Yusra Farzan
reports on issues affecting current and future college students, their families and communities.
Published April 24, 2024 5:34 AM
USC Department of Public Safety officers detain a protester during a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Topline:
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have started to congregate at USC in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas War. The organizing also comes a week after the university canceled a valedictorian's speech after she was criticized for linking to pro-Palestinian resources on her social media.
Why it matters: The tensions at USC are a reflection of a national trend as student protests have been roiling campuses in response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. It also comes a week after USC announced it was canceling Asna Tabassum’s valedictory address, citing security concerns over pushback she was getting for pro-Palestine sites she had linked to on her Instagram.
The backstory: In a statement to LAist, USC said their decision "had nothing to do with the background or viewpoint of the valedictorian, but was instead based on a careful and holistic review of the situation from a safety and security standpoint.”
What's next: It's not immediately clear what USC's response to the demonstration will be, but other campuses have called in local police forces to help disperse demonstrators.
Crowds of pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed University of Southern California on Wednesday for a demonstration that went from peaceful agendas to scuffles with police, eventually leading to the arrest of dozens of people.
Roughly 12 hours after the demonstration began in the predawn hours, campus and L.A. police officers ordered the crowd to disperse, prompting some to dig in. The Los Angeles Police Department said 93 people were arrested for trespassing.
USC’s Provost Andrew Guzman said protesters were repeatedly asked by security officers to remove prohibited items and relocate to a "compliant location."
"In each case, protesters refused," he added. "Their actions have escalated to the point of confrontation and have threatened the safety of our officers and campus community."
Police patrols will continue on campus through at least the weekend, which is only open to those with a USC ID or people with verifiable business there, the university announced.
The protest was the latest in a series of camp-in demonstrations sweeping across U.S. college campuses in response to the Israel-Hamas War.
Organizers said they planned to occupy Alumni Park until university administrators pledge to divest from companies with links to Israel and arms manufacturers. They're also calling on USC to end partnerships with Hebrew University's Rothenberg International School and Reichman University.
Students participate in a yoga class during a Pro-Palestinian occupation on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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They also want the university to release a statement calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Student organizers from the USC chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace were among those taking part in the protest.
“JVP USC feels our voice is especially important right now as many people at USC and across the country are equating Zionism and Judaism, but we are here to say they are not the same,” an organizer said in a statement. “We stand by our belief of free speech, resistance to oppressive systems and solidarity with our valedictorian Asna and all other college campuses where pro-Palestine voices have been silenced."
Students and protesters chant at a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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By 10 a.m., the crowd had swelled, with many yelling chants that included, "While you’re learning, Gaza is burning" and "Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!"
Students and demonstrators march and chanted a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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But at around 11:20 a.m., campus officers began dismantling the encampments, gathering folding chairs, blankets and boxes belonging to the protesters, who then started moving their tents and belongings around to avoid confiscation.
About 30 minutes later, some demonstrators could be seen violently clashing with campus safety and LAPD officers as the crowd grew to more than 100.
Albert Corado, brother of Mely Corado, alongside students and protesters fight with USC Department of Public Safety officers over tents at a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Students and protesters march with tents to prevent USC Department of Public Safety officers from removing them at a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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Viet Thanh Nguyen, university professor in the departments of English, American studies, ethnicity and comparative literature, said he joined the protesters at Alumni Park because "rarely have I seen such a mass of students come out to USC for political protests, for protests for social justice, human rights, anti war, anti genocide."
Ahmad Hasan, who graduated from USC in 2021, said he came out because he wants to "make Palestine unavoidable on campus."
"We want to send a very clear message that we will not allow this university to continue doing business as usual and pretending like we aren't losing our family members every day in Gaza," said Hasan, who is of Palestinian descent.
