LA Chef Keeps Feeding People Despite Losing Home in the Palisades Fire

Daniel Shemtob, the chef behind the Lime Truck, Hatch, and chef-footwear brand Snibbs lost his home in the 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire. While evacuated to his in-law’s house, he jumped into action with the Lime Truck, partnering with World Central Kitchen to feed those impacted by the fires and first responders.

This week, Shemtob also started a GoFundMe to support the Lime Truck in continuing to provide aid, help his family rebuild their lives, and provide support to first responders and those impacted by the fires.

As told to Eater Southern California/Southwest editor Rebecca Roland.

It was 11:06 a.m. on January 7, and I was on a call with a Snibbs employee. My wife runs into the house and she’s said, “You need to come outside.” I ran down the stairs and saw that the hill was ablaze. I thought there would be no chance that it was going to come down here. We looked over and saw that the neighbor was packing his car. My wife told me we were leaving to go to her aunt’s house, and that we had to leave quickly. Still taking calls, I began packing, thinking there was no chance anything bad would happen here. I just grabbed a couple of valuables and my office stuff because I just figured I would be gone for the day, and I needed to be able to work.

I went to the fridge, and I was like, “I haven’t eaten all morning.” It was noon at that point, so I grabbed some leftover chicken meatballs and turkey just in case I got stuck in traffic and couldn’t order food to the house.

Around 6 p.m. I realized there was a really good chance that this fire was actually going to hit my neighborhood. I was stupid enough to think I should drive back because my wife didn’t take as much as she wanted. There was a big car in front of me, a four-by-four, breaking through barriers, so I was just following behind it to get into my neighborhood. Three doors down from our home, a house was on fire. I ran into my house, which had not yet caught fire, and grabbed some of the things I knew my wife wanted. The firemen were outside on my street yelling at me, telling me I needed to leave immediately.

At around 11:45 p.m. that night, I got a text from our remote security system that said, “Smoke in the master bedroom.” Our security kept calling us, and I told them that our house was on fire.

Daniel Shemtob

The next day, January 8, was just pure depression. I was taking a bath every hour. I was watching the news; I just sat there and watched it, trying to be up to date. I was just super depressed and couldn’t be alone. I couldn’t focus on anything. My wife was really stressed out and wanted to see the house, so I rode my buddy’s bike in Brentwood into the Palisades. Our whole neighborhood was flat.

On Friday night, something snapped in me. I remember going through COVID-19, losing my mom, losing restaurants and my catering business. I’ve been through that, and the depression took nine months to snap out of. It was all of the same feelings that I felt, so I recognized it within myself. I decided that this wasn’t how it was going to be this time. I realized I could do so much, and I’ve never had this kind of support system before. My wife’s parents immediately asked, “How can we help you?” I knew it was time to step into action and give back to the people. The next morning, I got to do an event with World Central Kitchen, which was probably one of the best services I’ve ever had in my life. It really helped me.

The first place we with the Lime Truck was a church in Pasadena with Tyler Florence. I had no clothes, no knife roll, no anything. I had to go buy pants in the morning before my shift. I told my team I didn’t have a knife roll, and my team bought me knives. Then Tyler gave me his personal knife roll, which was very overwhelming — Tyler is a celebrity chef, and I don’t feel like I am on the same level. I told him to sit in the front of the truck to shake hands, kiss babies, and make people feel good, because the whole reason we’re here is to make people feel good. He started doing that and then saw how slammed we got. He got into the truck, and we crushed that line.

I remember so vividly a family with three kids that came to the truck who had lost their home. One of the family members, who was probably in his late 40s, came up to me and said that the food was delicious and that the day had been so fun. It was the first time I smiled all week.

That day, I saw the community band together. As lost and sad as everyone felt, there was warmth. I feel like this was the city that I fell in love with. Though I had an idea, I never knew exactly what World Central Kitchen really did. But they are really about bringing communities together and nourishing them. It’s about good, nourishing food, but it’s also about bringing communities together: When you cook, people will volunteer. Everybody starts helping each other, and that’s exactly what happened.

The next day, I told my team, “Let’s do as many of these events as we can.”

It’s always amazing to me how hospitality is the first to respond to these natural disasters as far as community goes. When COVID was happening, we were all broke. I closed four restaurants, but I still was giving away free meals and free shoes from my food truck, paying my employees, and paying for ingredients because I knew that’s what you needed to do. I’ve been watching that community step up.

Over the next few days, we started cooking anywhere from 500 to 1,500 meals a day for different groups that were affected by the fires and the people who were fighting the fires. Every day since then, I’ve been working two shifts, and we just started giving away shoes.

I’ve donated to World Central Kitchen in the past, but being on the truck working to contribute to their effort is different. I don’t think either is better than the other, but I like the visceral experience of actually picking your hands up and helping people. That’s what cooking is all about.

This interview has been edited for clarity.