Like so many love stories, this one started in New York City. “I went to culinary school in Pasadena at Le Cordon Bleu,” said Duran-Zecca. “The restaurant scene in LA wasn’t as booming as it is now, and I needed a change. I got an opportunity in New York City and bought a one-way ticket, sold everything but two suitcases, and went to go work at Le Bernardin to get Michelin star training.” After working in the famed French eatery for one year as a line cook, learning and elevating through the ranks, she landed a sous chef position at The Modern restaurant in The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Through that position, she met Zecca. “We had so much in common,” she said. “He was opening up a restaurant, and he was also on crutches. He had hurt himself and we ended up living like off of the same train. I helped him home… I was just a really nice girl.” Originally from Italy, Zecca had been working in New York as a restaurant manager. Having grown up in the kitchen of the restaurant where his mother worked her way from server to owner, he was ready to open a spot of his own. In 2009, he hired Duran-Zecca (at that time, just Duran) to be the chef of his first restaurant, Vespa, in New York.

It thrived until an astronomical rent raise in 2017 forced the restaurant to close. “We had gotten everything out of New York and we wanted to start a family,” said Duran-Zecca. “We wanted to have a restaurant again of our own, and we just didn’t feel like we could get it again there.” The pair moved back to Duran-Zecca’s native Los Angeles and began hosting pop-ups around the city featuring a cuisine they dubbed “Mexitalian.” With dishes like huitlacoche cacio e pepe and chile Colorado cavatelli, Mexitalian merges their respective lineages in an unexpected way that reflects their many years in fine dining.

The food is chic and delicious, with an air of whimsy as opposed to the pretense that often makes fine dining feel inaccessible. It was through these Mexitalian pop-ups that they linked up with Cannabis Supper Club, an LA-based cannabis dining collective, and started incorporating weed into their culinary experience. Before that, the frequent smokers had only dabbled with making edibles for friends, mainly using cannabis as medicine for themselves. “My relationship with the cannabis plant is strong and passionate,” said Zecca.

“It lets my creativity flow and helps me relax when I need it most.”  “It’s my medicine,” said Duran-Zecca. “My family comes from a lot of mental health issues. They all have anxiety, bipolar, this and that. I just never wanted to take pills. But being a chef is a high-stress job. [Cannabis is] my relaxation. “When I got in touch with the Cannabis Supper Club, it mashed what I love to do outside of work, which is smoke, with my love for fine dining. We were delivering a higher, no pun intended, experience.

” Their cannabis dinners are centered more on the idea of pairing cannabis with food, either with dabs and flower or by adding THC or CBD drops to dishes after they’re prepared, as opposed to infusing the food itself, which can be tricky when it comes to consistent dosing for large groups.  “We weren’t necessarily infusing the food, but we were pairing it like you would with wine,” Duran-Zecca said. “It was beautiful. The care that went into growing that flower is the same care that went into growing the farmers’ market mushrooms that I used, you know? And it wasn’t about getting faded or anything like that.

No alcohol was served. All guests can partake in the cannabis aspect of the experience as much or as little as they please, then take the goodie bag home and experiment.”  After five years of running pop-ups around Los Angeles, gaining momentum behind their Mexitalian cuisine, the couple was able to open Amiga Amore, a brick-and-mortar Mexitalian restaurant, aptly near where Duran-Zecca grew up in Highland Park. “The restaurant has been a labor of love,” she said. “It used to be a jewelry store, so there was no kitchen.

There was no bar. There were no water lines. We did a lot of work, and we did a lot of it to ourselves. “We’re really, really proud of it. It’s not the fanciest of restaurants, but it’s our aesthetic to feel like you’re in our home. The fancy part and the whole show come out on the plate. We want you to feel comfortable and homey and relaxed, then get wowed as the food starts to arrive.” As for what they’re looking forward to next?  “We’re just excited to keep being in our home, you know?” Duran-Zecca said.

“I think we were a pop-up for so long that we got used to just always picking up and being on the move. It feels so nice that it is all here. I just come in and I turn on the lights.” Recipe by Amiga AmoreMakes 4 servings Ingredients: Broth: 2 apples (Granny Smith preferred)2 cucumbers (either 2 Persian or ½ hothouse variety, sliced into half-circles)1 serrano pepper¼ cup water½ cup lime juice Aguachile: 1 pound mahi-mahi (or any other fish you like and can slice thin)½ small red onion 6 radishes, sliced thin1 avocado, sliced thin1 bunch of cilantro1 jalapeño, sliced thin Method: To infuse, use a dropper to add CBD or THC to the liquid broth: 5 mg THC to start (add more if needed)10 mg CBD to start (add more if needed) This article was originally published in the March 2024 issue of High Times Magazine. Read less