KCET sat down with Lien Ta, the manager at Picca restaurant, where chef Ricardo Zarate and managing partner Stephane Bombet create new Peruvian cuisine with a Japanese twist. Lien’s path to management wasn’t a direct one, but it was certainly creative.
Christianna: How did you get your start in the restaurant industry?
Lien: I graduated from Emerson College in 2003 with a degree in literature and publishing, came to Los Angeles and landed a job as an entertainment reporter. In 2009, I started to burn out on it. It wasn’t my passion. I took a couple of weeks off, went to Vietnam to visit family and immersed myself in the food culture there. I came back and thought, “I’ve always loved dinner!” and started working on a path to get into food. I started a Twitter account and followed every food feed out there, just to get to know the community. I started eating out more, then I decided to go to wine school. After that, I completed a short externship in the kitchen at Lucques, then worked as a cocktail waitress at Tiki No, a bar in North Hollywood, and then began food writing. As a friend said, I began a systematic approach to learning all aspects of the restaurant world.
Get it, girl!
(And y’all give her tumblr a follow.)
2 months ago