Chef
Adrian Vela
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Los Angeles, California, United States
i. Biography
Seafood service at Catch LA in West Hollywood sits inside a high-visibility restaurant model: polished plates, immediate pacing, and a dining room that expects the cooking to read cleanly without becoming thin. Adrian Vela works that brief as Executive Chef at Catch LA, bringing a résumé built through Chef De Partie, Sous Chef, Executive Sous Chef, Executive Chef, Corporate Executive Chef, and Concept Executive Chef roles. The through-line is station discipline scaled into multi-room responsibility.
Coming Up
Early station work teaches consistency before authorship. Adrian Vela trained at Arizona State University (2008) while working as Chef De Partie at Wynn Las Vegas (2007–2008) and Chef De Partie at Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants (2007–2008). Those posts put the work in the register of prep accuracy, timing, pickup, and repetition—the baseline grammar of kitchens that do not have room for loose execution. Las Vegas fine dining gave the next layer of technique and pressure. Vela became Sous Chef at Bradley Ogden at Caesars Palace (2008–2009), then Master Cook at Guy Savoy (2008–2009), before joining Joël Robuchon as Sous Chef (2009–2011). Across those rooms, the craft emphasis was on refined service and detail as structure: mise, heat, sauce, texture, and the discipline to repeat them under scrutiny. Senior kitchen work changes the problem from executing a station to aligning the room behind one standard. Vela’s Executive Sous Chef roles at Charlie Palmer Steak House (2011–2012) and RM Seafood (2012–2013) sat at that threshold, joining cooking judgment to labor, timing, communication, and the daily enforcement of taste. Large-format leadership requires a chef to carry a point of view across teams, not just plates. Vela moved into Executive Chef at Tavistock Restaurant Collection (2013–2017), then Executive Chef at Catch Hospitality Group (2017–2020), followed by Corporate Executive Chef at 50 Eggs Hospitality Group (2020–2021). Today, Adrian is Concept Executive Chef of Catch Hospitality Group (since 2022), a role defined by operational range and the translation of a restaurant identity across more than one dining room.
Where They Are Now
The current post is Concept Executive Chef at Catch Hospitality Group, held by Vela from 2022 to present, alongside his role as Executive Chef at Catch LA in West Hollywood. The headline at Catch LA is direct: Seafood. In that frame, the craft is not only sourcing or presentation; it is the construction of plates that remain generous, modern, and legible, with the ocean as the organizing idea. The 2025 Japanese Spot Prawns served with asparagus, charred onion, bouillabaisse, and toasted sourdough for dipping, featured during the group’s 14-year anniversary specials, shows that structure plainly. Shellfish holds the center. Asparagus and charred onion provide contrast. Bouillabaisse supplies the concentrated seafood base. Toasted sourdough is built into the eating, not treated as decoration; it is there to work the sauce. Within the Catch framework, the fit is practical. Vela’s Las Vegas years supply the technical discipline, while Catch Hospitality Group demands scale, pace, and visibility. At Catch LA, those strands meet in seafood cooking designed for a room with energy: composed enough to hold standard, direct enough to keep appetite in the foreground.
Signature
Roasted Langoustine is a spare signature, and that is the point. Shellfish in this form asks for timing, controlled heat, and a cook’s restraint around texture. In Vela’s seafood vocabulary at Catch LA, the dish reads as ingredient-led rather than built around ornament: langoustine first, technique close behind.
Honors
In 2014, Vela was named to Zagat 30/30. That recognition came before the most public chapter of the record. By the time the current Catch LA role arrived, the approved résumé already included culinary school in Las Vegas and later work across Catch Hospitality Group. The honor functions as an early marker before the work widened through Executive Chef, Corporate Executive Chef, and Concept Executive Chef roles, leading into current leadership at Catch LA in West Hollywood.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Adrian
What is Adrian Vela's current role?
Adrian Vela is Executive Chef at Catch LA.
Where did Adrian Vela train or study?
Adrian Vela trained at Arizona State University.
What is Adrian Vela known for?
Taco King.
