Ciudad

Ciudad is the new restaurant from Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger in downtown Los Angeles, featuring the bold, seductive flavors and foods of the Latin world, from Havana to Rio and Buenos Aires, and across the Atlantic to Lisbon and Barcelona. "Ciudad" (which means "city" in Spanish) has been simmering for the Milliken-Feniger duo for se... veral years. At their first restaurant, CITY, the partners became renowned for their eclectic menu of rustic dishes from around the world. In 1985, the pair embarked on a road trip far south of the Mexican border, learning the recipes and techniques of home cooks and street vendors. When they returned, they opened Border Grill, and soon became what New York Newsday called Mexican food's "pre-eminent American translators." Over the next dozen years the partners became further entrenched in the Mexican kitchen, writing three cookbooks on the subject and starring in their first Food Network television series, "Too Hot Tamales." It was a natural for these two adventurous eaters and cooks to "discover" the rest of the Latin world. Their second Food Network show, "Tamales World Tour," gave them a chance to further explore the cooking of other countries and, starting with a few dishes from Cuba and Chile, they were seduced by the cooking of South America. Over the last three years, while the partners traveled to South America and Spain on professional assignments, they moonlighted at markets and home kitchens to learn from local cooks. When they couldn't visit a country, they brought the native cooking to them, spending weeks in their own kitchen with cooks from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The results are a Ciudad menu that features both authentic dishes from around the Latin world as well as inventive, new dishes inspired by South America's indigenous ingredients. The restaurant was designed by architect Josh Schweitzer, who also created Border Grill and CITY. At Ciudad, Schweitzer has created a cosmopolitan, "downtown" space, with a jazzy Latin feel ...Read More