Evan Funke

Rustic Canyon Review: Chef Jeremy Fox Makes a Good Restaurant Even Better

The high-profile chef brings out the Californian at this nine-year-old mainstay

Porchetta Hits L.A.: The Mysteries of Pigsburgh

Porchetta is the thing to eat right now -- but deep roots belie its current trendiness

5 Overlooked L.A. Dining Trends of 2012 (That Will Change the Way You Eat in 2013)

Every year dining trends come and go -- on the suface 2012 might not have looked like the most eventful year, aside from the foie gras ban and some high-profile restaurant closures. But like the Santa Ana's, the winds of change are forever blowing in L.A., and the seeds of what will likely arrive in ... More >>

The Porchetta Truck: Evan Funke's Mobile Holiday Miracle

There I was, around 10 p.m. on a school night, driving up and down Fairfax Boulevard, squinting to spot a food truck that I had only learned the whereabouts of earlier that day, hoping that the kitchen's supplies hadn't run out, the cops hadn't chased everyone off, or the location hadn't been switc ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 12/3 - 12/7

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Or, as Funke described it, 'Pork on pork on pork.'" Evan Funke Launches a Porchetta Truck: A Mobile Ode to Pork. "And, for you -- well, it doesn't get much easier than stopping in your local coffee shop to pick up the gift, ... More >>

Evan Funke Launches a Porchetta Truck: A Mobile Ode to Pork

There are few dishes so good that they deserve a whole food truck devoted specifically to them. But then again, there are some that deserve not only their own truck, but whole restaurants, even maybe museums. This is true of porchetta, the Italian ode to pork that Italy's Ministry of Agricultural, F ... More >>

Top 10 Los Angeles Chefs to Follow on Instagram

Sure, you can see the beautiful dishes that your favorite chefs spend hours making in real life. When, perhaps you go to their restaurants and actually eat their food. But since we often spend more time looking at pretty pictures of dinner than we do consuming it, the tech gods have given us Instagr ... More >>

Chef Evan Funke Leaving Rustic Canyon: Spain A New Project

A. Scattergoodchef Evan Funke at Rustic Canyon​Chef Evan Funke is leaving Rustic Canyon, where he has been executive chef since 2008, and Milo & Olive, which he recently opened, effective Feb. 28. Funke (pronounced Funky) confirmed late last night that he's resigned, very amicably he'd have y ... More >>

Milo & Olive Now Open: Bakery, Pizzeria Ceiling Fans For Kids

The folks who brought you Rustic Canyon, Huckleberry and Sweet Rose Creamery have now officially opened the exceedingly pretty doors of a new restaurant, a pizzeria named Milo & Olive, which begins serving lunch and dinner today. Milo & Olive is thus the fourth Santa Monica eatery from Josh Loeb a ... More >>

Rustic Canyon: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 10/3-10/7

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "'Not me, but it's been fun having people think it is. I'm on my way to tour a rice plantation in South Carolina.'" [Updated] Ruth Bourdain's Identity: The Village Voice's Robert Sietsema? "It was ten meringue whites on top o ... More >>

Making Pasta With Rustic Canyon's Evan Funke: A Photo Gallery A Recipe

Making pasta at home isn't difficult. A handful of dough. An Atlas pasta machine. But if you're Rustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke, who learned the art in Italy and is a Bologna certified chef sfoglino, you mix your pasta by hand, roll it out so thinly that you can see through it, and make the ... More >>

Olive Oil Taste-Off: The Best Value For The Price, The California Edition

JGarbeeThe Winner's Podium​A California version of our Olive Oil Taste-Off was inevitable, if only in short-order form. And it's just in time for an updated report from the UC Davis Olive Center and crew, the folks who brought us the highly controversial reports last summer questioning whether ... More >>

For a Great Friday Night Out, Try Tasting Kitchen

Where fowl go to die a happy, happy death

Ask Mr. Gold: A Taste of Abbot Kinney

​Dear Mr. Gold: I have a group of my best friends flying in from Alabama, and we're all staying in Santa Monica. I never go to the Westside for anything, so I am looking for some dinner recommendations for Friday night. Any cuisine is fine, I would like to take them somewhere a little trendy a ... More >>

