For dineLA.com
It’s a good time to be a diner in Los Angeles. Introducing ten of the chefs we have great expectations for in the coming year and beyond. The next Wolfgang, Joachim or Ludovic just might be among them.
Background:
Absinthe and Levende Lounge (both in San Francisco)
Signature dishes:
“Braised beef cheeks served with masala mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Also duck confit tacos with dried cherry mole.”
Favorite ingredient:
“I don’t know if I can cook without onions and garlic.”
Plans for 2011: “There’s a chance of a Southern style Jazz brunch. I don’t want to say it out loud because then I know I’m going to have to do it. We have this amazing patio here and we should use it.”
Influences: “I wish I had a chance to work for more people. I still have so much to learn. A lot of the way I get inspiration is from magazines or books. But no one [chef] in particular. I’m not one of those chefs who is obsessed with chefs.”
Kitchen quirks:
“I’m very OCD in the kitchen. I like everything to be neat and organized. The walk-in has to be a certain way. I think most chefs are pretty neurotic about organization. You have to be.”
- Beechwood, 822 Washington Blvd., Venice, 310.448.8884, www.beechwoodrestaurant.com
Background:
Culinary director Bouchon
Signature dishes:
“The number one seller is croissants. One popular dish is pastrami and eggs: house made pastrami with poached eggs, pickled vegetables and green tomato ketchup.”
Favorite ingredient:
“I have two favorites right now: eggs for all the egg cookery we’re doing. One thing we’ve introduced is a classic French rolled omelet. Traditionally that’s how we all learned to make an omelet. The other one is pastrami we’re working on in the kitchen to really perfect.”
Plans for 2011:
“In the Spring we will debut our artisan market that will have a cheese program, charcuterie and deli, butcher, prepared foods, a well edited wine section as well as a housewares section with things we use in restaurant.”
Influences:
“My first mentor was Claude Koeberle who sent me to Spain to work with Ferran Adria at El Bulli. Not too many chefs from America had even been there yet. That was really before he gained his popularity in the states, in the early 90s. And obviously the last 13 to 14 years working with Thomas Keller shaped my career and gave me the opportunity to do what I am now.”
Happiest chefing moment:
“We call it the dance: what happens in the kitchen when everyone is in sync and working together without a lot being said. It’s not unlike any sports team where people that work together for a certain amount of time, they know instinctively what you need. That becomes really powerful: when the kitchen is just on, the food looks great, inspiration is there and ideas flourish.”
- FarmShop, 225 26th Street, Santa Monica, 310.566.2400, www.brentwoodcountrymart.com
Background:
Bouchon Beverly Hills, Del Posto (New York)
Signature dishes:
“Egg royale. It’s not mine. The traditional egg in a cup: scrambled eggs with whipped vodka crème fraiche and a dollop of caviar. I also really love my chicken dish: jidori chicken with homemade butternut squash raviolis in a truffle crème fraiche. It comes with an arugula salad with lemon confit and sherry vinegar.”
Favorite ingredient:
“There is always going to be a pasta dish on the menu. Before I worked at Del Posto, I worked at an Italian fine dining restaurant in San Diego. I did 15 pastas a day. I’m happy and loud in the kitchen when I start working with that pasta. It’s total science. I get in this beautiful zen.”
Influences:
“Tony DiSalvo. He works here in LA, at the Viceroy Hotel. I worked with him at Jack’s in La Jolla. He used to be the chef de cuisine for Jean-Georges [Vongerichten]. One lesson I learned from another chef was to always go after what you want. I tried my best to work for the people I really wanted to learn from. Even this summer, I spent a week at Alinea doing a stage.”
Happiest chefing moment:
“When we’re busy, and my girls—my kitchen is all girls right now—when it’s busy and it’s just flowing. We have that buzz.”
