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Daily Dish

Water Grill announces new executive chef Amanda Baumgarten

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor 
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Water Grill, the 20-year-old downtown seafood restaurant owned by King’s Seafood Co., says it has a new executive chef: Amanda Baumgarten. Baumgarten, who was a ‘Top Chef’ contestant last season, has been promoted from sous-chef.

In September, former Water Grill chef David Lefevre announced he was leaving to open a new restaurant, and King’s Seafood said it would conduct a search for his successor.

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‘We conducted a national search, interviewed many talented chefs ... from New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and of course Los Angeles,’ said King’s Seafood Chief Operating Officer Jeff Goodman in a release. ‘After rounds of interviews and menu tastings, it became crystal clear that the best chef for the job was already in our kitchen.’

Baumgarten trained at Le Cordon Bleu in London and has cooked at Patina, Melisse and Ford’s Filling Station.

544 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 891-0900; Watergrill.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish
Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.

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