2024 Los Angeles Kitchen Notebook
An in-depth look at some of our favorite dishes and cocktails from our time on the ground in Los Angeles.
Sea Bream Crudo
On a hot afternoon at Downtown Los Angeles’ modern French bistro Camphor, the AC broke,and Executive Chefs Max Boonthanakit and Lijo George needed a dish to help guests cool off during dinner service. With fresh sea bream and pristine Santa Barbara uni in the walk-in,Boonthanakit and George landed on a crudo backed by invigorating, sinus-tingling flavor. “We put it on as a special,”says Boonthanakit. “Now it's on the menu, and we can’t take it off.” The chefs cure the fish with seasonal citrus, herbs, brown sugar, and coriander for an aromatic boost before dicing it and dressing it in shiro dashi, lime juice, and shallot to enhance the umami flavor. The fish is portioned into a glass coupe for optimal scooping and blanketed with a rich and spicy horseradish-Tabasco cream and a few tongues of Santa Barbara uni in parfait-like layers. To top it off, the duo uses a stand mixer (with the help of liquid nitrogen) to provide a soft snow made of green apple juice and thyme, utilizing leftover cucumber skins to provide a vibrant green hue. The bright green apple ice brings an acidic balance to the umami and spice, bridging the flavors and textures for a rich but refreshing bite.
Naarah
“I like to keep things open for the team. We often work through every step of a drink together,” says Bar Director Garrett Sprague of the collaborative energy at Bavel. Teamwork was certainly a driving force behind the Naarah cocktail; a mashup of Sprague’s encyclopedic knowledge of the bar’s modifiers and his Bar Operation Manager Tavis Doucette’s idea for a vodka slammer. “[The drink] came out of necessity. We needed an accessible vodka drink that we felt good about putting out, while avoiding a lemon drop-type situation.” So, Sprague selected bottles from the backbar and the duo got to work. Starting with a base of Nat Kidder corn vodka, Sprague introduced dragoncello liqueur to the mix, a favorite of his. “Dragoncello is something I always keep around. It adds some dryness, herbaceousness, and tremendous depth.” Along with Rapa Giovanni Certosa, evoking Yellow Chartreuse but with less sugar; extra dry vermouth for a boost of aromatics; and lime juice for some acid, Sprague incorporates a serrano-cucumber syrup for a bright green punch of heat and a touch of sweetness. “My goal is accessibility and simplicity without sacrificing quality and integrity. It reads as a pretty simple drink for those who want that. And for those who want depth of flavor, it’s there.”
sujebi dumplings
The recipes at Yangban are driven by autobiography, and the sujebi are a prime example of bringing memoir to the menu. The dish grew out of a desire to feature traditional hand-torn Korean dumplings—which Chef-Owners John and Katianna Hong make using sweet potato and wheat starch to achieve a chewier, bouncier texture. The chefs fold the sujebi into an acid-forward beurre blanc, made with local K-town favorite Kae Sung Market’s white kimchi brine, yogurt whey, shiro dashi, and white vinegar. Additionally, pieces of the kimchi are chopped and added to the sujebi “to bring some texture, crunch, and body to the dish.” With the addition of fresh herbs, vibrant trout roe, and California olive oil, the dressed sujebi are rested on top of flaked pieces of ocean trout, which John and Katianna soy-cure and lightly poach. Although initially inspired by John’s “nostalgic memories of sujebi dumplings,” says Katianna, “those Scandinavian flavors of dill and trout reference both our childhoods,” particularly Katianna’s Jewish upbringing and the chefs’ time at Meadowood in Napa Valley. The delicate flavors transform the usually hearty sujebi into something more distinct and personal. The preparation “can read like a bowl of buttered dumplings,” says Katianna, but despite being “comforting and rich,” it is “light, dimensional, and interesting at the same time.”
sapore di sale
While attending a CARE’s The Ethical Chef Days event in Sicily to promote sustainability in cooking, Pastry Chef Tamara Rigo was inspired by the island environment. “It's the tiniest island with lemon trees, almonds, and capers, surrounded by the sea.” She took the opportunity to concoct a new dessert with those flavors, which ended up following her home to the menu at Gucci Osteria da Massimo Bottura Beverly Hills. “When I came [to California], it also had all of those things, and the same climate, so this [dessert] can be native to California too.” The dish, which Rigo named Sapore di Sale, or “the flavor of salt,” acts as a pre-dessert “to cleanse the palate.” It pairs a scoop of creamy almond sorbetto with crunchy lemon granita and a bright, salt y lemon-seaweed jam. Rigo cooks the lemon jam down with toasted seaweed and incorporates cubes of blanched lemon rind for pops of chewy texture. “Lemons are full of pectin, so the texture is great without adding anything.” The candied lemon balances the sweet almond with an added whiff of oceanic salinity. And for an extra briny punch, Rigo hides a single caper in the middle of the dish. “It’s that island in a bite.”
Paleta Payaso
As a kid, working at his parents’ grocery store meant that Pastry Chef Jose Mariscal could pick out one treat, and he always chose the same thing: a Paleta Payaso. The chocolate-marshmallow lollipop made him smile, so he decided to recreate the Mexican treat for the menu at The Rose Venice. For the base, Mariscal opted for a flourless chocolate cake that “lends itself well to a textural bite.” He tops it with a marshmallow fluff and, to mimic the lollipop’s chocolate shell, Mariscal covers the dessert in a mole ganache, based on his mom’s mole. He toasts his spices and steeps them in cream before combining the mixture with a rich dark chocolate. “It’s halfway between a ganache and mole.” Originally, Mariscal’s mole was too spicy for customers, so he toned down the heat and added a horchata gelato to cool the palate. Mariscal chars cinnamon sticks before adding them to his horchata gelato base. “The smokiness adds nuance, and the sharper notes cut through the richness.” Along with a chocolate-hazelnut praline crumble, Mariscal finishes the dessert with raspberry and blueberry pâte de fruits to make the signature smile. “It's such a full circle moment for me. My style has always been playful, and being able to get that across to customers makes me happy. It's the dessert that smiles back.”
Braciola di Maiale
Chef Viktoriya Campos knows that simplicity, nostalgia, and a little bit of the unexpected can bring overlooked products to life. At Felix Trattoria, Campos decided pork was due for its moment in the spotlight. She turned to the farmers market for inspiration and was delighted to come across cipollini onions. “People don't want to use cipollini onions,” says Campos, “but there is a reward when you peel them: they are so sweet, like candy.” She also wanted to bring something a little more personal to the dish as well, which led her to black currants. “In Russia, black currants are everywhere; on the street [and] on the roadside,” says Campos, who grew up gathering the fruit off of bushes, eating them with dumplings, and drinking black currant tea and soda. For the dish, she sears and chars a pork chop on the grill before moving it to the top shelf to cook for around 45 minutes. She submerges the cipollini onions in water and peels them by hand. The onions are roasted in the pizza oven, added to the pan with the pork chop, and drizzled in balsamic vinegar. Returning to the flavors of her youth, Campos freezes fresh black currants, so they retain their water content, before cooking them down into a sticky, sweet, and tart jam that shines alongside the onions and the pork. “I was very happy to find fresh [black currants] and put a piece of me on the plate,” she says, “I'm just proud that people love it.”
