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 Instagram. Where chefs can post not only photos of food, but of produce and dogs and laundry and their children and other visual evidence of how they see the world. So which local chefs have some of the most appetizing Instagram accounts? Turn the page for ten of our favorites.

Roasted Breast of Duck, Fall Pear, Marsala; Credit: Instagram/Suzanne Tracht

10. Suzanne Tracht:

Jar's chef-owner doesn't have many pictures on Instagram (yet), but the ones she does have are better than most, and certainly a lot more fun than the dozens of “what I ate for breakfast” pix you find on so many photostreams. Boats on a Mexican beach, stacks of wooden barrels, watermelon margaritas, candid shots of Nancy Silverton — and the food Tracht cooks at her West Hollywood steakhouse. Note to the chef: please take more.

how to get to the desert; Credit: Instagram/Ricardo Zarate

9. Ricardo Zarate:

Ricardo Zarate seems to have as much fun with his camera as he does in his kitchen. Or kitchens, given that the Peruvian-born chef currently has two of them, both Picca and the newly reinvisioned Mo-Chica in downtown L.A. Zarate likes to post pictures of his food, of course, but also his travels, his projects — and a pretty funny one of him impersonating Jamie Oliver.

Two love bugs. Lomy and Georgie.; Credit: Instagram/LindyGrundy

8. Amelia Posada:

The category of chef includes, or should, that of butcher, or at least it does in the case of Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura, the two women behind Lindy & Grundy. On Posada's Instagram: lots of pictures of animals, both before and after butchering. But also plenty of dishes of food around town and the people who bring it to all of us. Pigs? Yes, pigs. Lots of pigs. Thank you.

burrata, pistachio crumble, hibiscus jelly, cress & elderflower; Credit: Instagram/Jason Neroni

7. Jason Neroni:

Since coming to L.A. to open Superba Snack Bar in Venice, O.C. native Jason Neroni, it seems, has been cataloging his adventures with pictures of both his own and others' beautiful food, his son Atticus, lots of trips to the beach — and pictures of Big Bird. Nice.

Fukuoka ramen with black garlic; Credit: Instagram/ridingshotgunla

6. Roy Choi:

It should come as no surprise whatsoever that Roy Choi (Chego, A-Frame, Kogi, the world) puts some pretty fun pictures up on his ridingshotgunla Instagram account. Beautiful plates of food, chefs, empty coffee cups, cars, sneakers, signage, strange and wonderful things he's been cooking at Chego, strange and wonderful things he's eaten in kitchens abroad. One could go on.

summer salad…; Credit: Instagram/Wolvesmouth

5. Wolvesmouth:

Even if you haven't managed to get into one of Craig Thornton's kinda-secret-but-not-really-anymore dinners, you've probably heard of his food, gorgeous dishes of artfully plated this and that. For more evidence of how pretty this stuff is, check out Wolvesmouth's Instagram pictures: landscapes both on the plate and in the rest of the world, disembodied claws (that one's truly gorgeous), produce and trees and more signs (what's with chefs' fixations on signs) and yet more gorgeous food.

One of many great courses last night at radio with @akaltinsoy great to u; Credit: Instagram/Vinny Dotolo

4. Vinny Dotolo:

With or without Jon Shook, his partner in Son of a Gun and Animal and cookbooks and general crimes, Vinny Dotolo seems to be having a good time. His Instagram account is populated by the requisite pictures of pretty food, also one very cute little kid, travel photos, signage and, well, more food.

Squid tattoo; Credit: Instagram/Ludo Lefebvre

3. Ludo Lefebvre:

That chef Ludo Lefebvre (LudoBites, Ludo Truck, the world) would have a highly entertaining Instagram account is hardly surprising. After all, the French-born chef has wandered into pretty much every other medium you can think of: portable restaurants, food trucks, Twitter, Facebook, cookbooks, the Sundance Channel, etc. Check out the tattoos, either of self or cephalopods.

@rachaelsheridan's banana cake #spafood; Credit: Instagram/Jeremy Fox

2. Jeremy Fox:

Whether chef Jeremy Fox (Barnyard, Ubuntu, etc.) is posting pictures of his food, other people's food, the people themselves, animals, signage or just stuff on shelves, the photos are just gorgeous.

Strozzapreti, aka strangolapreti, aka strozzafrati, aka fileja, aka fusilli, aka trofie, aka you get the idea; Credit: Instagram/Evan Funke

1. Evan Funke:

Since Funke left Rustic Canyon, he's hardly been slacking off, as evidenced by his Instagram photos (laundry drying, signage, pigs!). Funke's new restaurant Bucato is slated to open in Culver City, in the space formerly occupied by the late and much lamented Beacon, in the next month or so. In the meantime, the chef has been visiting Italy and making lots of pasta. Lots and lots of pasta.

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