Market Report: November in Santa Monica Finger Limes

A. Scattergoodcrabapples at Pudwill Farms​ November at Los Angeles farmers markets is shot with color: it's like our version of the gorgeous descending trees in other parts of the country. A stroll through today's Santa Monica market yielded Kabocha squash, baby pumpkins, crabapples, stinging ... More >>

Q & A With Samir Mohajer, Part 2: The Price of Culinary School, Jack Tripper A Little Restaurant Etymology

In the first part of our interview with Samir Mohajer, who is opening his third Cabbage Patch in, hopefully, September, the chef gave us a little backstory on his career and his rapidly multiplying restaurants. In this second part, Mohajer tells us more about the new place, the economic circumstance ... More >>

Chefs With Tattoos

A colorful rebellion against kitchen rules

Q & A With Rustic Canyon Chef Evan Funke, Part 2: Duct Tape as Kitchen Tool, Pasta-making in Italy Home Again

Yesterday we left off the first part of our interview with Rustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke when he was still at Spago, where he worked his way up the ranks during and after culinary school, and he'd just started telling us about not being able to walk anymore when we stopped. Sorry. Consider ... More >>

A Recipe From the Chef: Evan Funke's Yellowtail Crudo With Kumquats

A. ScattergoodEvan Funke's yellowtail crudo with kumquats​ Evan Funke, executive chef at Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen in Santa Monica and the subject of this week's chef interview, spends a lot of time at the Santa Monica farmers market. It is, after all, not too far down the st ... More >>

Q & A With Rustic Canyon Chef Evan Funke: Quitting Massage Therapy & Firefighting for Cooking Learning the Ropes at Spago

A. ScattergoodRustic Canyon executive chef Evan Funke​ Evan Funke, executive chef at Rustic Canyon, is as locally sourced as much of the food he puts on his plates. The chef is third generation California, went to culinary school in Pasadena, and came up through the ranks of Wolfgang Puck's k ... More >>

Get The Chef A Drink: What 10 LA Chefs Pour When They Need a Stiff One

Two waiters didn't show up for their shift, the rookie line cook spilled vinegar on the $500 truffle, and Kogi just had to park a few feet from the valet stand. How do chefs cope when Saturday night's dinner service turns into a Kitchen Nightmares episode? Sometimes they pour themselves a stiff drin ... More >>

Once Bitten, Twice Fried: Best French Fries in Los Angeles, Part 2

Because we can't get too much of a good thing, here's the second installment of our quest for the city's most outstanding fries. This list (organized alphabetically) includes the pure, the gently garnished, and the heavily adorned in a world that's a vast, exciting terrain of Kennebec vs. Russet, pe ... More >>

Market Report: Pears A Recipe for Rustic Canyon's Pear-Fennel Salad

It's finally September, which fact you can tell by the school bus fleets, the onset of Trojan football season, and the resurgence of pears at farmers markets. This morning at the Santa Monica farmers market, the Flora Bella Farm stand was heavy with crates of them: Asian pears, red Bartlett pears an ... More >>

Food's Big Night Out: Not Such a Big Night for Los Angeles at the James Beard Awards

Jessica RitzThe scene at Avery Fisher Hall, with Ted Allen in the mix. The James Beard Foundation Awards is the Big Night Out for an industry that's all about nights out. Cooks, writers, restaurateurs, sommeliers, and others in the service of making great food and interpreting it for a hungry public ... More >>

Many Tastes That Taste Great Together: Andrew Steiner's Cheese Dinner at Rustic Canyon

Flickr: andrewscheese Cheese maven Andrew Steiner, whose eponymous Santa Monica shop is conveniently close to Rustic Canyon restaurant, helps curate a Local Artisan Cheese Dinner there on Monday, April 20. Steiner's selections provide some interesting jumping off points from which chef Evan Funke an ... More >>

The 10 Best Dishes of 2008

Hot dogs and hominy, blowfish and a fine cup of joe