Chef Jet and Travis discuss their favorite cuisines with a few practical tips along the way.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Tag Archives: Ask a Mexican
Show 34, July 6, 2013: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of OC Weekly and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Foods Conquered America
Our favorite all-star, “Ask a Mexican,” Gustavo Arellano, returned to give us more practical insight on Mexican ingredients and their history. He’s also the editor of OC Weekly.
Today we talked tortillas. Why is a burrito made with flour tortillas? On the other hand why are enchiladas prepared with corn tortillas. What is right for a hard or soft-shelled taco?
Gustavo explained that flour tortillas are popular in the Northern states of Mexico. They arrived from Spain in the 1500s.
Gustavo also shared the history of tortilla chips which traces its origin to San Antonio in 1912.
It’s summer so it’s time to quench your thirst. Gustavo suggests a flavorful agua fresca. This translates as “fresh water.” The base for this refreshing Mexican beverage is water and sugar. Cucumber and Tamarind are particularly refreshing versions.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
July 6: Sherry Yard, Sriracha Movie, Gustavo Arrelamo, Evan Funke, Valerie Confections
Podcasts
Segment One: On the Town with Chef Jet, Sherry Yard, and Producer Andy
Segment Two: Food Journalist Randy Clemens and “Sriracha” filmmaker Griffin Hammond Part One
Segment Three: Food Journalist Randy Clemens and “Sriracha” filmmaker Griffin Hammond Part Two
Segment Four: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of OC Weekly and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Foods Conquered America
Segment Five: Chef Evan Funke, executive chef & proprietor, Bucato Restaurant
Segment Six: Valerie Gordon, Valerie Confections
Time to talk of recent dining adventures …
Pastry princess, Sherry Yard, the recipient of two James Beard Awards, joins us in-studio. She was celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s high-profile dessert guru for 20 years and is now out on her own with an ambitious project at The Helms Bakery complex in Los Angeles (on the border with Culver City.)
We’ll also answer some e-mail inquiries.
It’s the Sriracha wars and the heat is on !
If you think Sriracha is simply the locally produced, fiery sauce with the red rooster on the label you need to know the real story. It’s actually Thai hot sauce named after the seaside town of Si Racha. It’s as popular as ketchup on the Southeast Asian table.
Documentary filmmaker Griffin Hammond will join us to talk about the Sriracha documentary he’s working on. It’s partially funded by an ongoing KickStarter campaign that’s already oversubscribed! He’ll be joined by local food writer Randy Clemens who is the author of two cookbooks on Sriracha. Newly released is The Veggie-Lover’s Sriracha Cookbook from Ten Speed Press.
Our favorite all-star, “Ask a Mexican,” Gustavo Arellano, returns to give us more practical insight on Mexican ingredients and their history. He’s also the editor of OC Weekly.
Today we’re talking tortillas. Why is a burrito made with flour tortillas? On the other hand why are enchiladas prepared with corn tortillas. What is right for a hard or soft-shelled taco? We’re confused…
I need a cerveza…
Chef Evan Funke generated a lot of interest at Rustic Canyon as the opening chef when it opened a few years back in Santa Monica. Now Evan is about to debut Bucato Restaurant on Washington Blvd. in Culver City in the former iconic Beacon Laundry Building which is part of the larger Helms Bakery complex. With Bucato he is Executive Chef and Proprietor.
During construction Chef Evan has been operating a food truck. The rave item is his porchetta sandwich. Bucato will be modern Italian.
Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections burst on the local foodie scene with her cravable line of chocolate-dipped toffees in 2004. The response has been terrific and the line has greatly expanded over the years. Her quality products now include chocolates, a line of petis fours, handmade preserves, cakes, pastries, and even a catering division.
Valerie has developed a sub-specialty of recreating the classic desserts of fondly remembered, but long-ago departed, iconic local restaurants. The original Brown Derby’s grapefruit cake is just one memorable example.
Valerie Confections latest project is their new Coffee Shop & Bakery located at the historic Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles.
Podcasts
Segment One: On the Town with Chef Jet, Sherry Yard, and Producer Andy
Segment Two: Food Journalist Randy Clemens and “Sriracha” filmmaker Griffin Hammond Part One
Segment Three: Food Journalist Randy Clemens and “Sriracha” filmmaker Griffin Hammond Part Two
Segment Four: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of OC Weekly and author of Taco USA: How Mexican Foods Conquered America
Segment Five: Chef Evan Funke, executive chef & proprietor, Bucato Restaurant
Segment Six: Valerie Gordon, Valerie Confections
May 4: Jeff Houck, Keith Roberts, Fifi Chao, Lorin Adolph, Gustavo Arellano
Podcasts
Segment One: Jeff Houck, food staff writer at Tampa Tribune
Segment Two: Keith Roberts, Executive Chef of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica
Segment Three: Fifi Chao, the restaurant writer for the Orange County Business Journal Part One
Segment Four: Fifi Chao, the restaurant writer for the Orange County Business Journal Part Two
Segment Five: Lorin Adolph, private chef based in Chicago
Segment Six: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of Orange County Weekly and creator of the syndicated and wildly popular, “Ask a Mexican” column
It’s tasting and traveling this week. We’re nibbling in Tampa, Santa Monica, and Chicago with a side trip to China. The entrée is everything you wanted to know about real tacos. Come hungry and have your passport handy…
Jeff Houck is the respected and provocative restaurant writer for the Tampa Tribune. He’s been writing for them since 2005.
Jet was in Tampa earlier in the year and did an incredible dine-around of Tampa with Jeff to glean the taste of the town. It was everything from the legendary Bern’s Steak House (a local landmark with an amazing wine cellar) to an incredible Cuban sandwich. No leftovers here…
For the last four years Keith Roberts has been the busy executive chef of the 342-room Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica. He oversees a demanding $10 million culinary operation at the luxury beachfront hotel including banquets, weddings and special events, room service, and the hotel’s signature ocean view restaurant, Ocean & Vine.
