The trailblazing chef passed away on Monday after a four-year battle with cancer
Chef Joshua Gil, a pioneer of Los Angeles’ Alta California dining movement, died Monday after a four-year battle with colorectal cancer. He was 50.
Gil was raised between Riverside and Baja California’s Rosarito Beach, an upbringing that shaped the Mexican-American influences behind his pioneering technique and twist on fine dining. He spoke with Los Angeles magazine about his favorite eateries here.
Gil was known in Los Angeles as a founder of the Supper Liberation Front, a pop-up dining series and supper club that aimed to democratize upscale dining by serving Mexican and Alta California cuisine in unconventional spaces.
Gil was also celebrated for his culinary contributions to eateries such as Santa Monica’s Tacos Punta Cabras, Beverly Hills’ since-closed Mirame and Los Feliz’s restaurant and bar, Mírate. He helped the former Venice eatery Joe’s Restaurant earn a Michelin star while serving as its chef de cuisine.
In 2023, Gil introduced the French-Japanese concept Maison Kasai to the Houston Brothers’ Downtown L.A. hospitality complex, Level 8. The teppanyaki restaurant epitomized Gil’s approach to dining, applying Japanese and French techniques to the ingredients of California.
He also opened Mother of Pearl, an al fresco oyster and champagne bar atop Level 8’s outdoor terrace. Around this time, Gil had already been diagnosed with stage two colorectal cancer in 2022, and went into remission after eight cycles of chemotherapy.
The cancer returned and progressed to stage four in November 2023, leading to various holistic and Western treatment attempts in the years since. On June 22, a photo was posted to Gil’s Instagram sharing the news of his passing.
Gil is survived by his parents, Nellie and Gabriel Gil; his children, Maya and Aaron Gil, and their mother, his ex-wife, Lola Gil; and his fiancée, Tharini Shanmugarajah. Friends and family remember him as a beacon of light whose kindness, as much as his cooking, shaped the 33 years he spent in the industry.
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