Chef Lisa Fielding offers an alternative epicurean experience to restaurants and food trucks for young professionals.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
It’s a simple concept: cook a multicourse meal really well, serve it at a sexy Westside location, and they will come. “They” being Los Angeles-area young professionals.
Yet simple can be deceiving. Luckily, Lisa Fielding can deliver. The founder of Secret Ingredients, a foodie endeavor that holds a gourmet “Secret Table” meal at an exclusive, attractive private residence every few weeks, Fielding held one in Malibu last Saturday afternoon, at the PCH home of retired criminal defense lawyer Andrew Rubin, just a stone’s throw from Duke’s Restaurant along Malibu’s golden coast.
A dozen people attended the “Malibu Beach Fling” event to partake in fresh food, alcoholic refreshments, beachside lounging and light musical entertainment. Participants at this gathering enjoyed beach access, chilled chardonnay and a tasty menu including lemon herb chicken skewers, heirloom tomatoes with burratini, basil chiffonade, champagne vinaigrette asparagus and white corn ceviche, chili prawns with lemon and jalapeno accents, and grilled bread with tapenade. Even Fielding’s self-designated “failed” strawberry crisp turned out to be a hit, nearly evaporating.
Attendees found the beach view stunning. Preceding the meal, they lounged on beach chairs and under a cabana tent, enjoying some aperitifs on a gorgeous Southern California afternoon. Inside Rubin’s house, the hardwood floors, high ceilings and ample windows created an expansive, inviting environment; a veritable art gallery environment for the work of artist Flavio Campagna Kampa, who lent several oversized canvases of his pop-y, pop culture-referencing paintings to adorn the walls.
Guest Monica Yatabe of Pacific Palisades found Rubin’s house the perfect venue.
“I love to see the ocean all the time,” the recently minted U.S. citizen and Japanese native said. “One of my dreams is to live at the ocean. I’m very happy to be here in Malibu and to live in the Palisades.”
Yatabe, a bartender, appreciated the care going into Fielding’s craft.
“I believe that she used good ingredients,” she continued. “Organic things, of course. It’s delicious but she’s thinking about the balance of the nutrition.”
Secret Ingredients originated out of frustration. Tired of working as a producer in Hollywood (she once worked in development for uber-producer Lynda Obst, of “Sleepless in Seattle” fame), where things moved too slowly for her impulsive spirit, Fielding launched her passion business in 2009. These salon-style, Secret Table evenings are reservation-only and cost about $75.
“After years in purgatory, i.e., the film business… at least cooking and entertaining provides immediate gratification for a job well done,” said Fielding, who has been cooking since the age of eight. A Pacific Palisades resident, Fielding once attempted to partner on a restaurant in the Palisades Village called Picnic, but the venture cratered due to behind-the-scenes volatility among the principles. The salon-style events offered an easier compromise.
“Starting out as a private chef required no overhead and after the financial disaster of Picnic, this was a much safer way to explore my passion for food, cooking and entertaining,” Fielding said.
Palisades residents Penny Negrin, a Prudential real estate agent, and Bill Parr, a third-generation Malibuite in property management, attended one of Fielding’s dinners a month after getting married and offered a strong recommendation: The newlyweds hired Fielding as their personal chef.
Chris and Cher Van Amburg, a Sony Pictures marketeer and a talent agent, respectively, have been married for eight years.
“I surprised her,” Chris Van Amburg said of his wife. “She didn’t know where she was going. We have a 10-month-old at home.”
“I just thought we were going to the beach,” said Cher, who appreciated her husband’s gesture. “I love being out at the beach. It takes you away.”
Chris said he learned about Secret Ingredients through an article and joined the company’s e-list.
“To be here,” he said, “it’s an experience you could not duplicate. It’s not Disneyland or a restaurant.”
Providing some entertainment for the Sherman Oaks couple and other guests: Hunter Ackerman and Rick Lucas on dueling acoustic guitars, with Ackerman occasionally adopting the Native American flute. The pair covered the Eurythmics’ “Here Comes the Rain Again,” the Beatles’ “Hey, Jude,” John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.”
“This spot is a magical place. No one ever goes on their decks,” Rubin, the host, said, regarding his beachside neighbors. “It’s nuts, these people have more money than sense.” He added he enjoyed opening up his eye-popping beach home to the Secret Table event and making new friends.
“I like sharing this with others,” he said. “They get a kick out of it, and for a lot of people, they never experience something like this before.”
For more information, visit secretingredients.us.