TO MEET · 03/05/2013
Farm Fresh from Heirloom LA
When dining with Heirloom LA, your favorite fruit or vegetable may not be available and the meat might not always be picture-perfect. Even so, it’ll still be delicious—the food they serve is guaranteed to be fresh and made from locally sourced and in-season ingredients.
Matt Poley and Tara Maxey’s catering menu at Heirloom LA is driven by the farmers market. Partnering with farms like McGrath Family Farm, they work with what they’re given. For instance, they just received an overabundance of fresh spinach—where will it fit into their menu? That’s what they now have to determine! It’s as if they’re part of a CSA, receiving a slightly unexpected collection of produce and meat each week, but ten-fold in terms of the amount.
Heirloom LA is a few different things: they have a food truck, a catering business for private events and “The Salon,” where they hold tastings and small events for up to 30 people.
They’re well-known for their Lasagne Cupcakes—cupcake-sized portions of lasagne, crafted from their handmade pasta and any mixture of vegetables, cheese and meats. They’re perfectly portable (perhaps easier to eat with a fork and knife, for us messier folks) and melt-in-your-mouth good.
We’ve yet to even mention the presentation! The colors in their dishes alone are something to rave about—they’ve had many clients comment on the bright seasonal salads, never having seen vegetables so vibrant, worried that there may be something amiss with them.
They’re not afraid to add in less common versions of well-known vegetables. In any given salad you may find brilliant purple carrots and watermelon radishes. For their tastings and small events, a handful of vegetables and herbs from their own backyard garden may even make an appearance.
Perhaps even more remarkable than the food are Matt and Tara’s attitudes—they’re humble, open-minded and simply fun. They seem to be taking any challenge head on, making the most out of their limited space and enjoying what they do. In turn, every person that’s worked with them or sampled their food (we’ve met quite a few of them while here) has nothing but endless praise for the pair.
Matt is wearing the Spencer in Midnight Blue and Tara is wearing the Madison in Rum Cherry.
Photos by Collin Hughes