Or Amsalam and Alex Phaneuf
Restaurateurs, Hasiba and Lodge Bread Company | Los Angeles
June 2021
2021 StarChefs Los Angeles Rising Stars Restaurateur Award Winner
Fresh out of Le Cordon Bleu-Pasadena, Or Amsalam was determined to make his mark on the growing Los Angeles restaurant scene. He scored a role on the line at Mezze in 2010, followed by Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. An entrepreneur at heart, Amsalam founded a catering company in 2012 called LA Flavor Catering. Though he was born and raised in L.A., Amsalam's family is Israeli and Moroccan, which led him to stints at small restaurants around Israel.
Amsalam’s return to L.A. was met with jobs at Ink with 2011 Rising Star Chef Michael Voltaggio then Goldie’s, where he crossed paths with Chef Alex Phaneuf. After working for Farmshop, Atelier Crenn, TBD, and AQ in San Francisco, Phaneuf connected with Amsalam over their appreciation for freshly baked bread—a feature that Goldie’s was missing. So the pair spearheaded the restaurant’s bread program, and ideas for a bakery began brewing.
In 2015, Amsalam and Phaneuf launched Lodge Bread Company, which focuses on whole-grain, long-fermented, high-hydration loaves. The original storefront expanded into a full restaurant and has since added a second location in Woodland Hills with another in the pipeline. With dreams of opening a restaurant, Amsalam took Phaneuf on an Israeli tour, and they returned in 2018 to found Hasiba, named after Amsalam’s grandmother. The menu offers an Israeli-inflected, kosher alternative for the largely Jewish Pico-Robertson neighborhood, and Amsalam and Phaneuf plan to continue expanding both concepts.
