Equestrian Center Culinary School Wins OK to Reopen

The Los Angeles city parks agency voted Monday to allow chef Raimund Hofmeister, now backed by new financial partners, to reopen his culinary school at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center facility in Griffith Park.

By a 3-0 vote, the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission approved the sublease between the city’s equestrian center franchisee and Equestrian Culinary Enterprises Inc., the cooking school Hofmeister founded with his wife.

Hofmeister’s first cooking school at the Griffith Park horse center closed its doors in June after its financial angels, including comedian Buddy Hackett’s wife, Sherry, said they had invested all they could in the project, which involved building a $1-million kitchen.

In the interim, Hofmeister moved his school’s classes to a Ventura Boulevard bakery.

Hofmeister was not at Monday’s meeting. The commissioners approved the five-year sublease with only minimal discussion. Their action does not need City Council approval.

The original cooking school became the subject of controversy at City Hall last year when the holder of the riding facility franchise--Los Angeles Equestrian Center Inc., a for-profit Burbank group--sought a new, 30-year contract with the city.

Several council members, led by Councilman Joel Wachs, pounced on the proposed contract negotiated by the parks commission, claiming it was too weak because it required the franchisee in the first five years to pay only a fixed fee to the city for use of the facility--not a percentage of gross receipts.

Wachs’ skepticism was fueled by his belief that the cooking school could make large profits for the franchisee, which the city would not share.

But the German-born Hofmeister, who had been executive chef at the Century Plaza Hotel and Tower, shut down the school in June after less than a year, blaming the recession and the April riots for his money troubles.

The chef’s new partners are Alan Silver of Quality Cold Pack and the Los Angeles Equestrian Center Inc., the equestrian center franchisee. They own 10% and 20%, respectively, of the school, while Hofmeister and his wife, Erika, own the remaining 70%.

The new culinary school is to be like the old one, except for the financial partners, said Shirley Andrews, a parks agency analyst.

“It’s going to be the same school, the same services, the same tuition, the same everything,” Andrews said.

At the original school, students were to get on-the-job training from a world-class chef as they worked at two restaurants at the equestrian center. The school charged $15,500 for 18 months instruction.

In a related matter, the parks commissioners also heard from Brad Wells, who has run a free program at the equestrian center for eight years that trains children to perform gymnastics on horseback. Wells charged that the city’s franchisee is unfairly trying to evict him.

Wells, who teaches his classes and boards his horse at the center, said he is being evicted because his free program--The Equine Project--makes no money for the center, which charges some subtenants a percentage of their gross receipts.

But Ken Mowry, the center’s general manager, denied Wells’ allegations in remarks before the commission.

In an interview, Mowry said that Wells is being evicted because he has not paid the rent to board his horse. “It’s just a rent thing and has nothing to do with these other allegations,” said Mowry, who claims Wells owes the center four months rent, totaling $1,227.

The commission took no action on Wells’ complaint.