Ed LaDou, designer pizza trend-setter, dies at 52

Nation's Restaurant News,  Jan 14, 2008  

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SANTA MONICA, CALIF. -- Pioneering chef-restaurateur Ed LaDou, whose innovative and eclectic pizza recipes helped bring fame to Wolfgang Puck's Spago and the California Pizza Kitchen chain when they debuted in Los Angeles in the 1980s, died of cancer here Dec. 27. He was 52.

LaDou, whose topping of a pizza with ricotta, red peppers, pate and dijon mustard at Prego in San Francisco inspired diner Puck to hire him to be Spago's first pizza chef in 1981, made barbecued-chicken pizza famous when he was recruited by the founders of California Pizza Kitchen to devise its first menu.

His style of wood-fired pizzas, featuring such toppings as goat cheese, smoked salmon or duck breast with hoisin sauce, would be imitated throughout the world.

In Los Angeles, LaDou later opened his own high-end pizzeria, Caioti, and gained international fame and a far-flung clientele of impatient pregnant women who sought out his balsamic vinegar salad dressing, which was reputed to induce labor.

LaDou is survived by his wife, Carrie, and daughter, Cassidy Rose.

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