Chef Keith will talk about his new menu and take us behind-the-scenes to better understand how he satisfies highly discriminating guests on a daily basis at a very busy operation.
He also makes the time to mentor students who are part of the Careers through Culinary Arts Program.
The always engaging Fifi Chao, a professional food, wine, and travel journalist, and cooking instructor has been profiling Orange County restaurants for The Orange County Business Journal since 1990. If she doesn’t have something positive to say about a restaurant she simply doesn’t write about it.
She also is the publisher of Chao’s Dinesty, a private subscription restaurant, wine and travel newsletter. Related to this she hosts special evenings (with her husband, Patrick, a veteran of the hospitality industry) at local restaurants of distinction. It’s a great way to sample a restaurant you might not be familiar with at their very best guided by gracious hosts who treat their guests like extended family!
In October Fifi and Patrick are escorting a small group on a exclusive VIP excursion to China. Along the way the fortunate participants will have private access to a hidden part of the Forbidden City in Beijing. Tour guests will walk the Great Wall, visit Xian and the Terra Cotta Warriors museum, go to the city of Wuxi via high-speed train, sail the Yangtze for three days on a brand-new ship, and experience the allure of Patrick’s hometown of Shanghai.
Fabulously wealthy people typically have private chefs as part of their regular household staff. At the highest levels these trusted chefs travel around with their employers to their various residences around the country and frequently across the globe.
Chef Lorin Adolph is part of this rarified, elite group. His multi-millionaire client lives primarily in Chicago but also has an estate in Malibu.
Chef Lorin joins us this morning to discuss his most unusual occupation and where you source the very best ingredients in the world for the pickiest of diners!
Our favorite “Ask a Mexican”, Gustavo Arellano, of Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America fame and OC Weekly is no stranger to the show. Discovering worthy hole-in-the-wall eating spots are his daily joy.
This morning tacos are on his mind. We’ll get the 411 on their history and origins in Mexico and their tasty regional variations.
By the way Taco USA is newly released in paperback.
Podcasts
Segment One: Jeff Houck, food staff writer at Tampa Tribune
Segment Two: Keith Roberts, Executive Chef of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel in Santa Monica
Segment Three: Fifi Chao, the restaurant writer for the Orange County Business Journal Part One
Segment Four: Fifi Chao, the restaurant writer for the Orange County Business Journal Part Two
Segment Five: Lorin Adolph, private chef based in Chicago
Segment Six: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of Orange County Weekly and creator of the syndicated and wildly popular, “Ask a Mexican” column
April 6: Gustavo Arellano, Musso and Frank Grill, Scott Leibfried
Podcasts
Segment One: Chef Jet Tila
Segment Two: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of The OC Weekly & author of Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America Part One
Segment Three: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of The OC Weekly & author of Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America Part Two
Segment Four: Mark Echeverria, the General Manager & Proprietor of the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood
Segment Five: Chef Scott Leibfried, Gordon Ramsay’s sous chef on Fox TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” for the past 10 years. Executive Chef of Arch Rock Fish is Santa Barbara Part One
Segment Six: Chef Scott Leibfried, Gordon Ramsay’s sous chef on Fox TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” for the past 10 years. Executive Chef of Arch Rock Fish is Santa Barbara Part Two
Lots of tasty delights to share this week. We have an unusual take on Mexican food that will leave you thinking. From there it’s a bit of celebrity dining history in old Hollywood. We wrap it up with a prominent chef who is an accomplished expert in seafood preparation.
First it’s the “best bite of the week” with Chef Jet and Producer Andy. Thereafter it’s the cream of significant restaurant news of the week.
If you think you know everything there is to know about the rich history of Mexican food in America think again. Gustavo Arellano joins us to talk about his latest book, Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America. Gustavo is the accomplished and well-known editor of OC Weekly as well as one of their restaurant reviewers. He also pens the provocative, nationally syndicated column, “Ask a Mexican!”
Since 1919 the venerable Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Blvd. has ably stood the test of time and endured. More than a handful of the career waiters there have been serving guests for 30 years or more. Every one of them is a character! There are more stories there than there is time to do them justice in the telling! That also applies to the proficient bar staff. They perfected the classic craft cocktails way before they became trendy again!
Talk about consistency. They have had three executive chefs in their entire history.
Mark Echeverria, the managing partner, and a direct descendent of one of the two founding families joins us with a salute to the ultimate in Hollywood dining history that is far from being a museum piece.
You know Chef Scott Leibfried as Gordon Ramsay’s sous chef on Fox TV’s popular “Hell’s Kitchen” series for the past 10 seasons. He’s also the Lead Chef Advisor for Fox TV’s “Kitchen Nightmares” series also starring Chef Ramsay.
He’s a real working chef. Chef Scott is Executive Chef and part owner of Arch Rock Fish in Santa Barbara.
Podcasts
Segment One: Chef Jet Tila
Segment Two: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of The OC Weekly & author of Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America Part One
Segment Three: Gustavo Arellano, Editor of The OC Weekly & author of Taco USA – How Mexican Food Conquered America Part Two
Segment Four: Mark Echeverria, the General Manager & Proprietor of the Musso & Frank Grill in Hollywood
Segment Five: Chef Scott Leibfried, Gordon Ramsay’s sous chef on Fox TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” for the past 10 years. Executive Chef of Arch Rock Fish is Santa Barbara Part One
Segment Six: Chef Scott Leibfried, Gordon Ramsay’s sous chef on Fox TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” for the past 10 years. Executive Chef of Arch Rock Fish is Santa Barbara Part Two