Profiles
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Jonathan Darr
Jonathan loves food. Just don't get him started about it; he might not ever stop. "I think that great food is made with the best local ingredients, simply prepared and served without pretension. How about a perfectly ripe peach from the farmer's market? What's there to do with it but serve it with some great vanilla ice cream? Or in a salad paired with wild arugula, prosciutto and burrata. You can't get much better than that."
Jonathan developed a passion for the farmer's market and an interest in local, seasonal ingredients after spending his formative years at AMMO, learning about the restaurant and catering business. After four years running his own eponymous catering company specializing in small parties, events and photo shoots, Jonathan was ready to take it to the next level.
Enter Jimmy Smith and Hermes Clausz, two fellow caterers who were equally excited to expand their horizons and further their culinary visions. It was love at first sight!
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Jimmy Smith
Jimmy Smith moved to Los Angeles from Boston in 1988 where he was delivering pizza and doing salad prep for an Italian restaurant on the North Shore. He was hired by Tom Byrne at La Cuisine as a waiter but instead ended up working in the kitchen on his first day and continued there for the next six years where he learned most of what he knows today about catering. After that Jimmy started working as a freelance chef for dozens of chefs and caterers in Los Angeles including Jeffrey Strauss at the Pamplemousse Grille, a continued source of inspiration. In 1996 he catered his first client's dinner for 6 guests; saffron risotto followed by leg of lamb studded with shallots, garlic and rosemary and has since catered over 1000 successful events. Jimmy is extremely grateful to be a part of this new, exciting and innovative team and looks forward to catering your next event.
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Hermes Clausz
Twenty years ago in Buenos Aires, Hermes Clausz began his catering career by using public transportation as a delivery method (ah, youth!).
He trained in classic French cuisine and assisted Buenos Aires' top caterer who also taught cooking classes to "Ladies who Lunch". This was an invaluable experience where Hermes learned the art of fine dining and the appreciation of the finer things in life.
In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cook at the legendary L'Orangerie. Eventually, he decided to leave the kitchen to pursue other dreams. But the Love of food and baking kept calling him back. And so it has been that for the last 8 years, Hermes has once again been fully immersed in the world of catering by cheffing for a select group of caterers while attending to his own growing list of clients.
LOVE Catering represents a natural progression of events that allows him to implement new and exciting cooking techniques to satisfy our demanding clientele.
