Town Goodies

Los Angeles > Campanile

Campanile restaurant is an award winning restaurant lead by Executive Chef Mark Peel who also writes cookbook, appears on TV shows, and owns other restaurants. Campanile restaurant is a Los Angeles landmark for 20 years serving New American cuisine.
History
Campanile restaurant is located in a 1929 historic structure originally built for Hollywood legend Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin later surrendered the building to his second wife, Lita Grey, for divorce settlement. In the late 1980s the building was purchased by Executive Chef Mark Peel, former Pastry Chef Nancy Silverton and former Wine Director Manfred Krankl. Architect Josh Schweitzer supervised a complete remodel, converting the structure a bakery and restaurant. La Brea Bakery opened in January of 1989, with Campanile following six months later.

Awards
Campanile and its Executive Chef, Mark Peel, have received numerous awards, including: the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Restaurant Award - 2001, the Los Angeles Culinary Master of the Year, and Food & Wine's Best New Chefs. Campanile has also been nominated for the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Wine Service Award, Best California Chef Award and, most recently, Outstanding Restaurant Award - 2008.

Executive Chef
Mark Peel has been the Executive Chef and owner of Campanile restaurant for over 21 years. Campanile is a landmark restaurant in Los Angeles . The 20th anniversary milestone was reached in 2009, the same year Mark Peel's book New Classic Family Dinners was published by John Wiley and Sons. The book was selected as one of the top ten cookbooks of 2009 by Amazon and one of the top twenty five cookbooks of 2009 by Food and Wine Magazine.

Mark also recently opened two new establishments. The Point, a casual cafe in Culver City and the highly anticipated The Tar Pit. The Tar Pit combines Chef Peel‘s passion for market fresh food with the excitement of artisan cocktails. “What is happening in cocktails is what happened to food 30 years ago”. As a leader of seasonal fresh ingredients in food, Chef Peel loves extending the same ethos to cocktails. Mark also is co founder of La Brea Bakery.

Mark began his career working under Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison. He did stints in France at La Tour d’Argent and Le Moulin de Mougins. He then worked at Michaels and at Chez Pannisse. He moved back to Los Angeles when Wolfgang Puck asked him to be his chef de cuisine at his new restaurant, Spago. Mark also helped open Chinois and Spago Tokyo. And was the executive chef for brief time in NY at Maxwell’s Plum before opening Campanile Restaurant in 1989.

He has been seen numerous times on TV, Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay, Hell’s Kitchen, Top Chef, Top Chef: Masters, , and most recently he and the Tar Pit were featured in Top Chef : Just Deserts. He is also a regular contributor on John Rabe’s Off ramp on 89.3 KPCC ( Southern Cal) where he tells listeners everything from how to pick a good mushroom to what makes a table so popular. Mark also co authored two other cook books with his former wife Nancy Silverton, Mark Peel & Nancy Silverton At Home: Two Chefs Cook for Family and Friends and The food of Campanile.

Mark Peel has five children and is married to TV host, comedienne and blogger Daphne Brogdon.