Despite Prop 37 not passing on the California ballot this past November—or perhaps because of it—Nina Clemente has made an impassioned appeal for the cause. The initiative that stipulated the mandatory labeling of GMOs (genetically modified organisms) in certain food inspired the chef’s latest undertaking, a three-night pop-up restaurant at The Standard in Hollywood, benefiting the Garden School Foundation. “It’s our right to know what’s going into the food we’re feeding ourselves and we’re feeding our children,” the chef said of the cause, which has paired her with like-minded real-food advocates and hosts Marisa Tomei, Adrian Grenier, Shiva Rose, and Peter Glatzer for the occasion.
Together with chef Michael Reed, Clemente has created a menu that relies heavily on local fruits and vegetables, making a concerted effort to reclaim real food and say no to GMOs. “The city is this incredible place, especially in January, to create this produce-heavy menu. It’s not getting flown in from Peru. It’s getting delivered to me from two miles away, up in Malibu.” The six-course meal begins with a tasting of locally sourced vegetables, moves on to a beet-cured hamachi crudo, a risotto with smoked local mushrooms, roasted local halibut with sunchoke soup, a New York strip steak with smoked eggplant, and a panna cotta with seasonal fruit finale. “The access to the year-round spectacular produce that we have is what drew me to L.A.—and what has kept me here.”
To get a taste of Nina Clemente’s GMO-free menu, visit the pop-up restaurant from January 29 to 31 at The Standard, Hollywood. Learn more at www.reclaimrealfood.com.
—Alexis Brunswick
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