Eater LA is reporting that Naked Chef Jamie Oliver plans to open a restaurant in the Los Angeles area. It would be his first-ever in the U.S.
The best-selling cookbook author and cooking show star already owns and operates 20 Jamie’s Italian restaurants in the U.K., as well as Fifteen London, which has an apprentice program that recruits unemployed and under-qualified young people and trains them to become chefs.
His ABC show Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, produced by Ryan Seacrest, which promoted healthy food in schools, received poor ratings during its second L.A.-based season and will not return for a third. Oliver clashed with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) officials while filming after they refused to let his cameras into schools. He was among many critics of the district’s food offerings who called for a ban of flavored milk.
As the Los Angeles Times reported on August 29, LAUSD is now intent on remaking its school lunch programs. “In coming weeks, the district will do away with canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, chicken nuggets and corn dogs and begin incorporating more locally grown produce into the daily fare,” writes the paper’s Mary MacVean.
Oliver’s show won the Emmy for best reality program at the 2010 awards.
