There’s a Michelin air to Aaron Elliot’s Los Angeles home kitchen. No clatter, no chaos—just quiet focus and a playlist that bounces between post-hardcore and Brazilian jazz. Elliott is a calm and measured guy with tattoos up to his ears. He wouldn’t hurt a fly, but you get the sense he may have hit something besides a baseball with a bat once or twice.
Today, the house smells like miso, golden garlic, and something sweet that turns out to be a wedge of lasagna with cultured cashew mozzarella and a single basil leaf on top that tastes like a Hi-Chew. Elliott’s cooking feels like an even cleaner coastal-California version of Nancy Silverton’s approach—obsessively honing dishes people love, but knowing when to stop before whatever you do won’t be better than what the farmer did. That’s how you create food that people keep coming back for all year long, instead of just that one time on Valentine’s Day.
After bouncing around some L.A. kitchens, Elliott landed his first private chef gig with C.J. Wilson, sending the since-retired Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim pitcher out for road games with quinoa-oatmeal bowls. Then came Endeavor CEO and superagent Ari Emanuel, who brought Aaron into his house for what turned into a ten-year run—six days a week, including through the early days of the pandemic. “It’s easy to put a plate of vegetables in front of someone,” Emanuel says. “It’s much harder to make them taste good. Aaron has mastered this.”
James Cameron all but hired him on the spot after Elliott refused to cook meat for his kitchen audition. “Aaron made beautiful food for the whole family,” Suzy Cameron says. “I still make many of his recipes now that we’re in New Zealand.”
Eventually, he connected with Travis Barker through Elliott’s younger brother Jake, who runs the front of the house at the West Hollywood vegan-hot-spot-to-the-stars Crossroads Kitchen, whose investors include Barker. Elliott still cooks Sunday suppers for the Barker-Kardashian orbit, which is as casual and intense as it sounds.
Jason Norton
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And if your daughter is not actively beefing with Bhad Bhabie or you’re not a guy who’s had a cameo on Entourage, there’s Meal Ticket, Aaron’s weekly delivery drop. The makings of six plant-based dishes are delivered chilled, ready to be taken across the finish line with cute little cups of sauces and garnishes that make reheating and plating each dish feel truly fun and intuitive. The menus go out via email weekly, and regulars jump on fast. At $250, Meal Ticket ain’t cheap, but it gets you three to four days of food made with the same ingredients Elliott would serve to any of his A-list clients. We’re talking about a level of produce you’d see on Chef’s Table, but you get to eat it while stoned on the couch.
Elliott hits the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market twice weekly, first to wander and get ideas, then to stock up. He’ll swing by Erewhon for pantry items or any veg he couldn’t snag at the market (he’s one of Erewhon’s “top spenders,” and they recently thanked him with a gift card to the now-shuttered clothing boutique Fred Segal).