Rising to Fame: LA’s Personal Chef with a Creative Flare

By Annie Suh —

It’s about noon and I’m waiting for Dadi Revivo in front of Peet’s Coffee & Tea next to the busy intersection on Westwood Boulevard and Lindbrook Drive. Minutes later he shows up with his bicycle in tow wearing a bright yellow hoodie and red chucks you can probably spot from a mile away. “I love colors. I have a big collection of funky color shoes,” he says with an accent.

Splashy colors makes sense considering his daring adventures with food—chili brownies, bacon brownies, goat cheese brownies, you name it. And color allows him to create different looks, flavors and the wow factor in dishes.

“I love trying different combinations, but I also like to take classics and give them a little tweak, a little kick and spice and make it my own.” Just a few weeks ago, he catered a large batch of brownies to an event for James Cameron and then started getting more and more requests as word got around.

Dadi is best known for his desserts, which has been featured at Minx Restaurant & Lounge in Glendale with raving reviews from LA Daily News, Gayot and Club Planet. With no formal food training, he credits his baking skills to his sisters and cooking skills to his mom. “My mom’s a great cook and I love her to pieces.”

Food is his passion and it oozes out in every aspect of his life. When he watches TV, it’s the Food Network with Ina Garten or Giada De Laurentiis (Everday Italian), or National Geographic. For fun, he has cooking sessions and cook-offs with friends and loves to host. (But he also loves nature—hiking, camping, biking, the beach.) “Even at 16 I would make a birthday cake and make ice cream from scratch. I always cooked back in Israel when I was a kid. If it was my friend’s birthday, I would be the one baking the cake. I never bought a birthday cake in my life.”

"Tropical Fruit Ice Box":fruit and sorbet encased in ice

Revivo. His last name may sound Italian, but he’s from Israel. And with that early ambition and surety of what he wanted to do in life, he packed up his stuff at 19 and moved to New York. “I wanted to become an actor actually. So I studied acting in New York, but food was always part of my big dream…I had a bunch of dreams. I don’t have only one dream.”

His first job in New York was as a waiter. One night he saw a superior in the corner table with a stack of recipes, books and magazines working on a new menu for the restaurant. “I simply said ‘Hey, I can do that for you.’” A week later, Dadi became chef and never had to be waiter again. And that was that—the moment his career took off.

He started making menus for other restaurants as a food consultant. And when he went on a business trip to LA, he decided to stick around. And now here he is with about a thousand recipes under his belt, someday to be made into a cook book.

Dadi's famous brownie served with caramelized baby bananas, champagne mousse and 4 different sauces

Before the interview is over, there is one question I’m itching to ask regarding his favorite restaurant. “There’s one place I cannot resist. It’s called Cholada, right by the beach [Malibu]—a very authentic Thai restaurant with an authentic Thai restaurant staff. They just serve good old fashioned Thai food that I always love going back to.” Readers, take note.

I know where I’m going for dinner.

(To find out more about the culinary artist, visit www.DadiRevivo.com)