About RFD & Owner Ann Gentry
About Ann Gentry
Ann Gentry has spent the past twenty-five years striving to raise the standard of vegetarian cooking in this country. Ann is the creator, founder and operating owner of Real Food Daily, the only restaurant in the Los Angeles area that serves a 100 percent vegetarian (vegan) menu using foods grown exclusively with organic farming methods. 
Bon Appétit magazine declared “Ann Gentry, the creator of Real Food Daily has taken two different California trends – vegetarian foods, and the organic seasonal cooking popularized by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse – and come up with a cuisine that is as interesting and delicious as it is healthful.” With two locations, in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, California, Real Food Daily has “developed a loyal following”, from the someday to the everyday vegeta-
Ann Tells the History of RFD
Opening day. Although I had operated RFD as a successful home food delivery service for five years, we were stunned that a crowd of 100 people showed up, without advertising, on our very first day in the restaurant business—June 21, 1993. Customers were drawn in by the inviting, stylish space, and they were even more excited about the gourmet vegan cuisine. While some people had discouraged me from opening a restaurant limited to vegetarian foods and organic produce, I was convinced that enough diners wanted to eat whole foods in a restaurant they could trust. From opening day to the present, they’ve proven that hunch was right—in both good times and bad.
Temporary setback. In January 1994, only seven months after opening, a serious earthquake struck Los Angeles. While nobody at RFD was hurt, our building was: The parapet fell into rubble in front of the restaurant, and it took four months to clean everything up. In the meantime, RFD was inundated with phone calls, handwritten messages, and business cards left at the front door asking when the restaurant would reopen, with several people asking how they could help…. Read more
rian, celebrities, trendsetting young eaters with sophisticated palates to the mature diner seeking gourmet health supportive cuisine.
Ann was born in Tennessee and grew up in a home filled with great food and a love of entertaining. She became interested in vegetarian cuisine in New York City during the 1980’s and she became interested in the cause and effect relationship between the health of her body and the foods that she ate. Fusing the essential elements of Eastern macrobiotics with her own American culinary style, her distinct “gourmet whole food cuisine” was born.
In 1986, after relocating to Los Angeles, she became the personal chef to actor/director Danny DeVito and created the idea of a home food delivery service that served truly healthful but exciting dishes. From 1988 to 1992 Real Food Daily thrived as a home delivery service and garnered many loyal customers.
In June of 1993, Ann opened Real Food Daily, the restaurant, in Santa Monica. Antithetical to the dreary perceived notion of a vegetarian restaurant, RFD’s décor of blond wood, clean lines, cozy counter space and eclectic art perfectly complements the innovative style of Ann’s gourmet whole food. The West Hollywood location opened in 1998 and has been written about in numerous publications, praised not only for the food but also for the light and modern vibe and the recycled rich teak wood used on table tables, counter bar and throughout the dining room.
Ann’s recipes have been published in The Los Angeles Times, Vegetarian Times, and various food industry trade magazines. Ann has been featured in Cooking Light, Fit, Fit Yoga, Veg News and articles and reviews of Real Food Daily have appeared in Esquire, Self, Allure, Longevity, Los Angeles Magazine, US Weekly, InStyle, and Daily Variety, among others. Ann is the executive chef to Vegetarian Times magazine, where she contributes recipes and articles about healthy eating and lifestyle. In 2006-07 Ann penned her own bi-monthly column about food and children for a magazine in the UK called Junior: The World’s Finest Parenting Magazine. In 2007, Ann was the spokesperson for SOYJOY, an all-natural nutrition bar made with whole soy.
Because her creations are absolute originals, Ann Gentry has been instrumental in raising the profile of vegan cooking. Ann has appeared as a guest chef at the Canyon Ranch in Arizona, Pritikin Longevity Center, Robert Mondavi Wine Center, Natural Foods Expo and annually at the Environmental Media Awards in California. She has also taught at the annual conference of the North American Vegetarian Society, toured Texas teaching at Central Market and inspired 350 graduate students at the World Arts & Cultures program at UCLA. Ann has also completed a teaching turn on the “Taste of Health” cruise of the Southeastern Caribbean on a premier Italian luxury liner.
Ann has filmed 52 episodes of a half-hour cooking show called Naturally Delicious with Ann Gentry, which airs on the Veria channel on The Dish Network and Verizon cable. Ann has also appeared on a multitude of television shows, including the Today Show, TV Guide show, and several shows on the Discovery Channel most recently, as a celebrity chef host on Planet Green/Supper Club. She has also appeared on the Food Network in several of their shows, most notably on Bobby Flay’s Food Nation.
After years of requests from customers, Ann has written her first cookbook, The Real Food Daily Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, October 1, 2005; $24.95 (CAN $34.95), ISBN: 1-58008-618-7). Ann is currently at work on her second book, entitled Real Food Now, Modern Meatless Meals for Eco-Friendly Eating.
Ann lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Robert Jacobs, a health professional and entrepreneur, and their two children, Halle and Walker.
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