Noma will bring Noma Projects, the retail arm of the restaurant that specializes in fermentation-based pantry products, to Los Angeles at a pop-up store opening on Thursday, April 9 at Sunset Row in Silver Lake. This will be the first U.S. location for the shop; Noma also operates a Noma Projects store in Copenhagen.
Set in the same shopping center as Xibei Dumplings, the latest outpost for coffee shop Loquat, D.S. and Durga, and the new Bar di Bello, Noma Projects will offer a selection of products from the Copenhagen shop including savory mushroom garum, sea buckthorn hot sauce, wild rose vinegar, and pumpkin seed praline. Coffee from Noma Kaffe will be sold alongside cookbooks including Noma Guide to Fermentation and Noma Guide to Building Flavor. Visitors will find a handful of collaborative Los Angeles–exclusive items, like chocolate from Spinnaker, kombucha from Fermensch, and matcha grown in Uji, Kyoto. Noma Projects will operate from Thursday to Sunday throughout the summer.
Exterior of Noma Projects in Silver Lake. Simran Maik
Noma Projects’ Los Angeles outpost was designed by OEO Studio, the group also behind the original Copenhagen location. The interior features wood shelves using timber sourced from Los Angeles, furniture fabricated in Los Angeles by Marmol Radziner, and textiles sourced from Hosoo in Kyoto.
On March 22, a small group gathered outside Noma Projects’ Los Angeles location to protest the opening of the shop and hand out tamales. The Noma Projects debut comes in the wake of resurfaced abuse allegations against the restaurant and its chef, René Redzepi, which have spurred protests led by former head of fermentation Jason Ignacio White and One Fair Wage outside of Noma’s residency at the Paramour Estate in Silver Lake. Just days before Noma was set to start its residency, New York Times reporter Julia Moskin published a report detailing accounts from dozens of former Noma employees who allege instances of emotional and physical abuse, including threatening to have workers’ families deported, assaulting staff with a barbecue fork during service, and punching cooks.
On March 11, the first day of Noma’s Los Angeles residency, Redzepi announced his intention to “step away” from Noma and resign from the board of Mad, a nonprofit organization he founded. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Noma confirmed Redzepi would step away from day-to-day operations effective immediately; as of April 6, Redzepi’s Instagram bio still reads “chef/co-owner of Noma.” Redzepi followed his resignation statement with a video posted to his and Noma’s Instagram of himself speaking to the team at Noma LA.
“You’ll see me around, but not in the way you’ve seen me around for the past 23 years,” Redzepi says in the video.
Even as Redzepi stepped away from the restaurant, calls for further accountability from Noma have widened. On March 17, Noma sent an email to its mailing list signed by “the Noma Team” which says, “Much of what has been shared publicly in recent weeks does not reflect the Noma of today, nor the many people who have contributed to meaningful change within our organization,” and that they take “all concerns about our workplace seriously.” Included in the email was a link to a “workplace transparency review” on Noma’s website, outlining its current operating principles including paying all Los Angeles–based staff above minimum wage, establishing a four-day work week, and no-cost health insurance.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in mid-March, White received a letter from Noma with a set of “ground rules” to come to a meeting. The letter, which White posted on Instagram, detailed terms including the presence of a third-party professional to document the meeting and an end to protests. In late March, White posted on Instagram that Noma and his team had accepted terms to sit down for a meeting.
White, who has become the face of the accountability campaign against Noma, recently faced criticism from former and current employees. In the same Los Angeles Times report, two former interns disputed White’s account of an incident where an intern allegedly burned her face and then didn’t receive help while working at Noma. (White has often cited this incident as one of the reasons he decided to speak out.) Another former intern alleges that White cursed at interns and accused them of breaking items. White disputed the allegations to the Los Angeles Times and encouraged former staff members to reach out to him.
Merchandise at Noma Projects. Simran Maik
At the March 11 protest, White addressed pushback against him that had begun to surface. White clarified that he was not an activist, doesn’t really know the “dynamics of whistleblowing” and doesn’t “think you have to be a saint to stand against violence and abuse.”
Soto, who remains Noma’s head chef and is cooking at the pop-up in Los Angeles, declined to comment on if he witnessed abuse during his time at Noma to the Los Angeles Times.
Noma LA has come under further scrutiny as Grub Street contributor Hugh Merwin reported in a newsletter that, according to its permits, the residency operates not as restaurant but as a “special film project.” Eater Los Angeles separately confirmed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) that the residency is operating under a temporary filming permit since they are filming a documentary. Gail Gaddi, a representative for LADBS, tells Eater over email that the Los Angeles Fire department provided clearance for a temporary change of use and LADBS issued a temporary special event permit to allow Noma to operate. Gaddi adds that food for the residency is prepared at a food truck that has been permitted through Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and there is no commercial kitchen on-site. Eater reached out to Noma for further comment on its permits.
In the weeks since the New York Times published the allegations against Redzepi and Noma, the conversation has extended beyond the restaurant to the greater global systems of fine dining and restaurant labor. For the New Yorker, Helen Rosner writes that it “sometimes feels like the restaurant world is in a perpetual state of reckoning,” while CNN reports that a 2022 study found that bullying and abuse were considered part of “professional development” in kitchens. The angry, ambitious chef — filled with genius mixed with outbursts — has become an archetype of its own, depicted in media like The Bear, Chef, and The Menu. In a story for the Guardian, Lauren Joseph, a writer and a chef, writes of her own experiences as an unpaid stage while calling for awards bodies like Michelin to take labor sustainability into account as it awards honors.
For now, Noma LA reservations remain available on Tock, after initially appearing sold out.
Additional reporting by Mona Holmes and Nicole Fellah.
Interior of Noma Projects. Simran Maik
Mushroom garum. Simran Maik
Kombucha. Simran Maik
Sweet spreads at Noma Projects. Simran Maik