Joachim Splichal

The Climb

Training at La Bonne Auberge gave Joachim Splichal a disciplined base: technique first, then scale. That grounding carried into Los Angeles, where his 1981 appointment as Executive Chef at Regency Club in Los Angeles, California marked an early position with real consequence. In a city that moved quickly, the post offered room to sharpen a culinary approach built around precision and ambition. By 1989, the work had shifted from kitchen leadership to ownership and authorship. As founder at Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, California (1989–2022), Splichal was building for durability, not simply opening doors. In the same year, he opened Patina in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California (1989–2020), giving the city a restaurant identity that became closely associated with his name and held its place across changing tastes and eras. Read together, those steps show a career that advanced by accumulation: cook, Executive Chef, founder. From La Bonne Auberge to Regency Club in Los Angeles, California, then to Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, California and Patina in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, Splichal’s path is defined by technique disciplined into institutions that lasted.

Today

The Melrose Avenue opening sits within the record as a clear marker of chef-led intent. It points to a kitchen philosophy built to be experienced directly: cooking, presentation, and ingredients treated as a single working set rather than separate ideas.

In Their Words “I wanted to place excellent ingredients fresh from the farm and from the sea so that I did the dish with shrimp as well as fresh vegetables and herbs.” The line is plain about method: freshness first, then composition. Shrimp, fresh vegetables and herbs are not masked; they are arranged so each element can register clearly while still landing as one dish.

Recognition

Joachim's honors include Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America (1995) and Best California Chef (1991). Taken together, those recognitions place his work on the record early and keep it there, reflecting a career built in exacting kitchens and sustained through Patina Restaurant Group in Los Angeles, California and Patina in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.