Chef Jason Travi
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
And you think you’re busy? Chef Jason Travi, a Massachusetts native, operates one of this town’s most celebrated and beloved restaurants, two year old Fraiche in Culver City. A few months ago, he and his partners opened a second, larger spot, Riva, in Santa Monica. And in March, he and his wife Miho, who is taking a break from pastry chefing at Fraiche, welcome baby number one. A little unsolicited advice for the man behind the stove: sleep now!
You come from a restaurant family. Was there ever a question whether you would go into the restaurant business?
Definitely, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do as a teenager. In my teenage years it was just a job. My mom forced me to go to culinary school. It was the best thing she ever did for me. Then I got out and started working for Wolfgang Puck and realized I enjoyed doing it.
You met your wife Miho when you were both at Spago yes?
Yep.
Did you have to keep the romance under wraps?
We did because I was kind of like her boss. We didn’t tell anybody. She was leaving anyways. We only dated there a couple months.
Does Wolfgang take credit?
More like Sherry Yard. My wife worked for Sherry and my station was next to the pastry station.
What was your station?
Fish.
What’s it like operating a restaurant in the current economic climate?
It’s really rough out there. It’s definitely not as fun as it was two years ago when we opened Fraiche. The biggest difference is, not that it didn’t feel like we needed to make money, but we didn’t feel the pressure to make money. It’s like trying to figure out how to get blood from a stone. Making money in the restaurant business is hard enough as it is. Everyone is watching every penny they spend. I understand. The business I’m in is the first thing people cut from their budget.
How can Culver City support all the restaurants that have opened in the last couple of years?
I don’t think it really can. You’re going to find out in a year or so. If all these places stay open that’s great. The great thing about Culver City is we’re all friends. Nobody’s trying to rat each other out or make someone’s business worse. I visit Vicky and Kazuto at Beacon. Ben [Ford] and I are friends. I go to Father’s Office a lot.
Do you have a favorite season, culinarily speaking?
My answer is twofold. I love the summer time because as a chef it gives you the most product to work with. But I miss the winters on the East Coast. I miss being able to do a lot of braises—hearty, heavy food. I love eating that. The problem is you never feel like people want to eat that. The cold here is not bone chilling. You don’t feel like you have to beef up to survive the winter.
Can we talk about spring a bit since that’s on the horizon. Any favorite spring ingredients?
Fava beans, peas, the first whiffs of the summer ramps and morels. It’s an amazing time of year. It snowballs.
Why did you decide to open Riva?
One of my partners really loves the space. We love the space as well. It was definitely an undertaking. We pretty much had to demolish everything. The previous tenants sold every piece of equipment in the kitchen. Even if it was bolted down, they sold it. On the flip side, we got to start over from scratch.
How does Riva compare to Fraiche?
Riva is more Italian-oriented. Fraiche is more a French-Italian hybrid. Riva is only Cal-Italian for lack of a better term. It’s more focused on raw seafood. We do six to eight raw seafood dishes a day.
And pizza right?
Yes. But we don’t do pasta. That’s kind of the calling card of Fraiche. My whole goal was if you’ve ever traveled to Naples, Italy and you go to the tourist part of town right on water kind of where we are, there are these huge full-service restaurants open all day and all night. They do a little of everything.
Did you have a model for the pizza you serve at Riva?
Not really. My wife and I kept playing around with different recipes modeled after our trips to Italy, mainly Naples. Pizzeria Bianco in Arizona was definitely a little inspiration for us as well. I’ve sat in line for three hours to get that pizza and it was almost worth it.
Do you have any rules as far as toppings go?
You kind of want to be based in tradition. I really could never do a Hawaiian pizza.
It’s somebody’s tradition, but it’s not mine. No offense. It would break my heart to have to make one of those.
It seems like in the last year, there has been a little pizza renaissance in Los Angeles. Any theories why?
Now, with the way the economy is going, pizza is relatively inexpensive. It’s a great way to fill up. It’s something that crosses every ethnicity, every tax bracket. It’s a great uniter. With us, we have a space that’s a little larger than Fraiche. We wanted to do something that would bring in more people.
And the name Riva?
It’s means coastal inlet or waterfront. The reason I picked it is one of my uncles is a chef in Massachusetts. He had a restaurant called Riva. It’s an homage to my family’s restaurants.
What is the most satisfying part of your work?
I get to work with a lot of great people. I yell a lot and I freak out, but at the end of the day we all have a great time.
So you haven’t had any chefs walk out in tears?
No. I’m not that mean.
And the least enjoyable part of your work?
I hate doing paperwork. Most chefs will tell you the same thing.
Any interest in fame?
Not really. I’m more interested in keeping what I have going.
Tell me some of your favorite restaurants?
My favorite restaurant for a nice, fine dining meal is the Water Grill. The chef there, David, is one of most talented people in town and no one really talks about him. We go to a place called Daikokuya on First and San Pedro, a ramen house. Usually it’s got a B grade from the health department but sometimes worse. It’s the best broth I’ve ever had in L.A. Since my wife is Japanese we eat a lot of Asian food. There’s a taco truck on Olympic and La Brea Monday through Saturday late night, like 10 to 1:30 in the morning. We go to Angelini Osteria a lot.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
In-N-Out is my guilty pleasure. We don’t have that where I grew up. The first time I had that I realized what I was missing.
Economy aside, which I know isn’t easy, what do you think of the LA restaurant scene?
It’s great. We have a lot of great young people that are really working hard. They’re working harder now than they ever did before. And we’re getting people from around the country opening here too: Michael Mina, José Andrés. They’re shooting to have great restaurants, not like a lot of other people opening restaurants in LA who think, “It‘s easy. We’ll just make it hip.” There are a lot of young guys. The Animal guys work hard to make a really cool neighborhood restaurant. I love living here. I moved here 12 years ago and the food scene was rather weak. Now it’s great.
You’re going to be a dad soon. How will that affect you day-to-day, or is it hard to say?
I’m sure it’s going to throw everything into turmoil for a little bit of time. But I have a lot of friends with children and they’re coaching me right now.
And you’re having a little girl correct, just in case people want to send receiving blankets or whatever?
Please do.
