Chef Shuffles

Farid Zadi Parts Ways With Spanish Fly Gastropub

Farid Zadi
Farid Zadi Photo: Susan Park

On December 31, Farid Zadi, the skilled French-Algerian chef behind Ecole de Cuisine cooking school, split up with Spanish Fly Gastropub, the Koreatown restaurant he opened alongside his wife in July after closing his Culver City Mediterranean menu concept, Cafe Livre et le Marche. According to the chef, the split wasn’t 100% peaceful, stemming from creative differences with one of his three partners in the venture.

Zadi says in a statement, “Even the name Spanish Fly Gastropub was to placate the one disagreeable partner. I am not a gastropub chef and to be critiqued on the basis of running a gastropub was ridiculous compromise for me. My entire career has been about doing my own thing. I don’t do ‘pub fare’.”

Though the restaurant currently remains open, both Zadi, his wife, and the “contentious” partner in question are gone. Zadi says he’s taking a little time off from the kitchen, but has investors in line for “a restaurant that will be exactly what I want…100% me.” In the meantime, the chef is considering pop-ups and special events, and will work on his own YouTube channel, inspired by a recent appearance on Epic Meal Time, featuring technique intensive videos, interviews, and even “some parody.”

Farid Zadi Parts Ways With Spanish Fly Gastropub