5 Questions for Matthew Dickson

Matthew Dickson is executive chef of the new Venice restaurant Feed Body & Soul, focused on healthful eating (which includes an organic bar program and a menu with items that are marked gluten-free). Dickson, who worked at Grace and Rockenwagner, is serving breakfast, lunch and dinner: lots of farmers market fermented vegetables; vegetable spreads with crisps; soups and salads; bowls of grain such as wheat berries, quinoa and kaamut; and meats prepared on the restaurant’s Rotisol rotisserie.

What’s coming up next on your menu?

Healthy snacks. Our guests have been coming in looking for quick bites. Currently we are working on smaller items for the tables and our upcoming grab-and-go section.

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Latest ingredient obsession?

The sunchoke, I have always liked the sunchoke, but now I am in love with it. Raw sunchokes go into our chicken salad, roasted sunchokes are now a spread we serve with crackers, and currently I am experimenting juicing with it.

What restaurant do you find yourself going to again and again?

Leo’s Tacos on LaBrea and Venice. I only order the al pastor, it is sliced with the grace and love normally found when one is slicing prosciutto. The difference is that it is served with a slice of pineapple and some avocado salsa.

The one piece of kitchen equipment you can’t live without, other than your knives?

Whisk. I try and wean my cooks off of the Robot Coupe by blending our spreads and purées with a whisk.

What’s your favorite breakfast?

Spanish scramble at BLD, best breakfast ever, especially when someone else orders pancakes so I can have a bite.

Feed Body & Soul, 1230 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 450-5550, www.feedbodyandsoul.com.

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