showed her lack of integrity when, asked if she'd reached out to former female workers who'd been assaulted and harassed at her restaurant, she disingenuously said that she hadn't, but would soon. That was almost a year after the news story broke.
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Bloomberg ‘look at me I’m gone’ .....and so is her valued partner in crime Friedman
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Ken Friedman is still collecting money on the Spotted Pig. He is sort of sorry.
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I love the name, "The Hearth and Hound". A packed restaurant most nights, employing nearly 100 individuals and dishes which were praised by LA Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold yet closes after being opened only 15 months. Sounds like a recipe for success yet Ms. Bloomfield "offered no reason for the closing".
Such actions defies logic. I certainly wish those "nearly 100" employees the very best of luck in finding a new job and I hope the next time I see a photo of Ms. Bloomfield, she looks happy.
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I ate at White and Gold Butchers numerous times, the combination of a restaurant and butcher shop was perfect, inventive small plates all day long accommodating butchers. Yes, the restaurant life is tough, I’m just a NYer who enjoys good food, on a plate or in my kitchen.. hope April reestablishes her career
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I still cannot get over how this chef posed for the photo for her book cover with a dead pig around her neck. I found it repulsive. The image was so atrociously carnal. No surprise her restaurants are closing.
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The stink of avarice and greed are upon her, but the kiss of death is investor flight. The moneyed abhor association with those of ill-fame if it means diminishing returns. No longer bankable, she'll become what her ilk deems to be the most unfortunate creature: a down-at-the-heels pedestrian dolt with that worst possible affliction: an ordinary job. That's the real tragedy.
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One hundred employees for a restaurant? How can one restaurant support that much staff?
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Um, easily. Lunch staff, dinner staff, open 7 days. You seat around 100 diners and pretty soon you have that many staff. Restaurants are really, really labor intensive. So many close so soon because margins are so slim.
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@Frank Pretty easy. Wait staff, bar staff, manager/asst. manager, chef, sous chef, line cooks, prep cooks, bus boys, maitre 'd, cleaning staff, since it's LA, there may be valet parking, reservations desk staff...Then there's the fact that it's open 7 days a week and they need to staff both lunch and dinner. 100 staff members isn't unrealistic. Running a high end resturant is very labor intensive.
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I’d like to know how the Spotted Pig is faring these days. I wish that detail was mentioned in the piece. Local people have long memories when it comes to things like what Friedman is accused of (and Bloomfield is tainted by), but tourists might still flock there just because it’s well known.
Regarding April Bloomfield’s part in the abuses that (alegedly) took place at TSP, we are judged by the company we keep and the people with whom we choose to ally ourselves in business. I believe the emplyees who said she did nothing to help them. I won’t be crying over the closure of Hearth & Hound.
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@Passion for Peaches
You are pointing to "guilt by association", and it is this that attracts people to the former Friedman-Bloomfield eateries. Makes one think of the people gathering at the sites of macabre public executions in the days past, "I have been there!" or "I have eaten there!".
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The two authoresses of the article write that the dishes praised by the late Jonathan Gold, in his January 2018 review, "like roasted squash with greens and hanger steak with beets and horseradish, were still on the menu".
I have never eaten in any restaurants of the former Friedmzn-Bloomfield empire, but I find the two dishes cited abdominal. This comment should not be taken as De mortuis nihil nisi bonum: I am not referring to the late reviewer, but to the food served.
I wish the fine gourmets of New York and Los Angeles to find places with more refined offerings.
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@Tuvw Xyz
abdominal? roasted squash and hanger steak are fairly basic on bistro menus....
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@Tuvw Xyz Abdominal?
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@Bob F
Isn't the word abominable? I think roasted squash etc. are most abdominal considering the destination...
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I'm not surprised that it closed down. I did not go back after the first visit. There was something really uncool about the clientele. They all had this "Look at me, I'm here" attitude, needy looking and self-conscious, so there was a dead atmosphere to the whole place. I had the pork chop which was dry and bland. The drinks were good and the bar staff was very friendly, but not enough to save the place apparently.
