Ed Levine with Nancy Silverton and Kenji López-Alt

Monday, June 17, 2019
8pm (6:30-7:30pm Reception) 


Ed Levine
in conversation with Nancy Silverton & Kenji López-Alt

discussing his book,

Serious Eater:
A Food Lover’s Perilous Quest for Pizza and Redemption

Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Blvd.,
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$53 Reserved Section + book 
$43 General Admission + Book
$20 General Admission
$95 Reception* (6:30-7:30p) + Reserved Section + Book
*Reception includes selections from the book

Ed Levine is the founder (his employees affectionately call him the overlord) of Serious Eats, as well as creator and host of the Serious Eats podcast, Special Sauce. In 2016, Ed was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America.

Nancy Silverton is the co-owner of Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, and Singapore, as well as Mozza2Go and chi SPACCA in Los Angeles. Silverton also founded the world-renowned La Brea Bakery as well as Campanile Restaurant.  Silverton has worked with some of the nation’s most notable and influential chefs including Jonathan Waxman at Michael’s Restaurant and Wolfgang Puck at Spago. She has served as a mentor to numerous others who have gone on to become award-winning chefs and restaurant owners themselves. Early in her career, Nancy was named Food and Wine Magazine’s “Best New Chef.” In 2014, she received the highest honor given by the James Beard Foundation for “Outstanding Chef.” That year, she was listed as one of the Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink by both Fortune and Food and Wine Magazines. Silverton is the author of eight cookbooks including Desserts (1986), Breads from the La Brea Bakery (1996), Pastries from the La Brea Bakery (2000), Nancy Silverton’s Sandwich Book (2005), Twist of the Wrist (2007) and the Mozza Cookbook (2011).

Kenji López-Alt is the chief culinary consultant of Serious Eats and author of the James Beard Award–nominated column The Food Lab, in which he unravels the science of home cooking. A restaurant-trained chef and former editor at Cook’s Illustrated magazine, Kenji released his first book, The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science, in 2015, which went on to become a New York Times best-seller and the recipient of a James Beard Award, and was named Cookbook of the Year in 2015 by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

“A hilarious and moving story of unconventional entrepreneurialism, passion, and guts.” –Danny Meyer, CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group; Founder of Shake Shack; Author of Setting the Table

In 2005, Ed Levine was a freelance food writer with an unlikely dream: to control his own fate and create a different kind of food publication. He wanted to unearth the world’s best bagels, the best burgers, the best hot dogs–the best of everything edible. To build something for people like him who took everything edible seriously, from the tasting menu at Per Se and omakase feasts at Nobu down to mass-market candy, fast food burgers, and instant ramen.

Against all sane advice, he created a blog for $100 and called it…Serious Eats. The site quickly became a home for obsessives who didn’t take themselves too seriously. Intrepid staffers feasted on every dumpling in Chinatown and sampled every item on In-N-Out’s secret menu. Talented recipe developers like The Food Lab’s J. Kenji López-Alt and Stella Parks, aka BraveTart, attracted cult followings.

Even as Serious Eats became better-known–even beloved and respected–every day felt like it could be its last. Ed secured handshake deals from investors and would-be acquirers over lunch only to have them renege after dessert. He put his marriage, career, and relationships with friends and family at risk through his stubborn refusal to let his dream die. He prayed that the ride would never end. But if it did, that he would make it out alive.

This is the moving story of making a glorious, weird, and wonderful dream come true. It’s the story of one food obsessive who followed a passion to terrifying, thrilling, and mouthwatering places–and all the serious eats along the way.