Crudo e Nudo’s 5th Anniversary Featuring Guest Chefs & Winemakers

From April 13–19, Crudo e Nudo’s 5th Anniversary Guest Chef & Winemaker Series brings together Chef/Owner Brian Bornemann’s friends for sustainable seafood-driven à la carte specials and inspired natural wine pairings. No prix-fixe — just great fish, wine, and community all-day-long.

Kicking things off on Monday, April 13th are fellow pandemic pop-up warriors Anna Sonenshein and Niki Vahle of Little Fish who now have a popular brick-and-mortar in the white-hot Melrose Hill neighborhood, and share Brian’s whole-fish, waste-nothing ethos. Alongside them, Zach Petersen of Mazette Wines pours regeneratively farmed, deeply place-driven wines out of Santa Ynez, and he makes the most electric Sauvy B you’ve ever tried!

On April 14th, dear friend Saw Naing, who arrived from Burma in 2007 with a musician’s heart and trained under Thomas Keller, brings his rock-and-roll energy to Ojai’s The Dutchess and Joplin’s, and today gives the Crudo menu a Burmese twist. Alongside him, California legend Darek Trowbridge of Old World Winery (one of Sonoma’s first dedicated natural wineries) pours his best skin-contact and not-so-red wines. A match made in heaven.

On April 15th, Tyler Wells of Betsy, the hearth-fired Altadena beacon that has become a gathering place and symbol of resilience for a community rebuilding after the Eaton Fire, creates a menu of local fish and vegetables for the day. Alongside him, Scott Schultz pours from Jolie-Laide, the small Sonoma art-house winery he co-founded with his wife Jenny that’s focused on low-intervention and whole-cluster fermentation, resulting in unconventionally beautiful wines in the glass.

On April 16th, long-time friend in fish Dom Crisp makes the trip down from Santa Barbara, bringing a Basque twist to the Crudo menu for the day. Born on a third-generation organic vineyard in Oregon and trained in Provençal kitchens, Dom’s reverence for land and sea runs deep. Alongside him, cult winemaker Ryan Stirm of Stirm Wine Co. takes over the by-the-glass list with small-lot, minimal-intervention wines built on place, texture, and freshness, from some of California’s most distinctive historic vineyards.

On April 17th, Kelly Mariani, who cooked at Chez Panisse after studying at Ballymaloe and the Slow Food University, brings Scribe’s farm-driven ethos to the Crudo menu for the day. Alongside her, Matt Ahern pours from Scribe Winery, the fourth-generation Sonoma estate founded in 2007 on a pre-prohibition property, producing terroir-driven, non-interventionist wines that faithfully reflect time and place.

On April 18th, Brian welcomes his sweet friend Duyen Ha, a Michelin-trained, “Chopped” Champion, and current “Top Chef” Season 23 contender, whose cooking is precise, delicious, and delicate, blending classical French technique with her Vietnamese heritage. Alongside her food, she pours from Bondle, her own French wine and Champagne import brand championing small-batch emerging winemakers. These wines are flawless, balanced, and every bit as curated as her cooking.

Closing out the series on April 19th, dear friend Sandra Cordero, who is the Executive Chef and Owner of Santa Monica’s beloved Spanish tapas bar Xuntos, takes over the kitchen for dinner only. She’ll be cooking seafood paella paired with some of Brian’s favorite Spanish wines from Art Laietà. This family-run organic winery is perched above the Mediterranean near Barcelona and their wines are perfection with paella!