Around 1:30 p.m., the university closed its gates and started requiring visitors to show an ID. Shortly after 5 p.m., LAPD officers in riot gear and armed with rubber bullets entered the campus to carry out a dispersal order and remove protesters who aren't students.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m., police announced that the court is private property and demonstrators had 10 minutes to leave the area or be subject to criminal trespassing charges. While most people dispersed, a group of several dozen students who had locked arms were taken into custody one-by-one.
Meanwhile, smaller groups of demonstrators forced some street closures around the campus.
The preceding valedictorian controversy
Last week, tensions were high on USC’s campus after the administration announced it was canceling Asna Tabassum’s valedictory address, citing security concerns.
Her selection was met by criticism from some student groups, including Trojans for Israel, for what they described as her “anti-Zionist rhetoric” and external online sites she had linked to on her Instagram profile. External pro-Israeli groups like We are Tov also criticized her selection, saying she “promotes antisemitic views.”
Students set up a pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC in the pre-dawn hours of April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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In an interview with Democracy Now, Tabassum said the linked resources included information relating to “the two-state solution, as well, as well as the one-state.”
“And my goal in putting the link in my bio is simply to inform my fellow peers in the small ways that I can,” she added. “But, ultimately, what I want people to take away is for people to inform themselves, come to their own conclusions, and then advocate for what they believe in.”
Students carrying signs protest a canceled commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian who has publicly supported Palestinians on the campus of University of Southern California on April 18, 2024.
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Damian Dovarganes
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AP
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In a statement to LAist, USC said their decision "had nothing to do with the background or viewpoint of the valedictorian, but was instead based on a careful and holistic review of the situation from a safety and security standpoint.”
On Friday, the administration also announced they are canceling the keynote address by commencement speaker Jon Chu, the director behind the hit movie Crazy Rich Asians and a graduate of USC's prestigious film and television school.
“Nothing can take precedence over the safety of our community,” the statement added.
While USC officials cited safety, the LAPD confirmed to LAist last week that no crime report had been opened for the threats.
Students and protesters chant at a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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USC joins other campuses nationwide
The tensions at USC are a reflection of a national trend as student protests have been roiling campuses in response to Israel’s invasion of Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, who also reported about 250 people were taken hostage. Israel says about 100 of those original hostages are believed to remain captive. Israel’s bombing of Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom are women and children, according to the local health authority.
Several universities have said they want to foster free speech and open conversations. At the same time, administrators have had to answer to sharp criticisms from alumni, donors and others asking about the use of antisemitic language and slogans by some demonstrators.
Cal Poly Humboldt was shut temporarily down this week after demonstrators occupied Siemens Hall with tents chanting pro-Palestine phrases and clashing with authorities.
Around 250 students at University of California, Berkeley have also set up a similar encampment outside Sproul Hall with some Jewish students joining the protesters for a Passover seder.
Understanding how we got here
The history of this region is both complicated and fraught. Here is some context about what led up to the most recent attacks and counterattacks.
NPR's Aya Batrawy and Daniel Estrin called the initial attack"one of the most dramatic escalations in violence in recent memory" adding there are "concerns the chaos could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries in the Middle East."
This round of bloodshed began with a surprise attack by Palestinian fighters from Gaza into Israel during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. On Oct. 7, militants infiltrated Israel's border using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza.
The Gaza Strip is a 25-mile-long by 6-mile-wide enclave, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the north and east and Egypt to the south.
Gaza is one of two Palestinian territories. The other is the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The strip has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt, restricting the movement of people and goods since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Israel controls its airspace and shoreline, as well as what goods can cross Gaza's borders.
NPR's Fatma Tanis examined how we got here and what might come next in this longstanding conflict.
For anyone looking for guidance on how to talk to children about this war:
On Monday, Columbia University announced it was shifting classes to online after students set up encampments on the campus lawns calling on university administrators to sever ties with companies with links to Israel. Some of the students were arrested and suspended.
USC Department of Public Safety attempt to remove a detained protester during a Pro-Palestinian occupation protest on campus at USC on April 24, 2024.