- Petrossian, 321 North Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, 310.271.6300, www.petrossian.com
Background:
Kogi (food trucks), Beverly Hilton
Signature dish:
[At Chego] “One chubby pork belly. It’s a rice bowl for $8, built with three different chili sauces and garlic soy. The star of the dish is Snake River Farms slow roasted pork belly we cure overnight and lather in a Korean chili paste.”
Favorite ingredient:
“Soy sauce and sesame oil. I live by soy sauce. It’s the fuel to how I live, to my fire. It’s everything I am. Some people got lime juice in their blood; I got soy sauce.”
Plans for 2011:
“I want to continue to grow, keep prices below $10 but bring the menu beyond rice bowls. I’d like to get beer and wine, maybe move to another location so the place could be more packed and chill. An actual tangible next step is maybe another city: local or New York or Orange County.”
Kitchen quirks:
“I don’t allow towels on the shoulder. That is sloppy. I curse. I’m intense. On the dining room floor I’m all laid back. But in the kitchen I curse a lot. I push every single button you can imagine but the purpose is to get the best food to your stomach.”
Happiest chefing moment:
“When other people are happy: the staff, customers, purveyors, the farmer, reporter. Otherwise I’m a miserable freak. The amazing thing with A-frame and Chego is people are loving it. It almost makes me check myself, like this can’t be happening because you’re conditioned so much to believe things can’t be beautiful, like being happy and joyous is weakness. But when I walk into our dining room people are coming out of their bodies.”
- A-frame, 12565 Washington Boulevard, Los Angeles, 310.398.7700, www.aframela.com
- Chego, 3300 Overland Ave, Los Angeles, www.eatchego.com
Background:
XIV and various other Michael Mina restaurants
Signature dish:
“I’ve never been a fan of signature dishes. Our philosophy is we’re always constantly trying to evolve and progress. I don’t believe in changing a dish for the sake of changing it. But I don’t ever think a dish is so perfect that it can never be bettered.”
Favorite ingredient:
“Everything is amazing to me. We just got this product ‘fish leaf’ a couple days ago. It’s an herb that smells and tastes like fish. Because we are sort of Vietnamese influenced, the quote most often heard in the kitchen is, ‘Who’s got the bottle of fish sauce?’”
Plans for 2011:
“We’re contemplating doing some to go. Especially in this stretch of Wilshire, the Miracle Mile, where a lot of food trucks are, we’d like people to have the option to eat as quickly at our restaurant as they could going to a truck.”
Influences:
“First my grandmother. She was the one that got me into cooking. She is Cuban. The soul she cooked with and how it made me feel and still makes me feel made quite an impression. And Thomas Keller. He is the reason I got into cooking professionally. It was always my dream to work at the French Laundry.” [Kahn wrote an eight page letter to Keller as a teenager. He accepted a stage position at 17 and ended up working at the restaurant for two and half years.]
Kitchen quirks:
“We have a very quiet kitchen. I don’t like to talk during service. My sous chef expedites. I just keep my head down and plate all night.”
- Red Medicine, 8400 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 323.651.5500, www.redmedicinela.com
Background:
Palihouse, Anisette, Melisse
Signature dish:
“We don’t really go for that. It’s kind of old school. We just rather cook with the season. The charcuterie is something that definitely won’t come off the menu. Other than that, we change when we get bored or the customers get bored.”
Favorite ingredient:
“We use a lot of offal over here. I love the flavors.”
Plans for 2011:
“We want to do some of our own dry aging and curing. We’re working with a possible production facility to maybe do it at a retail level with my charcuterie and with some specific British products.”
Kitchen quirks: “I have my guys wear bowler hats in the kitchen because we’re all crazy like Clockwork Orange. I don’t [wear a hat]. I’m the boss.”
Happiest chefing moment:
“The first thing in the morning when the kitchen is empty and it’s just me and the dishwasher. It gives me time to think and plan out my day. Also, during the day when the kitchen is full and bustling and you’re getting the fragrances and aromas. And the calm before the storm: just before the beginning of service is a thrilling time of day.”
