L.A.'s 30 Under 30: The City's Rising Stars
The Restaurateur: Jordan Kahn
When a chef gets insight from artists like Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, and Max Ernst, you can pretty much count on a trippy-tasting delish dish — not to mention an exotic presentation. Such is the case with Jordan Kahn's red-hot restaurant Red Medicine, which is a word play on Eastern medicine, and similarly aims to "cure" hunger with "the practice of healing through natural means, including roots, herbs, vegetables, and animals." According to Kahn, it's no easy feat being this kind of medicine man. "An eight-hour workday is the equivalent of a day off, and when I launched the eatery, I didn't take one for 20 months — these are not exaggerated figures," he says.
Khan's shamanic skills were honed in the French Laundry kitchen beneath mega-chef Thomas Keller beginning at a mere 17 years old. And while reservations at Red Medicine may not be quite that hard to get compared to the famed Napa destination — unless you're a night owl (he caters to industry peeps with equally as long hours as his own) — you'd better at least plan a month out to nosh on cult faves like bánh mì with country pâté, pork belly, carrot pickle, coriander, kewpie mayonnaise, green chili, and cucumber. Consider our "appointment" made!
—Brenna Egan
Hair by Jacquie Fetch, makeup by Mayera Abeita and Ali Magee.
in NYC