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@Pal, I think you described the clientele at most of-the-moment restaurants. Especially in Los Angeles.
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Neither do I leave in Los Angeles or NY - nor I could probably afford to be a regular customer at a restaurant like this.
Not knowing all sordid details of harrassment charges - we in America should really be searching for answers on where this is leading to.
Folks are killing themselves - the Olympian skater comes to mind.
A good, well educated and extremely well thought of American - gets smeared on uncorroborated charges, and he along with his family are scarred for life - Justice Kavanaugh comes to mind.
And businesses are closing down - as detailed here.
Yet, no one has actually been convicted - may be a couple here or there - but not one who could be a poster for such abusive behavior.
While nothing comparable - at least Bernie Madoff - was sentenced for many life terms - is a poster for our determination not to tolerate this type of swindling.
I do not have an answer but it is worth reflecting as a society where this is all leading to.
May be Congress should hold hearings and suggest if there is a better way that protects all - victims as well as accused.
It's beginning to appear that collateral damage is worse than harrassment charges.
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@Neil If you don't have evidence implicating or exonerating the accused, why are you assuming these men are innocent? It seems you have preconceptions about male power that you need to prove regardless of where the empirical evidence leads.
If you are genuinely open to empirical proof, then find the self-restraint to reserve judgment until you have examined all of the necessary evidence. Start with "I don't know."
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@Neil: Considering that women who make these accusations know that they will be subject to abuse, often terrible abuse that will scar them for life, it's wise to wait before giving all your sympathy to the "good, well educated and extremely well thought of" men who are accused. Consider also that women came forward to corroborate the charge against Kavanaugh, and the committee refused to hear them.
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@Neil
Friedman is not involved in this restaurant, so it closing has nothing to do with his sexual harassment of female staff.
Good on you Neil for standing for the men, with at the very least, questionable behavior. Pity the hundreds of women who face it, because you seem to only support the patriarchy.
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Putting aside the dreadful back story, this is (not ready for the past tense yet) a beautiful, uniquely LA kind of space and a terrific restaurant. Having relatively recently moved here from New York, I immediately gravitated to Hearth and Hound and loved going there. I wish April well and I hope someone steps in soon to reopen its doors. After all, it was packed just last night!
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I think you mean the previous owner played with The *Byrds*.
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@Pete
Nope. Different band. Byrds was a U.S. band. Birds was U.K.
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No doubt Ken Friedman's sexual harassment helped to sink this venture. Unfortunately many decent people will lose their jobs. It's a common result when illegal behavior is initially ignored- these (usually) men amass power, and its the people whom they are responsible for who pay the price when it all comes crashing down. Not to mention the perverse incentives it creates for employees (and partners and others) to look the other way in the face of wrong behavior. It should underscore the importance of consistently holding people to account for their actions, particularly when they are people of high potential.
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@Kate Yes, when people tell me poverty causes crime I tell them that the opposite is true: crime causes poverty. And here is a great example. However, I did notice one sentence in the article that caused me to ponder, "her... employees, who number nearly 100. That is a lot of overhead and overhead is what killed this business, not an inability to bring in customers.
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Yes. Bring charges. Courts, testimony, juries, judges, sentencing. Otherwise we have no way to parse all this out and it ends up hurting innocent people, as you state. This current “system” is unaccountable. Victims of abuse must be supported and encouraged and protected as they bring charges.
Otherwise how soon before someone decides to weaponize this dynamic to take out a business? And everyone that is directly or indirectly employed becomes collateral damage. Which means everyone is taking a gamble risk whenever they become an employee of a small(er) business- or even a large one. Do we really want that? Shouldn’t we excise the cancer without killing the patient?
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@E. Zach Lee-Wright Actually, the article doesn't say that "overhead is what killed this business". In fact, Ms. Bloomfield gave no reason for the closure. And for the size of the establishment (large dining room, bar and patio), and the fact that it was a high-end place, 100 staff members isn't outrageous. I'm sure it's expensive to run a restaurant in LA, but I'd be surprised if staff costs were the reason for the closure.
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