Dear Eater LA: "I Need Menu Help!"

We generally pluck help wanted ads from Craigslist and the like for Eater Headhunter, but since this reader asked for our help, we thought we'd lend a hand. Maybe we'll make Dear Eater LA a regular feature. You know, we're nothing if not helpful.

Dear Eater LA,

I am a Curbed LA reader and am working with probably the 2nd or 3rd most popular baker in L.A. to open a chain of bakeries in LA. Aside from a full bakery with fresh bread, fresh gelatos and extensive drinking menu, I want the food side to consist of salads, paninis, wraps, soup maybe more. I basically know what I want the food to be but need a chef to put it together. There are many restaurants I have visited across the country that have influenced the food side of the menu. I want to give that menu to an individual/firm and ask them to re-create it and add a special touch to it. Is it better to work with a company? A freelance chef? Culinary institute?

Thank you,
A fan

Answer: Place a help wanted ad. Oh, wait, you just did. We say go with an individual chef, even if they're currently employed. Offer them lots of money and an endless supply of baked goods and salad. These are desperate times. People will take what they can get.

Anyone else want to play? Answers, tips, ideas about who the "2nd or 3rd most popular baker in LA" is can all go in Comments. Serious contenders can email the tip line and we'll play matchmaker.

24-Hour Waffle Staffing Up

For anyone looking for a job (*cough*writer's strike*cough*), Scooter Kanfer is getting close to opening The Waffle, a 24-hour, full-bar joint at 6255 Sunset Boulevard (directly across from The Bowery, near Vine). Open calls for all kitchen positions only happening today and tomorrow (Jan 10-11), 10:30am-2:30pm. [Craiglist]

Speaking of LA Mill: Good, Clean Headhunting

In case you want to work for the coffee/Cimarusti sure-fire powerhouse, the opportunity is now. Craigslist has ads for both FOH and BOH at LA Mill, but let's see if you can guess which is which:

Candidate Requirements for Job #1:
Friendly Personality
Detail oriented
Goal Oriented
Good communication skills
Excellent work ethic
Team Player

Candidate Requirement for Job #2:
Friendly Personality
Detail oriented
Well Groomed, Neat appearance
Goal Oriented
Good communication skills
Excellent work ethic
Team Player

Hint: There's a reason they call it back of the house.
· CHEFS under MICHELIN STAR Chef LINE COOKS [Craigslist]
· SERVERS SERVERS SERVERS [Craigslist]
· Tracking LA Mill: Opening Date, Finally [~ELA~]

Eater Headhunter: Father's Office II Hiring

The chance to work for Sang Yoon, to tell people to fuck off when they ask for ketchup, to watch people fight for a table on the patio. Ah, it just doesn't get much better, does it? Found on the Plywood at new Father's Office II location. Helms Bakery. Opening date is still unknown, but Yoon last told us "not a chance in hell" it will open in November. December? Let's say sure, December.
· Fall Tracking Report: Father's Office II [~ELA~]

What's Going on With Citizen Smith?

We just ran across this ad on Craigslist for a hostess position at a "new rock & roll lounge" in Hollywood:

Hostess needed immediatly for new Restaurant/lounge. Great pay including tips and room for advancement. Need strong, happy, confident people to fill positions. You will be meeting alot of industry people, high profile actors, and great musicians with live performances.

The address for open interviews is for Citizen Smith, which we know has gone through some chef changes since it opened...early last year. That's not exactly new. We looked up the website, and it's down. We called the restaurant and were told that the website is undergoing "maintenance." Is the restaurant, too? We know it has DJs, but live music? Famous musicians? Well, Britney and Marky Mark were spotted there earlier this year. Are changes afoot?
· Hostess needed for new Rock & Roll Restaurant/Lounge [Craigslist]
· Chef Changes at Citizen Smith [~ELA~]

Keep the Flaming Sack Jokes to a Minimum: Hell's Kitchen Hiring Floor Staff

We couldn't pass up this late-day Eater Headhunter considering Gordon Ramsay's hot news today:

Hell’s Kitchen Season 4 is accepting resumes and headshots for experienced floor staff to work on camera in it’s [sic] fine dining restaurant located in Los Angeles. Floor staff will be serving food and beverages to restaurant patrons. Must be available TBD for evening shifts. Min 2-year fine dining experience a must.

Email professional resumes and headshots or photo ASAP to: hk4floorstaff@yahoo.com. Not accepting applicants after Monday September 10th, 2007.

Now's your chance to take food back from fake customers to Ramsay's struggling Blue and Red kitchens and watch him throw it at humiliated contestants. But think of the screen time! Just keep the seared ball jokes to yourself.
· Hell's Kitchen Floor Staff [Craigslist]
· Gordon Ramsay's New Dish: Balls a la Flambe [~ELA~]

Post-Plywood/Headhunter Mash Up: LIFT Lifting Off

HOLLYWOOD: Word's out that LIFT, Steve Adelman's new "bistro and gourmet grocery" is opening soon in the Hillview apartment complex (6533 Hollywood Blvd.), next to his gym The Joint. When we talked with Steve in April, he said it would be a 24-hour cafe that "pays homage to health, but quick, convenient and easy." The menu features organic and raw foods, seasonable, fresh, and a lot of things incorporating house-made coconut water, which he simply calls "energizing." He also said it would open by June, but now we suspect it's at least another few weeks out since ads for a sous, a baker, and front-of-the-house help hit Craigslist this weekend (open call this Wednesday and Thursday from 1pm-4pm). That's the rendering above, but we've seen the finished product and it's pretty spot-on.
· Opening Soon: Steve Adelman's Lift and Club 86 [~ELA~]

