Jonathan Gold asks, Is There Such a Thing as L.A. Cuisine? Philadelphia has the cheese steak, Chicago has it’s deep dish pizza, San Fran has it’s crab and cioppino. What is L.A. known for besides burritos, french dip, Langers pastrami and burgers? In this panel, moderated by Gold and presented by Zocolo, they ask this very question to some of LA’s top Chefs. The panel is part of Zócalo’s vibrant series of programs featuring thinkers and doers speaking on some of the most pressing topics of the day. What’s more pressing than what’s for dinner?
Gold was joined by Michael Cimarusti, co-owner and executive chef, Providence Restaurant, Octavio Becerra, chef and owner, Palate Food & Wine , and Evan Kleiman, executive chef, Angeli Caffe and host of the Good Food show on KCRW to discuss L.A. cuisine, the future of restaurants, and how LA’s ethnic communities effect how we eat.
What was realized? It’s no surprise that they all agreed, what defines LA’s cuisine is it’s varied ethnic communities, local farming, young chefs, and the fact that we have one of the largest ports in the world, with access to exotic produce, fish and spices from all over the world.
The food Kleiman likes to present at Angeli reflects her time spent in Italy. It was very similar to Southern California with it’s weather and simple, fresh produce and ingredients. It represents the clarity and brightness of California.
Cimarusti spends a lot of time in various ethnic markets around LA, calls out one Korean market on Olympic (which I assume is Hannam), Mitsuwa market in downtown, and realizes a lot of eastern influences in his cooking, since coming from mostly French influences in New York. He also spends a lot of time at the downtown fish market, picking up some fish he’s never heard of just to see what he can do with it.
When asked where LA cuisine is headed, Kleiman responds that their “clients” require that food be honest, organic, fresh, natural and use local ingredients. Of course that’s without fitting that cliche of, what Gold pointed out, was a Los Angeles burrito he saw on a menu in Cleveland had sprouts and sun flower seeds in it.
My favorite sound bite from the evening was when Octavio Becerra referred to Glendale as the new frontier for Los Angeles food. The next Culver City? Maybe indeed. Keep an eye out on the Zocolo website for the podcast.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Damn, gotta check in more often. The site looks awesome. Nice redesign.
September 11th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Thanks Doug! And yes, you should.
September 11th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Matt, what a great story! I was there last night and was hoping someone would post about the conversation. I was shocked just how many people showed up! Standing room only!
happy eating,
Brooke
September 11th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Yeah, I was a little surprised as well. But luckily got one of the last seats! So great that it was free too.
Jonathon Gold sure is a nice guy. I didn’t know what to expect and it was a great panel. I could go to one of those with different chefs every month.
September 11th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Fun panel last night, I was up front to the left taking occasional photos. I don’t think they really answered the main question, but generally it was good to get the chef’s perspectives.
I doubt Glendale will be the new Culver, unless the Dreamworks employees start subsidizing the restaurants as well as the Sony people do in Culver. Considering I live in Glendale, I would still want it to burgeon as a food destination.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I missed it, had to teach. Thanks for the report. But I am curious about whether anyone on the panel had a more holistic or unifying theory of LA cuisine. It’s one thing to list its qualities, it’s another to make an argument about what those varying qualities, when taken together, MEAN. Meaning, man.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Disappointed to have missed it. Were there appetizers?
September 11th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
I think it would be a melting pot, pardon the pun, of international flavors. How do you explain a cuisine that is a taco truck in front of a Korean BBQ restaurant, down the street from a papusaria, just a couple of miles away from one of the best seafood restaurants in the city?
September 11th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
They had a reception afterward, sans food or drink. But it was free, so I didn’t expect much.
September 11th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
@matt — “how do you explain…?” sure, except it was the stated point of the event to try to explain it.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Yes, loved Glendale referred to as the “new frontier”!