Botanica Restaurant and Market Owner: Heather Sperling
Scroll through to see Heather wearing her favorite pieces, captured by Emily Ferretti.
You not only have a restaurant in LA, but you are also a founding member of a non-profit in support of women entrepreneurs in food and have two young children. Do you ever feel overwhelmed? If so, how do you handle those moments?
I definitely do! My regular mode is to have multiple fast-paced, time-sensitive things happening concurrently; it’s just how I operate. It’s so easy to forget to breathe properly, or to forget to leave my intensity at the door when I go home, or to get impatient with…everything. And because of my kids ages, 3 and 5, I’m also working - aka parenting - for hours both before and after actual work. It gets intense and can feel frenetic at times. I rely on brief, restorative breaks for sanity and perspective. A few minutes spent weeding my garden; or immersing myself in a random little craft project for half an hour; or a few moments of deep breathing outdoors; these things can be essential resets. I also recently started to take a literal chill pill - Ritual’s herbal stress relief supplement - and it’s totally helping calm the cortisol surges!
When you and your partner, Emily, opened Botanica (over seven years ago now!) what was your idea of success? Has that changed at all now that you’ve been open nearly a decade?
I think it’s so important to have personal metrics of success, separate from the established markers within your industry. Decide what motivates and matters to you, and use those things as your benchmarks and your north stars. Emily and I have always been in agreement that success, to us, is more about community creation, local impact and staying true to our values than about accolades, expansion or even profit. We knew we wanted to build a business devoted to sustainable practices, with real staying power, and that running our business according to our values, day in and day out, would be the most important accomplishment. We’ve navigated some tectonic shifts in the restaurant landscape since we opened in 2017 – the pandemic, LA’s entertainment industry strikes, labor shortages, exponential cost increases – and today just being here, employing our team of nearly 50, growing creatively and staying true to our foundational values feels like major success.
As a hospitality professional, what are your tips for home hosts to make a dinner party or gathering extra special?
Lots of candles (preferably tapers) and not-too-bright lighting. Music that lifts the mood but isn’t too distracting (I have a bunch of Botanica playlists shared on my Spotify!). Food that is delicious but not so fussy that you can’t properly host or enjoy yourself. Plenty of great drinks, including zero-proof options. We live in a golden age of non-alcoholic drinks; there’s no excuse not to have some alternatives for anyone not drinking! My go-tos include Ghia spritzes, Kally sparkling, Unified Ferments, and n/a beer from Mikkeller in San Diego. Proper desserts are always fun, but my favorite way to end a meal is a simple spread for nibbling: dark chocolate, pecans or walnuts, ripe in-season fruit or high-quality dried fruit are all you need (dates are nature’s caramel, after all).
What is your favorite food memory?
Impossible to choose a favorite from a lifetime of remarkable food! But here’s one I wrote down recently for a friend’s dinner party with a theme of food + memory: A hot, late-September day, riding a bike on the back roads north of Napa Valley. Trees dripping with burstingly ripe black mission figs, wild blackberries on roadside brambles, wild fennel with shoulder-high constellations of sweet flowers. My boyfriend and I stopped again and again, feeding each other explosively jammy figs, and fat blackberries tucked into sprays of fennel flowers. This taste of sun, heat, fruit, fecundity — of flowers and sweetness and earth — was a baptism in the primal pleasures and elemental magic of California. Years later, I’d uproot my life to move there and build a life and business around produce and flavor — and I think back to this afternoon as an introduction to the wonders of the place I have now chosen to call home.
What does your dream day in Los Angeles look like, from wakeup to sun down?
Wake up at my husband’s hotel, The Silver Lake Pool & Inn; grab breakfast at Sqirl; pick up picnic provisions and an iced fresh-almond-milk & raw cacao mocha at LA Grocery; head to the beach in Malibu (in this dream day, there’s no traffic); hike Los Leones post-beach; grab a sushi counter dinner at one of LA’s dozens of exceptional, low-key sushi spots on the way back east; then end the night with some live music at Zebulon (in this dream day, our kids also sleep late the next morning).
How would you describe your personal style? What is your typical working uniform?
It’s eclectic and always evolving! I mostly wear things made either by people I know/brands owned by friends or friends-of-friends (like Lekha!) or bought secondhand, out of a desire to make sustainable choices with my spending. And I primarily choose my clothes based on the quality of the materials. My typical working uniform is vintage Levi’s, a blousy top and sneakers…Not exciting, but practical. In my line of work, it’s easy to get a stain, and you never know when you have to get down on the floor to fix a table/inspect refrigeration/clean a spill!
What drew you to the Lekha pieces you’re wearing?
The materials, the colors, the patterns – everything! They’re all so versatile – dress ‘em up, dress ‘em down; wear with sneakers and a sun hat, or heels and jewelry – and so distinctive, too.
What are you most looking forward to and manifesting in 2024?
Bounty and creation! This is a big year for creative output, and it’s a little bit daunting but mostly exciting!
Lastly, a rapid fire round:
Favorite recent discovery? Julia Louis Dreyfus’s Wiser Than Me podcast
Favorite spot in Los Angeles? Other than my home and Botanica, it’s a toss-up between the Hollywood Farmers Market and The Huntington Gardens.
Personal role model or mentor, or a woman you look up to? My dear friend Gemma Ingalls, a photographer and beautifully creative spirit who is always sharing resources, connecting people, and creating meaningful, memorable experiences for her community.
Last book you read or are reading? “All Fours,” OBVIOUSLY!
Something you think is underrated? Hugging trees.
Something you can't live without? An abundance of very good olive oil.
Dream dinner guest? My Grandma Mary, from whom I inherited, through my mother, my flair for and fierce love of cooking and entertaining. She passed away before I moved to LA and opened Botanica, and there’s no one in the world I’d rather be able to have over!
In the mountains or on the water? Water (specifically on the beach).
Sunrise or sunset? Sunset, preferably over the water!
