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BY BRIAN GARRIDO/PHOTOS BY CAL BINGHAM

C hef Brendan Collins, whose much-lauded Los Angeles restaurant, Birch, opened last year, saunters through the Hollywood Farmers Market (HFM).

He chats up one of the vendors, pinches off greens and chews their wares. With a nod of his head and smiling, he purchases vegetables before walking to the next stall. His eyes are wide, scanning the tables, in search of the best produce for his diners.

HollywoodProduce-rs

THE LEGENDARY FARMERS MARKET

GOES SILVER

FARMER’S MARKET

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Chef BrendanCollins selects citrus from

Bernard Farms for his scallop sashimi.

Birch, like many area businesses—the W Hotel, Urban Out-fitters, and even the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall—all of which opened over the past two and a half decades, owe gratitude to the Hollywood Farmers Market. Indeed, May 1, 2016, marked the 25th anniversary of the legendary weekly grocers. In 1991, the community of Hollywood, no longer the mythic heart of film, was in disrepair. A few blocks away, the Yucca Corridor was the drug capital of Los Angeles. Ivar, one of the blocks now utilized for the al fresco shopping area, housed one of the country’s largest bathhouses and Cahuenga was peppered with porn stores and smoke shops.

Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Michael Woo, who oversaw the 13th District from 1985-1993, says, “At the time, the central part of Hollywood was an economically depressed area. I was very involved in efforts to turn the com-munity around. There was an Italian woman, Pompea Smith, who worked for the Economic Development Council, and described the outdoor markets in her homeland. Then, she would talk about these Hollywood streets at Ivar and Sel-

Dandelion greensand kale from ABC Rhubarb

Farms, one of the market’s legacy farmers.

Grower and musician Dexter Scott from Sprouts

ma—four city blocks that were very quiet and lifeless during the weekend. The original idea of a farmers market was interesting to me because it created a sense of community. We started with a few brave vendors who set up every week. Eventually, we had more farmers join in. Now, it’s the largest weekly attended farm-ers market, and the most diverse in Los Angeles County.”

With the success of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market, commu-nity leaders formed the nonprofit Sustainable Economic Enter-prises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA) soon after. The 501c3’s purpose is to act as an owner and operator of the Hollywood Farmers’ Market and its subsequent offspring. The mission of the orga-nization is to build sustainable food systems while promoting social and cultural activities benefitting low-to-moderate income Los Angeles residents, all while fostering support of California’s small-and-mid-sized farms and local area businesses. Since the founding of the SEE-LA, seven additional markets have been added to the roster across Los Angeles.

“The Grande Dame of Markets in Los Angeles is still Holly-wood’s Front Porch on Sundays,” says the current Executive Di-rector, James Haydu. “A key to its success and longevity is that it’s hit the mark of staying the same throughout the decades, while quietly changing with the times and shifting trends in the agricultural and food industries.”

Birch is Chef Brendan Collins’ first foray into Hollywood. His kitchen, just a hundred feet from the beginning of the vegetable bazaar, makes him a neighbor and the nearest celebrity cuisini-er. Every Sunday, Angelenos traipse up Cahuenga in search of

Collins’ city-famous “Sunday Roast,” featuring

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FARMER’S MARKET

Internationally known Chef Curtis Stone shops Hollywood Farmers Market frequently. He also wrote the forward to Brendan Collins

debut cookbook, Cooking,

Chanterelles at LA FungHi, one of the many

retailers at the market.

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dishes from his childhood and the English kitchen such as Yorkshire pudding, veggies in the hole and bangers and mash. Of course, the restaurant’s menu is compiled with from local farmers and sustain-able growers.

Collins has just published his debut cookbook, Cooking, Blokes & Artichokes: A Modern Man’s Guide to the Kitchen (Kyle Books). The Hollywood kitchen boss and new author says, “Birch is still new, but doing very well. The Hollywood area is changing and becoming even more densely populated. And it’s great about being so close to the

market. We can just go grab the dolly and fill ‘er up with fresh produce.”

Lauren C. Diaz of ABC Rhubarb Farms.

Owner of LA FungHi, Dirk Hermann.

Hollywood’s BIRCH GROWSL os Angeles Chef Brendan Collins opened

Birch last year along the Cahuenga corridor between Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard.

It’s a provocative choice for one of the city’s leading independent restauranteurs. Many of his culinary peers continue to move into the City of Angels outlying areas such as Echo Park, downtown and the beach communities.

“I wanted something smaller than what I had done at Waterloo + City,” states British-born Collins referencing his closed and much lauded Culver City eatery. “It needed to be more personal in a (reduced) space and about the food. We found this quaint spot in Hollywood with the right rent. ”

Seating 59 inside with additional tables for al fresco dining in the back, Birch’s design is purposefully clean and sparse, allowing the meal to be the dining focal point. The name refers to the kitchen helmer’s childhood spent in England’s Nottingham near a thicket of birches. Collins’ menu has elements of his British upbringing such as English peas, bangers and mash, Yorkshire pudding and skillet toffee. Yet, like most European-trained chefs, the stove master showcases a global flavoring indicating the United Kingdom as a melting pot with skewered monkfish tikka masala (India), lobster cappellini (Italian), sashimi scallops (Japan) and a rabbit baklava (Greece).

“We are really working to make creative food,” Collins says. “More vegetable-centric, having more seafood and obviously farmers market-focused.”