- Waterloo & City, 12517 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, 310.391.4222, www.waterlooandcity.com
Background:
Chris Phelps: Canele, The Hungry Cat, Oregon Grille (Baltimore)
Zak Walters: Cube, The Hungry Cat
Signature Dish:
Phelps: “Pork chop. The pork is so good it speaks for itself. We just grill it and put it on the plate. It shows a lot of restraint. I cut it in a certain way that’s unique. I leave a part of the belly on.”
Walters: “At brunch the 2 x 2 [bacon, sausage, biscuits and poached egg] or anything with bacon on it because everyone is bonkers for anything with our bacon on it.”
Favorite ingredient:
Phelps: “Salt is probably the ingredient we use most. Sonoma salt is super clean. It just tastes like salt.”
Walters: “We use a lot of pickling spice. We make our own. We use it for the corned beef, for pickles and play around with it as an aromatic.”
Influences:
Phelps: “Mark Henry at Oregon Grille. I got a job at his restaurant when I was 16. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, didn’t have much discipline. He just screamed at me for five years. But after the night was over, he’d be like, ‘Good job.’ There was a great feeling of camaraderie in the kitchen. I didn’t realize how good he was until I came back a few years later and ate dinner there.”
Kitchen quirks:
Walters: “Music is very important inside the kitchen for me. The thing about cooking is it’s very monotonous. I kind of think when you’re doing that, it allows people to relax a little bit. I think the food comes out a little better.”
Happiest chefing moment:
Phelps: “When an experiment goes right then I’m like, ‘Holy s---. That’s the best fill in the blank I’ve ever had.’”
Walters: “When people are satisfied. Being a chef is egotistical for the fact it’s an instant gratification art. To be able to do that over and over again every night is nice.”
- Salt's Cure, 7494 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 323.850.7258, www.saltscure.com
Background:
Petrossian, Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas and several Robuchon restaurants in France
Signature dish:
“The loup de mer is very popular.”
Favorite ingredient:
“Right now I really like sunchoke. It’s very for the season. It’s like between artichoke and hazelnut. We’re doing a sunchoke risotto with porcini. I put sunchoke shaved with mushroom salad.”
Influences:
“My family, they like to cook. Robuchon for sure. I worked five years for him and he [taught] me everything he knows. I start from very crummy, the lowest position, and end up sous chef.”
Take Away:
“Finding the best quality products.”
Happiest chefing moment:
“When a customer stops by the kitchen and says, ‘It was great.’ That is pretty cool. Everyone is happy in the kitchen, not just me.”
- Fraiche Culver City, 9411 Culver Blvd., Culver City, 310.839.6800, www.fraicherestaurantla.com
Background:
Wabi-Sabi, Sai Sai, and in London Zuma, Roka and Tetsuya
Signature dishes:
“Definitely the anticucho: beef heart marinated with salt, Peruvian spices, vinegar, beer, cumin and pepper and grilled over binchotan [charcoal]. Probably the tiraditos too: thin slices of fish with dressing on top, like Peruvian carpaccio.”
Favorite ingredient:
“Aji Amarillo, a Peruvian chile pepper. If you use it cold it’s one flavor. When you cook it, it’s another flavor. It’s very adaptable. Right now I am importing it but I am working with a local farmer who will hopefully have it by April.”
Influence:
“My mother and my father both love cooking. My father always wanted to do a restaurant in his life but he never managed to do it. Probably that was the encouragement [for me] to study culinary.”
Kitchen quirks:
“I like salsa [music]. When I was cooking at Test Kitchen I would play my salsa inside the kitchen. It gives me so much energy. Pica is going to be an open kitchen so I don’t know. But I’ll make sure they have salsa in the system so not only me but the guests too [will be listening].”
Happiest chefing moment:
“During the service when it’s busy. I like the pressure of the kitchen. It’s like it goes through my blood.”
- Mo-Chica, 3655 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, 213.747.2141, www.mo-chica.com
