Chef Tony Esnault
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Patina has long held the position as one of the best serious restaurants in Los Angeles. For the last year and a half, Tony Esnault has been at the helm. The Los Angeles Times’ restaurant critic, S. Irene Virbilia, called the Loire Valley native and Alain Ducasse disciple “an extraordinary chef,” no small praise from someone who doesn’t give it away easily. We talk to Esnault about the state of fine dining in Los Angeles, burgers and motor biking.
I understanding you are big on motor biking.
It’s a hobby. Even today I came to work with a motorcycle. California is so good for that.
Is this something you have been doing a while?
Since I was 18. I did it in France, Paris, Monaco.
Where do you bike in LA?
Everywhere. The canyon. Solo and with friends.
Had you spent much time in Los Angeles prior to taking the job?
Before I was in New York. It was the first time.
Were you at all nervous?
I was not nervous. I used to work in San Francisco, not too far away. I was pretty familiar with the produce and the California style and life.
What about the idea that fine dining is dead or dying in Los Angeles?
I think it’s a bad idea. You still have a lot of money, a lot of people who spend money on good food. Fine dining has changed too. It’s more casual. You don’t have the waiter waiting next to the table watching everything you do. The most important thing is to have a good time in a restaurant. If the customers leave and don’t have a souvenir, I miss my job. I have to create a memory.
Were you looking to come to Los Angeles specifically or just wanting an adventure?
I like to move. I worked in Paris. I worked in Alsace. I worked in Monte Carlo. I get bored if I stay in the same place for twenty years. It’s good for your creativity to change location.
What do you think of Los Angeles thus far?
Very nice. The weather is beautiful of course.
Have you had much chance to check out other restaurants?
Not too much. I spend so much time in the restaurant. My main focus is here. My second focus is my family. The little time I have free I spend with my wife and kids. I have a very good friendship with other chefs in LA. We meet all the time at the farmers market in Santa Monica. We went to France together for the Bocuse d’Or to support the team.
Since you brought up other chefs, I am curious to hear what you think of the local community of chefs. I have heard people bemoan the fact that there isn’t a lot of camaraderie.
The problem is the distance more than anything else. It’s not like New York where you can take a cab to your friend’s restaurant in ten minutes. Here you need to drive very far.
Have you eaten anywhere lately that you liked?
The barbecue place in Pasadena. Gus’.
I think some people might not expect you to be a barbecue fan.
I like burger a lot too. I like very simple, charred on the barbecue. A nice heirloom tomato, no crazy sauce. The taste of the meat.
Has it been easy to staff with your kitchen with talented chefs?
It’s not easy to find good chefs. It’s not like New York where we have so many good restaurants. Here is more difficult.
So what do you do?
Nothing special. It’s different: not the same goal as maybe in New York. It’s like in France. When I was a student at the culinary school, the goal was to go to Paris and train in the best restaurant. Maybe cooks here go to New York and train in the best restaurant. Some of my cooks too say, “Chef, can you help me go over there?” I think it’s very important for chefs to work at least one time in New York for the energy and competition.
Let’s go back some. Did you like food a lot as a child?
Yes of course. I loved for example cherries. I used to get them in a tree. It was hard for me even growing up to eat the cherry from the market. My grandparents had a cherry tree. I was brought up on a farm. There was haricot vert, potato. I play with the chicken and the rabbit and the pigs. It was a pretty big farm where I was spending my vacation time.
When did you start cooking?
When I was 10 or 8. I made a yogurt cake. It’s a very easy recipe: one yogurt (you use the cup as a measure), one cup sugar, three cups flour. I don’t remember the recipe but it’s like that. Since I was eight I want to be a chef. I went to cooking school when I was 16.
Do your sons like food?
They love good food. Since they are little I give them everything. Even when they go to school they have little bags of cucumber, bell pepper, cherry tomato, crudite. I love vegetables, one of my main passions.
What are you looking forward to playing with in Springtime?
I love morels and ramps, all the green vegetables, fava beans, English peas, asparagus. I love strawberries.
Are there things you miss from France?
Sometimes there’s even more choice here with vegetables. What you miss here is some vinegar and things like that so you can import them.
You mentioned you’re a regular at the Wednesday Santa Monica market.
I buy special produce on Wednesdays, very original produce. It gives me an idea for the week. I am very picky. Kerry Clasby from California Family Farms, they have a truck that comes two times a week to my restaurant. I get the best produce from all the farms. It’s even easier for me.
I’m curious about the schedule there on show nights. Presumably it’s busy pre show and after the show and slow in between.
We get a big rush between 5:30 and 8 so people can go to the show. Other diners are coming right after so they enjoy more time in the restaurant. People come [post show] for dessert and the cheese cart. It was strange in the beginning. But now I am used to it.
What is your advice to aspiring or young chefs?
First you need to have the passion. That’s the main thing. If you don’t have the passion, don’t even start. You cook, you don’t even look at the clock [when you are passionate]. You need to have the discipline.
Is your sense that many chefs don’t want to pay their dues?
They want to be the chef too quickly. They want to run before they know how to walk. It’s very important as a chef to have a good foundation.
Do you think culinary school is necessary?
I think yes.
What about learning on the job?
You can but you need to find the right restaurant that will give you the right base. If you go to a bad restaurant you can get some bad habits.
141 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles, 213.972.3331, www.patinarestaurant.com
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