Eater Headhunter: Craft, Cut, Comme Ca, Staff Needed Everywhere

Everyone knows that August is a slow month for restaurants: Shows are on hiatus, vacations happen, it's hot. But who knew it's time for big staff changeovers too? Yes, yes, there are tons of yogurtista and barista spots open all over town. But several high-end, high-profile restaurants are looking for front and back of the house help. Have all the wannabe-actor servers given up on the dream and left town? Or is it because so many places have opened, it's time for musical restaurants? Craigslist is rife with opportunity. Let's just hope they all get it together by September.
· A coveted server position open at Cut
· Craft has a slew of openings, lunch is on horizon
· David Myers holding interviews for Comme Ca this week
· Tracht's in Long Beach looking for nine cooks. Nine!
· The Hungry Cat needs an assistant manager
· Michael's in Santa Monica looking for a chef

Eater Headhunter: Working With Celebrity Chefs

There a few roads to celebrity chefdom should you want it. You can attempt culinary fame via TV, perhaps getting yelled at by celebrity chef Grodon Ramsay while showing the world your lack of skills on Hell's Kitchen. Should this be your calling, the producers are "recruiting" this Sunday at the Hollywood Farmer's Market and on Wednesday at the Santa Monica market. From the Craigslist ad: "If you’re an executive chef, a line cook, a fast food cook, a pastry chef, in culinary school, a caterer or a recent culinary school grad, or simply have a FASCINATION AND PASSION FOR FOOD….WE WANT TO MEET YOU!" Translation: Personality trumps skill.

On the other hand, if you simply want to brush up against fame, there's this:

An internationally known Celebrity Chef, new to the USA, is seeking the services of an assistant chef to assist with recipe testing, cookbook planning, live event assistance. We are in the writing stages of this chef's 3rd book and it is an extremely exciting phase!

There is a possible opportunity to eventually travel for the right person. You may be an apprentice chef wanting to expand your horizons, a restaurant chef who is wanting to move out of the restaurant scene, or something else entirely. Please note this is a part time position that can involve nights and weekends depending on our work and travel schedule. This is an unpaid intern position.

** Please do not respond if you are an aspiring Celebrity Chef who may possibly think this is your "in" to your own TV show, this is an assisting position and will not result in that goal.

Translation: Skill trumps personality, must be independently wealthy. First person to send us the identity of this "celebrity chef" gets a martini.
· FOX's "Hell's Kitchen" Casting Chefs, Cooks & Foodies -- 21 and over [Craigslist]
· Intern Chef/Assistant wanted for Celebrity Chef [Craigslist]

Eater Headhunter: Looking for a Mentor

It's one thing to want to open a restaurant, it's another to know you don't know how to operate said restaurant.The sheer honesty of this Craigslist ad caught our attention:

I am looking for a mentor in the restaurant business to help me open up a restaurant. I have been in the business for 20 years, but still lacking certain knowledge in the business end. My goal is to open up my own place and I am looking for someone with experience that can help me start this and show me what to do and not to do.

You have to admit this person has two things going for himself (we're just assuming it's a guy): (1) he has a passion for the business even after 20 years, maybe 20 unsuccessful years, and (2) he has the good sense to know his limits. If you don't get any takers, we hear Gordon Ramsay is available to "mentor".
· Looking for Mentor [Craigslist]

Eater Headhunter: Got Game and a Headshot? D*lush is Hiring

For all those girls who don't get a second call back, who need to pay off that boob/nose/lipo, who's sure her big break will be any day now, enter D*lush, a "deluxe beverage joint" in need of "players" for the upcoming Hollywood and Highland location:

What is D*lush? Think MTV in a glass.

• Ambassadors: Hustlers. Flirtatious, charming, friendly players that are on the front line sharing D*love and driving traffic

• Drivers: The Commander. Smart, confident and ambitious with court vision and play calling capabilities. The Driver is the take-charge player position that sets the pace of the game, runs the offense and drives performance targets.

• Bartenders: Flash and style. Coyote ugly on adrenaline. Bartenders are the certified mix masters (alcohol free) that manufacture D*love.

Notice the blatant sexism: Flirtatious and Coyote Ugly-hot, you're standing out front doling out samples. You understand sports analogies like "court vision," you're a manager. Although the website is strewn with pictures of these girls feeding each other some mochi-like treat with chopsticks, we think the D*lush servers wear black tees and pants/shorts, but who knows for sure (when you're forced to serve drinks from the Naughty, Nice, or Lip Lockin' Love menus, does it really matter?). Submit resume with a head shot and a few sentences on why you "got game."
· Join the D* Team today [Craigslist]

Jonathan Morr Brings NYC's Bond Street to Beverly Hills

Not to be outdone by all the other New Yorkers setting up shop in the LA restaurant scene, Jonathan Morr is bringing his popular Bond Street restaurant to the new Thompson Hotel Beverly Hills. (Page Six spreads this rumor; we're yet to hear otherwise from PR). Morr's NYC Bond Street has been packed for years, serving what some consider some of the best sushi in town, with a happening scene to boot. His other restaurants—Stand, APT, and Republic—do quite well, and he's also part owner of the Townhouse Hotel in Miami.

The Thompson BH's website says it will open in spring 2007, but a call to the front desk revealed that the former Beverly Pavilion (a Best Western) will become the new boutique hotel by July or August. Which means Bond Street should open by then, too. If we're right about this tip, the restaurant is currently on the prowl for an exec chef, sous chef, bar manager, and GM.
· Romance Recess [Page Six]
· New Upscale Restaurant Opening--Exec. Chef, GM, Sous Chef, Manager [Craigslist]