{{short description|American chef, known for pizza (1955–2007)}} {{Infobox chef | name = Ed LaDou | birth_name = Edward M. LaDou, III<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edward M. LaDou III Obituary (2008) |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/edward-ladou-obituary?id=24218062 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Legacy.com|publisher=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1955|10|09}} | birth_place = McChord Field, Pierce County, Washington, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|12|27|1955|10|09}} | death_place = Santa Monica, California, U.S. | occupation = Pizza chef | style = {{hlist|California-style pizza|California}} }} '''Edward M. LaDou, III''' (October 9, 1955 – December 27, 2007) was an American pizza chef, who is credited with popularizing gourmet California-style pizzas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Balla |first=Lesley |date=2008-01-03 |title=Father of Gourmet Pizza, Ed LaDou, Dies at 52 |url=https://la.eater.com/2008/1/4/6806797/father-of-gourmet-pizza-ed-ladou-dies-at-52 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Eater LA |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Whitson |first1=Craig |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=10P_BgAAQBAJ |title=Passion for Pizza: A Journey Through Thick and Thin to Find the Pizza Elite |last2=Gjesteland |first2=Tore |last3=Widén |first3=Mats |last4=Hansen |first4=Kenneth |date=2015-03-17 |publisher=Agate Publishing |isbn=978-1-57284-746-0 |pages=254 |language=en}}</ref> Ed LaDou was the first pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant in Los Angeles.<ref name="lat">{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=Jocelyn Y |date=2008-01-04 |title=Ed LaDou, 52; chef pioneered gourmet pizza revolution |work=Los Angeles Times |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-ladou4jan04,1,7501171.story?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=9&cset=true |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130127145557/http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-ladou4jan04,1,7501171.story?coll=la-news-obituaries&ctrack=9&cset=true |archive-date=2013-01-27 |accessdate=2008-01-19}}</ref> He also developed the first menu for the American chain restaurant California Pizza Kitchen.<ref name=lat/>
The invention of the California-style pizza begins with a Berkeley, California, pizza restaurant, Chez Panisse, and its owner, Alice Waters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How California Changed the Face of Pizza Forever |url=https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-california-style-pizza-changed-america |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Thrillist |language=en}}</ref> Waters was the first to create pizzas with exotic and unusual toppings which were cooked in a wood-burning pizza oven.<ref name=lat/> However, LaDou was a major figure in the development and popularity of these types of pizzas.<ref name=lat/> LaDou was known for introducing very unusual ingredients into his pizza recipes at a time when such toppings were highly unorthodox.<ref name="lat" /> Examples include duck breast and hoisin sauce pizza and barbecue chicken pizza.<ref name="lat" />
==Early life== Ed LaDou was born on McChord Air Force Base in Washington state on October 9, 1955.<ref name=lat/> His father, Edward M. LaDou, was a United States Air Force pilot and his mother is named Patricia Gallinetti.<ref name=lat/> LaDou was partially raised in Los Altos, California, and first worked at a restaurant when he was a high school student.<ref name=lat/>
==Pizza== LaDou was working as a chef at several restaurants in San Francisco by the mid-1970s, including at Frankie, Johnnie & Luigi Too! in San Francisco, and restaurant Ecco in Palo Alto.<ref name=lat/><ref>{{Cite web |date=2004-09-12 |title=Ed LaDou: Father of gourmet pizza |url=https://www.pizzamarketplace.com/news/ed-ladou-father-of-gourmet-pizza/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Pizza Marketplace |language=en}}</ref> He gained a reputation as an experimental pizza maker, which often made him popular with his customers, but sometimes clashed with the ideas of the owners of the restaurants in which he worked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Coomes |first=Steve |date=August 29, 2003 |title=Who's Who: Ed LaDou |url=http://pizzamarketplace.com/article.php?id=2653 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202182739/http://pizzamarketplace.com/article.php?id=2653 |archive-date=2007-12-02 |website=Pizza Marketplace |publisher=NetWorld Alliance LLC}}</ref> LaDou was working at a restaurant called Prego, when he was discovered by chef Wolfgang Puck, who was eating at the restaurant.<ref name=lat/> Puck ordered one of LaDou's pizzas, which was topped with ricotta cheese, red peppers, pâté and mustard and immediately offered him a job at his Spago restaurant in Los Angeles, which at the time was not open yet.<ref name=lat/>
=== Spago === Spago opened in January 1982 with LaDou as its first pizza chef.<ref name="lat" /> Puck allowed La Dou to choose his own toppings and recipes.<ref name="lat" /> The original menu included pizzas topped with duck sausage or smoked salmon.<ref name="lat" /> LaDou later remarked in an interview about his move to Spago, "It was like being an artist who'd worked with 10 colors all of his life and then got to use 300."<ref name="lat" /> LaDou's pizzas were highly popular, making reservations at Spago very hard to get.<ref name="lat" />
