麻豆影院

Dave Woodall says CU 麻豆影院 education gave him tools to open a from-scratch, comfort restaurant that听鈥榬ecalls glamour of mid-century Hollywood鈥�

Dave Woodall (鈥�02 sociology), owner of Los Angeles鈥檚 Red Herring restaurant, says the 麻豆影院 taught him how to conduct research and teach himself to do anything.

Red Herring, which opened in August, offers 鈥渦pscale comfort food in a vintage glamour setting.鈥�

While studying physics and, later, criminology in 麻豆影院, Woodall spent his off-hours working in various kitchens around town including Whole Foods, Schlotzsky鈥檚 Deli, and the Dairy Queen on the Hill.

Food had always been an important part of Woodall鈥檚 life, who was raised at the apron strings of his mother. An adventurous cook, she showed him 鈥渁 lot of great stuff鈥� and some near disasters.鈥�

Woodall continued cooking for himself in college when he moved out of the dorms. 鈥淚 spent a small fortune on corn dogs and bacon and then slowly transitioned into buying fresh ingredients,鈥� he says.

After graduating from CU 麻豆影院, he returned to Washington, D.C., to work for an immigration lawyer while preparing for law school.

Then he had an epiphany: His passion was in the kitchen, not the courtroom. So, 鈥淚 thought, 鈥榃hy not just give it a whirl?鈥� I headed west, took up cooking full time and never looked back.鈥�

Woodall moved to Los Angeles with his now-wife, CU 麻豆影院 alumna and Emmy award- winning executive producer Alexis Martin Woodall. Once there, he hopped on a full-service restaurant line and quickly moved up the ranks. He was promoted to lead line cook after one year. When the chef left the following year, Woodall took over that kitchen and then another one across town.

After working across Los Angeles in every type of kitchen, from short order to Michelin-starred, he became frustrated that restaurant owners wouldn鈥檛 let him buy fresh produce from a local farmers鈥� market. Instead, Woodall had to procure from a third-party warehouse.

鈥淚 was paying more for produce a week and a half old that I could have bought fresher and cheaper across the street,鈥� Woodall says.

This, and his passion for food, led him and Martin Woodall to open Red Herring, an upscale, American comfort-food restaurant in the Mayberry-esque neighborhood of Eagle Rock, in northeast Los Angeles.

鈥淒ining out is a privilege,鈥� Martin Woodall says. 鈥淚t should be an experience, as opposed to a theatrical production. And comfort food can be an experience. It doesn鈥檛 have to be one or the other.鈥�

Now, in honoring his passion for local, seasonal and sustainable products, Woodall is able to buy directly from the farmers.

Owning his own restaurant also allows him to explore more unconventional approaches to food. He gets much of his produce from Local Roots, a farm in industrial Los Angeles that uses converted shipping containers to hydroponically grow 鈥渟ome of the most fabulous herbs and lettuce,鈥� Woodall says. 鈥淚t uses 3 percent of the water of a typical farm. It鈥檚 literally the future of food.鈥�

Everything in Red Herring, including pasta and ice cream, is made from scratch. Everything, that is, except Heinz ketchup. 鈥淕od only made one ketchup, and it鈥檚 Heinz,鈥� Woodall says. Red Herring鈥檚 menu also includes dishes like Maryland-style crab cakes, yam fritters with herb dressing, and risotto with hand-foraged mushrooms.

Of the menu and Woodall鈥檚 creations, Martin Woodall says, 鈥淢y husband is a genius.鈥�

When asked about the origins of the restaurant鈥檚 name, Woodall had this to say: 鈥溾��it just sounds nice, Red Herring has a pleasing phonetic structure and recalls the glamour era of Hollywood and its Hitchcockian storytellers from the midcentury.鈥�

Business is good and Woodall says Red Herring is fortunate to be able to pursue its primary role as a neighborhood restaurant. 鈥淲e cater to folks who can walk to us. We want to let it be a community jewel first.鈥�

As he started to research and prepare to launch Red Herring, he realized just how much his education in 麻豆影院 informed and spoke to what he loved.

鈥淐U 麻豆影院 gave me the opportunity to learn how to teach myself,鈥� Woodall says. 鈥淭o go out, gather information and find my own knowledge.鈥�

Because of this self-sufficiency, he has the tools to open a restaurant or succeed at anything he wants in life.

Woodall credits CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 Michael Radelet, a sociology professor who taught Woodall鈥檚 graduate course on death-penalty law, with developing this independence.

鈥淲e had to pick something, anything, and then approach it in a scholarly fashion, analyze it, and take that study into a finished thought. It was a massive, high-level research project, from scribbling down information to a final term paper,鈥� Woodall says.

Similarly, when he opened his restaurant, he had to start from scratch, conduct research, and deliver a huge, finished product.

鈥淢y early childhood and CU background meshed into something really nice,鈥� Woodall says.

Woodall and Martin Woodall plan on opening additional restaurants with different dining styles, based on the same local, seasonal, sustainable model as Red Herring.

鈥淲e鈥檙e negotiating what鈥檚 next,鈥� Woodall says. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to open a diner.鈥�

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