Gene Simmons, the KISS member who just helped relaunch El Segundo’s Rock and Brews as a family-friendly, live-concert-themed restaurant, promises he’ll actually be there, explaining to Food & Wine that he’s “not one of those guys that stands in the back. I like too much power, and my ego demands it.” We’ll believe that when we see it. The rocker also sounds off on his favorite L.A. restaurants, places that he surprisingly has no form of licensing agreement with. At least we don’t think rock’s loudest shiller has a deal with Au Bon Pain yet, of which he prides himself for noticing: “Nobody likes to point to franchise models, but good is good.” What else might you find the demon munching on?
Simmons also goes nuts for the desserts over brunch at Four Seasons Beverly Hills (“It’s tough to eat more than 2,000 calories in one sitting, but I get pretty close,” he claims) and wants you to know he’s been eating at Puck’s restaurants “all the way from the stone age, noting that he gets special treatment when he walks in the door at Spago. Simmons reports on his very own (though unbranded) unique specialty item coming from Sherry Yard’s department: “[Puck] makes these guitars out of solid chocolate with cherries on top. It’s decadence beyond.”