=== California Pizza Kitchen === LaDou was approached by Larry Flax, who co-founded the California Pizza Kitchen in 1985 with fellow attorney Rick Rosenfield.<ref name=lat/> Flax had previously taken a pizza making course with LaDou at Los Angeles' Ma Maison, where Wolfgang Puck had been a chef immediately prior to opening Spago.<ref name=lat/> Flax and Rosenfield asked LaDou to help develop a menu for the California Pizza Kitchen.<ref name=lat/> LaDou accepted and developed the restaurant chain's first menu, which included the CPK's signature barbecue chicken pizza.<ref name=lat/> The California Pizza Kitchen became a success and now has restaurants across the United States and worldwide.<ref name=lat/>
=== Caioti === LaDou left California Pizza Kitchen shortly after developing its menu.<ref name="lat" /> In 1987, he opened his own restaurant, called Caioti Cafe, which first opened in Laurel Canyon,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-06-25 |title=Time to howl: Caioti Pizza Café turns 20 |url=https://www.nrn.com/archive/time-howl-caioti-pizza-caf-turns-20 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Nation's Restaurant News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=1987-09-18 |title=Restaurants, Caioti: Ed La Dou Delivers in Canyon |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-18-ca-5602-story.html |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> and later a Caioti Pizza Cafe restaurant on the Sunset Strip with Carol Saiz, before moving to its current location in Studio City, California.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Steiman |first=Harvey |date=March 19, 2008 |title=On the Pizza Trail: Caioti |url=https://www.winespectator.com/articles/on-the-pizza-trail-caioti-15449 |website=Wine Spectator}}</ref><ref name="lat" /> Notable dishes invented at Caioti Cafe included "Mexican cactus pizza", "smoked rabbit pizza", and "foie gras calzone".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Gold |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Agxy6i_QeT0C |title=Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles |date=2000-12-01 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-312-27634-8 |pages=41–42 |language=en}}</ref> The Caioti Pizza Cafe is known for the garlic knots, the smoked salmon pizza (like the one from Spago), the barbecue chicken pizza (like the one from California Pizza Kitchen), "Cajun pizza", and "Rockefeller Pizza".<ref name=":1" />
At Caioti Pizza Cafe, LaDou invented a salad that many customers believe induces labor during pregnancy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 11, 1993 |title='Maternal' Salad Praised -- 'Overdue' Women Insist It Sets Off Contractions |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930711&slug=1710503 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=The Seattle Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2021-06-15 |title=Pregnant women turn to a legendary 'maternity salad' to help induce labor |url=https://abc7.com/caioti-pizza-cafe-salad-pregnant-studio-city/10777524/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=ABC7 Los Angeles |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Burton |first=Brooke |date=2009-10-15 |title=Maternity Greens: Caioti Pizza Cafe's Labor-Inducing Salad |url=https://www.laweekly.com/maternity-greens-caioti-pizza-cafes-labor-inducing-salad/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=L. A. Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref> It is called, "The Salad" and contains romaine lettuce, watercress, walnuts, and gorgonzola, tossed with a "magical" balsamic dressing.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Santoro |first=Alessia |date=2018-10-18 |title=Hilary Duff Just Ate a Salad Famous For Inducing Labor, So Let's See What Happens, Folks |url=https://www.popsugar.com/node/45382604 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=POPSUGAR Family |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 31, 1993 |title=That's One Salad, and a Baby To Go |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-01-9308010031-story.html |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Chicago Tribune}}</ref> The dressing is so popular it is sold by the bottle. Hillary Duff, Jinger Duggar, and other celebrities have attempted to use the salad to induce labor.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Can the 'Maternity Salad' Hilary Duff ordered really kick-start labor? |url=https://www.today.com/parents/restaurant-offers-maternity-salad-believed-induce-labor-t109008 |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Michels |first=Audrey |date=2020-11-20 |title=The Surprising Way Jinger Duggar Is Trying To Induce Labor |url=https://www.thelist.com/282551/the-surprising-way-jinger-duggar-is-trying-to-induce-labor/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=TheList.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-27 |title=Ashley Iaconetti Buys Jade Roper a 'Due Date' Salad So That She Goes Into Labor |url=https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/ashley-iaconetti-buys-jade-roper-due-date-salad-to-induce-labor/ |access-date=2022-07-09 |website=Us Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Death== Ed LaDou died of cancer at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, on December 27, 2007, at the age of 52.<ref name=lat/> He was surrounded by his wife, Carrie LaDou, and their daughter, Cassidy Rose.<ref name=lat/>
==References== <references/>
==External links== *{{IMDb name|id=nm3951054}}
*{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130119010614/http://www.caiotipizzacafe.com/ Caioti Pizza Cafe]}}
{{portalbar|Biography}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladou, Ed}} Category:1955 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Deaths from cancer in California Category:People from Pierce County, Washington Category:People from Los Altos, California Category:Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Chefs from Berkeley, California Category:Chefs from Los Angeles