Alison Trent
Ysabel | Los Angeles
June 2017
Alison Trent grew up in Canberra, Australia, learning to cook alongside her sister and gaining an appreciation for the wide-open spaces of her relatively rural pocket of the world. When it came time to pursue a career, she headed to New York City to study at the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). Trent left New York as soon as she could, choosing to pursue California product and outdoor, sunshine-filled living in L.A.
She worked with Michael Cimarusti at Providence for three years, gaining her first Michelin-starred experience. Next, she helped open Th omas Keller’s Bouchon Beverly Hills. Having gained the necessary chops, she moved to the epicenter of California cuisine, taking a position at Th e French Laundry in the Napa Valley. Trent spent three years in Yountville, where she learned discipline, picked up rigorous sourcing standards, and flourished in a high-stakes environment. Staying in the TK family of restaurants, she briefly returned to Bouchon in L.A. before striking out on her own.
Trent now runs the kitchens of high-volume, stylish Ysabel and Laurel Hardware. At both restaurants, she brings her precise, eclectic, and hyper-seasonal cooking to bustling West Hollywood and is imparting her palate and technical acumen on a team of 50 cooks.
