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Larchmont Chronicle Neighborhood newspaper representing Hancock Park, Larchmont Village
Miracle Mile, Park La Brea Fremont Place in the Wilshire center area of Los Angeles. Local News and
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Hancock Park area. Founded in 1963 on Larchmont Bouelvard, Los Angeles, CA, California

October 31, 2008

LARCHMONT LARDER

Laura Eversz

PROPRIETORS CHEF Michael Belinger and Katie Trevino at Larchmont Larder.

The Larchmont Larder, a gourmet marketplace, café and catering company at 626 N. Larchmont Blvd., will soon be opening its bright yellow front door for business.

Housed in a renovated bungalow at the north end of the boulevard, the Larder is the result of a serendipitous meeting in the Plymouth School parking lot a couple of years ago between two neighborhood parents.

“I noticed he wore the same blue checked pants every day to drop his kids off,” recalls Katie Treviño of her partner, chef Michael Beglinger. “I was obsessed. I thought, here’s a guy who lives in L.A. and he just doesn’t care that he wears the same blue checked pants every day. I thought that was kind of cool.”

Then she met Michael’s wife who “told me he was a chef, and those were his chef pants."

Treviño, whose background is in public relations and film production, told Beglinger of her “crazy idea” of opening a boutique grocery store like the one she had grown up with in Birmingham/Bloomfield Hills, Mich.. The chef, in turn, spoke of his dream of a neighborhood place with a “stammtisch”—a table reserved for regulars—like one in his boyhood town in Switzerland.

The Larchmont Larder, they insist, will be a return to the old school emphasis on seasonal, organic food featured on an ever-changing menu. In addition to a full service menu, “we’ll offer the components that will allow you to make a really good meal,” said Trevino.

“With our gourmet-to-go options, anyone can throw a great party without having to pay for a private chef or catering company to come to their home. I know so many people who love great food, but don’t feel they have access to it. I wanted to fill that niche,” said Beglinger, who lives with his wife and three children on Orange Dr.

The chef began his career in his native Switzerland, where he attended culinary school. He has worked for more than 25 years in the food industry, most recently as executive chef at Wolfgang Puck’s catering company before leaving to form his own catering business.

Now, he looks forward to serving people like himself—working parents who want to entertain like their parents did, but may not have the time or resources.

“The way it works with catering is we bring the food prepped so that it can be quickly finished. People say it seems so easy, but it’s all in the preparation. So I started thinking, customers could pick it up here, and we’ll give them instructions on finishing it off at home.”

“It really just eliminates the ‘screw up” factor,” said Trevino. “You can purchase your own fish or steak, and then buy the sides or sauces here.”

“Everything will be made from scratch from tapenade to pesto to stocks,” adds Beglinger.

“Who has time to make stocks, sauces, deserts?” chimes in Trevino, who lives on Arden Blvd. with her husband and three children.

At Larchmont Larder, “you can get sauce reductions that only need butter to be swirled in at the last minute, or mashed potatoes needing only cream and butter,” said Beglinger. “People can buy lettuce at the grocery story or farmer’s market, and get the homemade dressing here. We’ll make the cookie cups, and the customer can fill them with their own fresh fruit.”

“I think people want to entertain, to sit down and eat together, but they don’t have the time. Michael and I felt compassion for people like us who have kids and could really benefit from having another option,” said Trevino.

But the other component of the business will be connecting with people,” she added. “It’ll be about service, service, service.”

The kitchen will be open, with the chef right there and accessible. “Customers can come in and holler at Michael and ask him questions, like ‘what would be a good wine to serve with this’ and so on. It’ll be very interactive,” she added.

“There’s been an outpouring of support in the area for ‘mom and pop’ type businesses. . . a sort of ground roots revolt against chain retail. Both Michael and I live in the neighborhood, we have six kids between us and we are involved in the community. It was important to us to be here and to build a one-of-a-kind authentic store with our neighbors in mind.

“We really want to know our customers, and the people who work here are going to remember their names, and what they ordered the last time,” she added.

Current plans are for the store to be open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until about 7 or 8 p.m. “But it’ll be flexible,” Trevino says. “Later, we’ll probably be open for breakfast if that’s what people want.”

Catering, of course, will be available 24/7, Beglinger adds.

Larchmont Chronicle
542½ North Larchmont Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90004

Editor & Publisher: Jane Gilman
Associate Publisher: Irwin Gilman

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