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Brian Feinzimer
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LAist
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At Yale and New York University, police arrested around 150 people who were also calling on their administrators to divest ties with Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers.
How effective are divestment protests?
Students have turned to protest in the past calling on universities to cut ties with fossil fuel interests and organizations with ties to apartheid era South Africa.
In 2021, after nine months of student protests, the Cal State University system began pulling $162 million in investments from fossil fuel companies. The University of California system, Harvard and more than 50 universities across the nation have made similar pledges to divest from fossil fuel interests.
Gillian Hart, a professor emerita at University of California, Berkeley, was active in South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement in the Boston area in the 1980s. When she taught at Boston University and MIT in the 10 years that she worked with students in the anti-apartheid movement, she said, there was only one occasion that resulted in “active police aggression” compared to the divestment movements happening on college campuses now.
“I think what was extremely important about the movement was the extent to which students really were very keen and anxious to learn about what was going on in South Africa,” she said.
The Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights on August 31, 2026.
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Brian Feinzeimer
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The LA Local
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Topline:
Lineage Logistics sued a solar power provider and its contractor Thursday, blaming them for the fire that destroyed its cold storage facility and plagued Boyle Heights and surrounding communities with polluted, foul-smelling air for months.
The lawsuit: The company accuses Altus Power, Inc., Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, and Pearce Services of failing to address faults in the massive solar array installed on the 500,000-square-foot facility’s roof. Lineage is seeking more than $1 billion in damages, alleging negligence and breach of contract caused the fire, forced the warehouse to shut down and led to a cleanup effort that has cost more than $100 million. Los Palos, an Altus subsidiary, disputed Lineage’s claims and said that since the cold storage company was the tenant of the building they were responsible for cleanup and debris removal.
The investigation: The fire remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and its cause has not yet been determined. But because both the June and 2024 fires appear to have started around the facility’s roof, the solar array has been long suspected of playing a role in the blaze.
Lineage Logistics sued a solar power provider and its contractor Thursday, blaming them for the fire that destroyed its cold storage facility and plagued Boyle Heights and surrounding communities with polluted, foul-smelling air for months.
The company accuses Altus Power, Inc., Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, and Pearce Services of failing to address faults in the massive solar array installed on the 500,000-square-foot facility’s roof. Faulty electrical in that array led to a fire in 2024, and the same problems sparked the fire on June 17, Lineage claims in the suit.
“This lawsuit is about Altus and Pearce starting this fire and then being nowhere to be found when the community needed help,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, president & CEO of Lineage, in a prepared statement.
The fire remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and its cause has not yet been determined.
But because both the June and 2024 fires appear to have started around the facility’s roof, the solar array has been long suspected of playing a role in the blaze.
Lineage is seeking more than $1 billion in damages, alleging negligence and breach of contract caused the fire, forced the warehouse to shut down and led to a cleanup effort that has cost more than $100 million.
Los Palos, an Altus subsidiary, disputed Lineage’s claims and said that since the cold storage company was the tenant of the building, they were responsible for cleanup and debris removal.
“Lineage’s statement is riddled with misinformation in a blatant attempt to deflect blame for their role in this matter, including any damage caused by the release of substances from the warehouse, not the solar panel,” a Los Palos spokesperson said by email.
A spokesperson for Pearce also disputed Lineage’s claims and said the company would be fighting the suit in court, adding they have been cooperating with the fire department’s investigation.
“Investigation into the fire’s cause, origin, and reasons for its spread remains ongoing, and it is premature for anyone to draw conclusions,” a spokesperson for the company said by email.
The company alleges in the suit that the solar provider used substandard equipment to connect electrical lines and that equipment started the Aug. 14, 2024 fire. The company told Altus, Los Palos, and Pearce, a subsidiary of real estate giant CBRE, to fix the faulty equipment before turning the solar array back on.
Altus and Pearce knew that about 200 faulty electrical connections had been identified by May 2026, including about 10 near the area where the June fire eventually broke out, the suit claims. Lineage says it told the contractors to delay turning the system back on until they provided proof the faults were fixed, but the contractors did so anyway.
“Altus and Pearce deliberately ignored Lineage’s request, prematurely re-energized the solar array, and negligently and recklessly caused this devastating fire,” the suit reads.
Mayor Karen Bass and other elected officials have said publicly that Lineage should not rebuild its facility and continue operating in Boyle Heights. The company missed a 45-day deadline to clean up the facility imposed by Bass in August.
Lineage has since announced it had completed cleanup of the remnants of the facility on Sept. 5. The suit also suggests the company could be planning to stay in Boyle Heights, rather than simply seeking reimbursement for the fire.
The city’s Department of Building and Safety has put its plans to rebuild on hold, and South Coast Air Quality Management District has also issued multiple notices of violation over pollution from food that rotted inside the facility for months.
“This was a solar fire, not a warehouse fire,” reads a press release announcing the suit had been filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court Thursday. “Cold storage is not a risk to communities — it is an essential service that lowers food costs, expands food access and creates jobs,” it added.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published September 10, 2026 3:58 PM
Flowers are left at the Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in 2024, which is located on the land where the Twin Towers once stood before they were destroyed.
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Spencer Platt
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Here's a list of events in L.A. and O.C. counties on Friday and Saturday remembering 9/11.
Read on... to see when and where events are scheduled near you.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
A new federal lawsuit filed Thursday accuses the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other federal agencies of violating the First Amendment and privacy rights of observers.
About the lawsuit: The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
Other lawsuits pending: The new lawsuit follows a handful of other cases brought by observers arguing First Amendment violations, but it is the most sweeping to date, as it includes incidents from multiple states and seeks national relief. It is asking a judge in Washington, D.C., to bar federal agencies from intimidating or retaliating against observers.
For months, Minneapolis resident Michael Khalili drove around the Twin Cities area observing and documenting the activities of federal immigration officers after they swarmed his city last winter as part of an unprecedented surge.
He points out that when federal immigration officers fatally shot fellow Minneapolis observer Alex Pretti in January, it was bystander videos that debunked inaccurate information Trump administration officials were spreading about Pretti, such as that he had committed an act of domestic terrorism and was a "would-be assassin."
"That's the only reason why the government's lies fell apart," Khalili said. "And that's why it's critical that people are out there."
But the 47-year-old father of two stopped observing ICE in recent months due to mounting risk and pressure from his family. Khalili said he follows the law when he drives behind ICE vehicles and is exercising his constitutional rights. But he said he's had repeated tense exchanges with federal officers who have taken photos of him and his vehicle, and told him to stop.
A day after one such exchange in March, Khalili's Global Entry status was revoked (until a HuffPost journalist inquired about it, and it was reinstated). On another occasion in May, he said a state trooper threatened him with a harassment charge for following ICE. Then in June, after 15 Minnesota activists were criminally indicted for conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, Khalili realized one of the counts against a defendant in that case was for following ICE vehicles across state lines in May on the same day Khalili had been warned he could be charged for following ICE. Khalili's wife became worried.
"She was concerned that federal agents could show up at our home and could arrest me in front of our children," Khalili said. "And so I agreed to stop doing this."
But Khalili hasn't given up his quest to hold the federal government accountable. He is now a named plaintiff in a new federal lawsuit filed Thursday, along with the nonprofit Common Cause, that accuses the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other federal agencies of violating the First Amendment and privacy rights of observers.
The new lawsuit follows a handful of other cases brought by observers arguing First Amendment violations, but it is the most sweeping to date, as it includes incidents from multiple states and seeks national relief. It is asking a judge in Washington, D.C. to bar federal agencies from intimidating or retaliating against observers.
"The right of citizens to criticize and hold our government accountable is the backbone of American democracy – and it is under attack," Common Cause's vice president for litigation, Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, told NPR. "We want to make sure we're promoting participation in the political process. And obviously, if government officials are criminalizing peaceful observation, that hinders our mission," Jazini Dorcheh said.
NPR did not receive an immediate response from DHS or DOJ about the lawsuit's allegations. The FBI declined to comment.
The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
Observers film as ICE agents leave a residence on Jan. 28, 2026 in Minneapolis. NPR has documented numerous instances of other people legally observing ICE, describing intimidation and threats from the federal government.
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Stephen Maturen
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Getty Images
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In another instance, the suit alleges that ICE officers told local police to ban an unnamed Common Cause member from a public parking lot outside of an ICE facility in Maryland, where the member was observing, and told the member they knew who they were because they had put their face through a facial recognition database.
The 94-page complaint also draws from declarations filed in previous cases on behalf of observers in additional states, including Illinois, Maine and Tennessee.
The events described in the complaint are "not one-off activities. This is not about, like, 'Oh, some folks got out of hand in one place,'" said Danielle Lang, the vice president of voting rights and rule of law at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, which is litigating the case. "This is a top-down policy of retaliation and it needs to be addressed as such."
The lawsuit lists multiple directives from the Trump administration, including President Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) and the DOJ's memo to operationalize it, which link impeding immigration enforcement and extreme views on migration to domestic terrorism. The NSPM-7 memo was the basis for the federal government to investigate and spy on activists in Minnesota, which ultimately led to the charges against 15 people for conspiracy to impede ICE.
Additionally, the suit lists public statements and internal memos that equate observers who record federal officers with "violent rioters" and "domestic terrorists," to argue there is a national policy in place to retaliate against observers. Furthermore, the Trump administration repealed guardrails that could have prevented federal officers from using facial recognition and license plate readers against peaceful observers, and DHS dismantled its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the suit argues.
The suit alleges that the federal government's retaliation against observers includes threatening force or arrest, collecting observers' personal information to intimidate them, using force, pursuing criminal charges, and imposing civil penalties such as administrative subpoenas or revoking observers' Global Entry or TSA PreCheck status.
Michael Khalili was eager to join the Common Cause lawsuit to help fellow observers, since in his case there is documentation of some of his encounters.
"If the paper trail for the petty things that they did to me can keep somebody else from being pepper-sprayed or murdered, like, why would I not do that? How could I not do that?" he told NPR.
Last month he requested access to his state motor vehicle records on the number of times law enforcement officials have queried his license plate, driver's license or name and date of birth. Before he started observing, there were only two such queries. But since March 2026, law enforcement queried him 55 times, a detail that is included in the lawsuit.
In addition, he has a March email from Customs and Border Protection notifying him that his Global Entry membership was revoked. Though the email only stated that the reason given for the change was "Your Global Entry has been revoked," it came one day after ICE officers stopped him, took photos of him and his license plate and told him to stop following them. Other observers in other states have also had their Global Entry status taken away, and some, like Khalili, had theirs reinstated after a reporter inquired.
Khalili still suspects he is on a federal list of some kind, or that there is a flag on him. He recently went on vacation to Ireland with his family and when returning to the U.S, he was referred for additional questioning by U.S. immigration officials.
He hopes this lawsuit can help bring about corrective changes and guardrails after what he calls a "nightmare" that the country and Minneapolis have been through.
"And so that not only will I be able to go out and observe if I so choose, but that there's no reason why I have to go out and observe," Khalili said.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 10, 2026 2:06 PM
A finished pan of Chef Joshua Whigham's paella at Casa Leo's monthly Paella Drop, ready to be served to guests.
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Courtesy Casa Leo
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Topline:
Chef Joshua Whigham's monthly "paella drop" at Casa Leo in Los Feliz has grown from a 20-guest experiment into a waitlisted fixture.
Tell me more: Each version of his paella — from market mushrooms and truffle to chicken and langoustine — is rooted in a different Spanish region. Casa Leo was added to the Michelin Guide California this year — just over a year after opening.
Why is it important? Most Angelenos' idea of paella starts and stops at chicken, shrimp and saffron rice — the version built for tourists. Whigham, a 15-year veteran of award-winning chef José Andrés' kitchens, is using his monthly drop to highlight the dish’s variety with Southern California produce.
Mark the date: The next drop is on Sept. 20 and features a cuttlefish paella.
Casa Leo is a small Spanish restaurant located in Los Feliz near Griffith Park, where Chef Joshua Whigham is quietly bringing his own fresh approach to Spanish cooking — one that's specific and ingredient-driven in a way you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the city.
Whigham spent 15 years working under José Andrés — the Michelin-starred, James Beard Award-winning Spanish chef — before striking out on his own a little over a year ago with Casa Leo. The restaurant has already been added to the Michelin Guide California and has built a reputation for a seasonal, genuine, personal approach. That shows up across the menu, from cocas (Iberian flatbreads) to a trout en escabeche dish inspired by Martín Berasategui, the Basque chef often credited as a pioneer of modern Spanish cuisine.
Paella drop
One Sunday each month, Whigham hosts a "paella drop," cooking the paella outside the restaurant on a propane rig built to fit the giant pan he uses. Originally open to just 20 guests, the pop-up has grown in popularity as word has spread — Whigham has incrementally raised the cap over time, and now cooks with an even larger pan that can accommodate up to 70 guests.
It’s a setup that gets a lot of attention. He recalls a group of cyclists zipping by one day, with one of them yelling, "Holy shit, that smells good."
Chef Joshua Whigham stands beside the finished paella, cooked on a custom propane rig large enough to hold his oversized pan.
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Courtesy CASA LEO
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"Paella is Spain's national dish," Whigham says — and for many Americans, it's the only regional dish they know by name. Most Americans picture one version of paella — chicken, shrimp, saffron-yellow rice — but the dish looks different depending on where in Spain you are. While the dish has roots in the southeastern region of Valencia, its ingredients and preparation vary widely throughout the country.
Showcasing that variety is one of Whigham’s aims. And he does it with strict adherence to tradition — he'll never include chorizo, since its heavy smoke and paprika flavors, he says, completely overpower the subtle, delicate taste of the saffron, broth and rice.
In August, the paella included market mushrooms, summer truffle, chicken and langoustine.
The next drop, on Sept. 20 (which just so happens to be World Paella Day), is a cuttlefish (sepia) paella.
Whigham wanted the drops to serve as an opportunity to activate the space in ways beyond regular brunch and dinner service.
Not a tourist menu
Whigham says people's exposure to Spanish cuisine often stops at gazpacho, jamón, and that one paella experience they had while studying abroad in college.
His approach, honed over almost two decades of cooking Spanish food, involves first surveying a dish's regional origins and then adapting it using Southern California ingredients, in a process Whigham calls "giving a traditional dish a sense of place."
"That's the path I'm on — taking traditional dishes and making them ours,” he adds.
A plated portion of Casa Leo's paella, served with a side of aioli and topped with edible flowers and microgreens.
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Casa Leo
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For example: marmitako, a humble Basque fisherman's dish traditionally made with tuna and potato, with a base consisting of tomato, bell pepper, red onion and fish stock. Whigham noticed poblano peppers were "exploding at the market" and swapped them in for the green bell peppers, using the same process and proportions — resulting in a richer tone, more of a capsicum flavor and a "nice low-key heat." Paired with the chili de árbol spice, it made the dish "warmer and richer and a little deeper in flavor."
Less than two years in, Whigham says the Michelin recognition was a lovely surprise. "We weren't looking for it," he says. "This is what I do. I don't know how to do anything else but this."
Still, he feels the weight of its importance: "A good restaurant, you feel it — the pulse of it, the heartbeat. That's what I want for people."
Casa Leo
Location: 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Suite C, Los Angeles
