
‘I truly fell in love with Los Angeles': Why Rene Redzepi chose L.A. for Noma's next pop-up
'We were supposed to be in L.A. this coming fall,' Redzepi said during a brief interview inside one of the greenhouses next to his Copenhagen restaurant not long before the official announcement. 'But with the fires, we thought it was all canceled. Then it wasn't canceled and we moved it to March.'
Like a troupe of culinary troubadours, Redzepi's team has packed up their knives and garums several times since the restaurant first opened in 2004 and was named the World's Best Restaurant five times. In 2016, they traveled to Sydney; in 2017, they were on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula; in 2018, Noma was in Tokyo; and they've been to Kyoto twice, in 2023 and 2024. But Los Angeles has long been on Redzepi's radar.
'We've been working on L.A. for a while,' he said. 'In fact, we've been working on America for a while, never really finding that perfect location. I wasn't really knowing America well enough to properly make a decision. People would say, 'Oh, you should be in New York.' Only when I went with my whole family to L.A. some years back, that's when we fell in love with Los Angeles. Yeah, I truly fell in love with Los Angeles.'
The other times he'd come to Los Angeles had been for work. 'It was sporadic, very hectic,' he said. 'In and out.'
This extended trip was different for Redzepi, his children and wife Nadine Levy Redzepi, author of the cookbook 'Downtime: Deliciousness at Home.'
'We stayed in Manhattan Beach,' he said. 'We had days of just strolling around, meeting people, going to all the farmers markets and realizing how many people I know in Los Angeles. It was great having them take us to their favorite places — with Roy Choi in Koreatown and the guys from Night + Market [Kris and Sarah Yenbamroong] taking us around eating Thai food.'
At the recently revived Mad Symposium, a gathering of chefs, farmers and other food professionals, as well as artists and thinkers, one of the speakers was Los Angeles chef Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai. His talk: 'How to Take Over Your Parent's Restaurant in Five Easy Steps.'
'He's an extraordinary guy. I really, really like Justin,' Redzepi said. 'To tell the truth, when I went [to his Thai Taco Tuesday] for the first time, that's when I felt, okay, this has to be the place, Los Angeles.
'Because I was like, this can only happen in Los Angeles. There's something going on — that sort of daringness where you just do things. There's a creative energy I find in Los Angeles that is based on sort of this grassroots experience, not on money that made you be creative.
'It's actually more rare than you think in food these days, because most food, you know, it's big budgets, it's big projects.'
'Another thing I love about L.A.?' he said. 'Tacos. Not just tacos. Noodles. Sushi. Ahhh! ... You can find every single ingredient in Los Angeles, and they all taste extraordinary.
'When you come from Denmark, a homogeneous place, it's exciting to arrive in L.A. It's like the world came to live in one place.'
Redzepi, of course, is known for staffing his restaurant with chefs and servers from all over the world.
'Our team is from everywhere,' he said. 'Mexicans, Chinese, Italians, which is lovely.' His current head chef is Pablo Soto, who is from Mexico City.
'The only thing that can stop us,' Redzepi acknowledges, 'is if we don't get visas. I just got my visa a few days ago.'
Redzepi is hoping that even with the fraught political environment, his team can contribute something good to the city.
'We're gonna come to L.A. wearing the biggest positivity hat you can imagine. We're just gonna give it all we have, and we're gonna cook, and we're going to be with people, and we're going to hike in the mountains, and we're going to have coffee shops. We're going to have pop-ups with other people. It will be five or six months of energy and trying to meet all the creative people of Los Angeles, and learn from them and be inspired by them.'
Members of thNoma team have already made three trips to L.A. for research without Redzepi. 'We were worried that if I went on these trips people would sniff out the project and the news would get out. But he plans to arrive for the long term in late fall.
