"Jerry - It's gone.
The San Fernando Valley (in fact all of Southern California) lost a wonderfully unique restaurant, Chili My Soul, with the death of its creator/chef, Randal (Randy) Hoffman on June 18, 2009. Chili My Soul is now closed and its future is in doubt. Randy loved to play the drums, and he prided himself in the creation of the most wonderful chili - in fact his restaurant featured over 35 of his chili recipes. On any given day about fifteen of them, rated in heat from one to ten, were available to his customers. Randy was a perfectionist, using only the finest ingredients in a process that took 30 hours or more of simmering during which he skimmed off the fat four times. His chili was not only delicious, it was healthy. He loved to greet his fans and urged them to taste a sample before ordering. His customers, many who considered him a friend, traveled from close and far for his gourmet chili. He started as a chef decades ago by supplying other restaurants with his specialty. In the 1980's he opened his own take-out chili restaurant, Chili My Soul, at a strip mall located at 4928 Balboa Blvd., Encino. Eventually, he took over the store next door and added an area to sit and dine. For so many of his customers, so proud that the San Fernando Valley had a great place to get their chili fix, Randy Hoffman's death is a very sad event.
- Alan H. Simon"
Chili My Soul - 4926 - 4928 Balboa Blvd (at Ventura Blvd), Encino, CA - Photo by Alan H. Simon taken on July 27, 2009, after owner Randolph (Randy) Hoffman died. Restaurant was closed.
5 comments:
Wow, what terrible news. We loved Randy and his awesome restaurant! He was such a nice man. One night we drove from Westminster to have his chili and we were ten minutes late, but we called Randy and he reopened the store for us. What a truly wonderful man! He and his chili will be missed.:(
My heartfelt condolences to Randy's family as well as to everyone who feels this loss! I now live in Australia and was crushed to read this, when looking to show friends a reference to one of my favorite restaurant experiences in Southern California. I lost my best friend and partner a few years ago there, and it was one of our favorite places to eat.
You are and will continue to be sorely missed.
The people that worked there should show respect for Randy Hoffman by opening up another place and creating all those fantastic chili recipes again...This man made it his passion to make these chilies....to let them die away is like never showing a Picasso, or never playing another Michael Jackson song again...I'm sure he would have wanted his food to continue making people happy.
Why isn’t anyone using Randy’s recipes? I thought he sold them to someone? His Chili’s were hands down…the best!
There is nothing more that I would like than to open up a Chili My Soul por Vida, restaurant! Randy was my bestest friend and I was honored to work there for a decade, saving his legacy while I could. Unfortunately, I was injured a month after his passing and am no longer able to work. I’ve toyed with the idea of selling some recipes but I feel like it’s the last thing he would want. I miss him every day💜
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