Cara Amici,

Our sustainable seafood restaurant & market opens soon at 2724 Main Street in Santa Monica. We are Leena and Brian, an interdisciplinary artist and chef respectively, and we created Crudo this summer when our shared interests propelled us to start running socially distanced raw bar pop-ups across LA from Venice to Echo Park. Fortunately, people loved it and we gained enough momentum to move forward with our concept.

We are so stoked to officially announce our brick and mortar, a pandemic-planned space that will be our home base for the forseeable future. We look forward to providing you with updates and fun glimpses into our launch as we hurdle through the circus rings of county and city approvals to get our business up and running in a safe, environmentally-minded way. Until then, we are excited to be partnering with our friends at Fig Tree Venice to provide holiday gift boxes and wine/cocktail pairings for two (let’s keep those pods small!) Details on all boxes can be found at crudoenudo.com/shop, and please email ciao@crudoenudo.com if you have any questions or special requests. We look forward to seeing you soon.

Stay safe and be well!

Warmly,
Leena & Brian

Kitchen Tunes from Leena

Before you read further, skip over to Jamie Doe’s new record and hit play. We will be highlighting an artist or album we love with every newsletter, and this gorgeous instrumental record wafts through my house like a warm breeze despite winter’s certain presence. All of Jamie’s albums are wonderful, but this one has a particularly beautiful message at heart, apt for these often difficult days. The story of this record is detailed in the link above. More of Jamie’s work can be found under his moniker, The Magic Lantern and via Instagram.

Who We Are

We are a chef and an inter-disciplinary artist who bonded over shared philosophies of simple, honest food and true hospitality. Then we started surfing together. And now we drink a lot of coffee and play backgammon tournaments between phone calls with the City Planning Commission of LA.

What We Do

We partner with local farmers, fisheries, and purveyors to bring you incredibly delicious dishes inspired by Coastal Italy. We work locally wherever possible to minimize our footprint. Our goal is to bring more beauty and connection to community through delicious food and thoughtful relationships. Our market will offer takeaway options, weekly meal subscription boxes for pick up, and goods from local artists we love.

We will also be the home for Lenny’s, a small coffee window operating mornings with all proceeds from the next three months benefitting non-profits we love in special need of funding during this pandemic. For info on getting involved, please email leena@crudoenudo.com

Where You Can Find Us

In our online shop for killer last minute holiday gift boxes.
On Instagram @crudo_e_nudo.
On a ladder at 2724 Main Street, Santa Monica CA 90405.

Purveyor Spotlight

We are so excited to have brought in the first scallops of the season from Stonnington in Deere Island, Maine. I have been working with Sue Buxton’s scallops for 8 years now and I am as surprised and amazed by the flavor and texture every single time I open a tin. Scallops are hand harvested by day-boat divers - in my case, usually Tim Robinson off his boat, The Nilly Willy - and packed in a gallon tin. Sue then rushes that morning’s scallops to the small airport on Deere Island and gets them there in time to be overnighted directly to us. While these are not local, there are only two hands that touch the scallops between their aquatic home and your plate, Tim’s and mine. This low-intervention food chain means much less carbon is used and the freshness is unreal. Most of the time, fishing and scalloping operations are out to sea for days or even weeks bringing back product that was caught who-knows-when, which then goes to a distributer, which then goes to a restaurant or fish market, which then goes to you, adding quite a few trips (and price hikes) along the way. Like all mollusks, scallops benefit from colder temperatures. The colder it is the more amino acids the scallops use to counter-act the cold & salty environment. For these reasons, I believe Sue’s scallops from Northern Maine to be the best in the world. I could talk about them all day, but you must taste for yourself! Find them in our holiday boxes, “From Maine to You” and “The Crudo Trio.” You can shop Holiday Boxes here.

Chef Brian’s Technique of the Week

I find recipes much less helpful than teaching techniques, which can be used in a variety of new applications moving forward. Searing scallops is often misunderstood. When you have great scallops (more above) you just need to cook one side; flipping them will invariably lead to overcooking. Start with a hot, thick-bottomed pan such as a cast iron or good skillet. Season the scallops all over with salt. Once the pan is hot, add a thin film of high-heat fat, such as canola oil, clarified butter, or ghee, and swirl it around until the fat becomes fragrant but before it smokes (a few seconds). Return the pan to the heat and add the scallops one at a time. Never add so many that the pan becomes “crowded” which will lower the heat of the pan and lead to your scallops sticking. Place them face down one at a time and let them cook briefly, leaving a few inches around each scallop. After fifteen seconds, pick up each scallop carefully with a fish spatula or tongs (yes, it’s OK if you are super delicate) and rotate them 90 degrees. DO NOT FLIP. Lower heat to medium and cook for another minute on the same side until a golden-brown crust forms. Pull the scallops off the heat and season the uncooked side with a fresh squeeze of lemon. Plate and top with brown butter or sauce of choice.