Oysters Sicken at Least 80 at Restaurant Event in Los Angeles, Officials Say

The county Health Department said that the outbreak at the 101 Best Restaurants event was linked to a broader outbreak from oysters that have since been recalled.


Fresh oysters at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 2010. Los Angeles County health officials said they were investigating a norovirus outbreak linked to raw oysters that sickened at least 80 people. Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times, via Getty Images

By Michael Levenson
Dec. 19, 2024

A norovirus outbreak linked to oysters sickened at least 80 people who attended an event celebrating The Los Angeles Times’s annual list of the 101 best restaurants in the city, local health officials said this week. … Hundreds of guests attended the 101 Best Restaurants event at the Hollywood Palladium on the evening of Dec. 3, where some of Southern California’s most acclaimed restaurants and bars served food and drinks from the city’s diverse culinary scene.

The Times used the event to unveil its annual guide to the 101 Best Restaurants, which it first published in 2013, when the list was chosen by the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold, who died in 2018.

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Mark Kapczynski, 54, who lives in Sherman Oaks, Calif., and runs a business consulting firm, said he attended the event with his wife after buying two V.I.P. tickets for close to $350 each. General tickets cost $159. … He said that about 30 to 45 minutes after he sampled some of the food — including two plates of raw oysters and clams — he went outside for a drink and began “feeling bloated.”

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Mr. Kapczynski, who also had chills, ended up missing several days of work, he said. His wife, who ate one oyster, also got sick, he said. … “It was a disaster,” he said. “These are the top restaurants in L.A. You think you’re safe. Not what you expect.” … Mr. Kapczynski also spoke about his experience with L.A. TACO, a local food-oriented news outlet, which reported on the outbreak.

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Michael Levenson covers breaking news for The Times from New York. More about Michael Levenson

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 22, 2024, Section A, Page 22 of the New York edition with the headline: Oysters Sicken at Least 80 At L.A. Restaurant Event. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

NEWS
More Than 70 People Reported Feeling Ill After Eating Oysters At L.A. Times ‘101 Restaurants’ Food Event

Ragusano is disappointed that the L.A. Times didn’t publicly disclose that there was an outbreak at their event. “Obviously they’re not going to print it in their paper,” Ragusano said. “But they‘re a newspaper and newspapers are supposed to share the news. This is how people usually find out about something like this,” she added. “It's ironic because it happened to them.”

By Lexis-Olivier Ray
7:00 AM PST on December 19, 2024

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Jennifer Ragusano is another one of the more than 70 people who reportedly became ill after eating oysters on the night of the L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants reveal party.

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Ragusano is disappointed that the L.A. Times didn’t publicly disclose that there was an outbreak at their event.

“Obviously they’re not going to print it in their paper,” Ragusano said.

“But they‘re a newspaper and newspapers are supposed to share the news. This is how people usually find out about something like this,” she added. “It's ironic because it happened to them.”

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