'If everything goes well, I'll be there in November. I can't wait.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
CBS host pours cold water on liberal outrage to Colbert cancellation, says late-night industry is 'broken'
"CBS Mornings" co-host Tony Dokoupil is pushing back at the liberal outrage towards his network's cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." "The business is broken," Dokoupil said of the late-night industry on Tuesday. "And what no one seems to acknowledge is that the politics also changed. The business changed and so did the politics, and it got way more one-sided than anything Johnny Carson was ever doing. I think we should reflect on those changes as well. It's been a big shift culturally in that regard also." Dokoupil and his morning colleagues reacted to the scathing monologue from "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, who didn't buy CBS' explanation that its decision to cancel Stephen Colbert's late-night show was purely a financial one. Stewart linked the cancellation to parent company Paramount's forthcoming $8 billion merger with Skydance Media, which is seeking approval from the Trump administration's FCC, touting to his corporate bosses, "The shows that you now seek to cancel, censor and control, a not insignificant portion of that $8 billion value came from those f---ing shows." Dokoupil suggested Stewart, whose Comedy Central show is also under the Paramount umbrella, oversold late-night contributions to the company's bottom line. "I don't have an MBA, but he's not right that the merger, the $8 billion, is based on reruns of a comedy show," the CBS host said. "People are buying the movies and the sitcoms and the sports. They're not based on reruns of us, either. So I think he's wrong about that." His co-host Gayle King, a frequent guest on 'The Late Show,' remained defensive of Colbert, telling Dokoupil, "I think many people feel there's another way to do it." "It's a very difficult position, in the end, to disagree with something that the company is doing, but also still loving your job and loving what you do," King said before urging viewers to watch Stewart's full monologue. Liberals have been outraged over Colbert's shocking cancellation, which will take effect in May 2026. Many of them, including Stewart, believe the move was meant to kowtow to President Donald Trump. But a report from Puck's Matt Belloni showed that Colbert's show was costing the network $40 million a year and that it had been running on a whopping $100 million budget per season. While the liberal late-night hosts are struggling, Fox News Channel's "Gutfeld!" has surged to become late-night's highest-rated program. In the second quarter of 2025, the show notched 3 million viewers and 365,000 in the 25-54 age demographic at the 10 p.m. ET hour, putting it ahead of "The Late Show," "The Daily Show," and late-night programs on ABC and NBC.


Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Kennedy: Colbert's Biggest Problem Was Consumers Now Have Too Many Choices
Kennedy, host of the 'Kennedy Saves The World' podcast, joins Fox Across America to give her take on what ultimately contributed to the decision by CBS to pull the plug on Stephen Colbert's late night show. Jimmy Failla & Kennedy Discuss The Shady Jeffrey Epstein Saga PLUS, check out the podcast if you missed any of Wednesday's show!
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
H.C. Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating on Yatra Online (YTRA) Stock
Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA) is one of the Best Indian Stocks to Buy for Next 5 Years. Analyst Scott Buck of H.C. Wainwright reiterated a 'Buy' rating on the company's stock, while retaining a price objective of $3.00. The analyst's rating is backed by a combination of factors demonstrating Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA)'s robust performance and growth potential. The company showcased significant strength in its corporate travel and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segments, offsetting the weaker trends in the B2C sector. A passenger gazing out the airplane window, taking in the sights of her journey. Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA) onboarded 35 new corporate clients in Q4 2025, fueling its annual billing potential significantly. The acquisition of Globe Travels strengthened Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA)'s position, which enabled it to target for top-three spot in the broader Indian MICE market ahead of schedule. The growth opportunities in this market offer the company a unique opportunity to tap more market share. Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA) ended FY 2025 on a strong footing, delivering revenue for 3 months to March 31, 2025 of INR2,192.5 million (US$25.7 million), up by 114.0% YoY. This was aided by growth in the company's MICE business and the inorganic contribution from the Globe Travels acquisition. Moving forward, robust corporate client acquisition, growth in the MICE segment, and ongoing investment in its proprietary technology platform, which includes AI-powered personalization and booking tools, place it well for the next growth phase. Yatra Online, Inc. (NASDAQ:YTRA) operates as an online travel company. It is based in Gurugram, India. While we acknowledge the potential of YTRA as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 13 Cheap AI Stocks to Buy According to Analysts and 11 Unstoppable Growth Stocks to Invest in Now Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio