By A. Rios (R.E. Photography)/Special to LAist
Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a "not so secret" backyard underground dinner event in Hollywood. Young chef Christian Navarro, of Haute Skillet, was serving up his variation of the classic Jucy Lucy burger, which was something we had never heard of before. He explained that it was like a cheeseburger, except the cheese was inside of the patty. Since this was his own spin on a classic, he chose a croissant as the bun and the combination worked really well.
As we arrived, he started the prep for the burgers right in front of us, adding a homemade lemon rosemary vinaigrette that he locally sourced using lemons from the tree he was standing next to, and fresh rosemary from his neighbor's garden... the ultimate in locally sourced. He toasted the croissants on the grill, and started plating just like you would see in a restaurant kitchen. The burger was truly an explosion of flavor, highlighted by the hand formed patties, greens, and enthusiasm coming from this young chef.
In addition of eating such a great burger, it was a pleasure meeting Chef Christian Navarro, a very humble and delightful young man with amazing cooking skills, and a quite extensive background. Can't wait for his next event!
Christian started Haute Skillet and has plans for more of these underground dinners in the future. You can follow @HauteSkillet on Twitter for info on future pop-ups and other events.
