Show 28, May 11, 2013: Chef Jet Tila

Chef Jet Tila host of the SoCal Restaurant ShowCongrats to our own Jet Tila. On Friday at a special ceremony and luncheon at Los Angeles City Hall Jet was presented with the “L.A. Dreamers Award” by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Right afterwards he headed to the KCAL 9 studios on the CBS Lot in Studio City to do a live cooking demo of his signature Thai green papaya salad for the afternoon news!

Last Sunday working with the culinary team at Cook’s County, Jet (with some help in the booth from the team at Melissa’s) competed in the prestigious L.A. tour stop of Cochon 555 at House of Blues in West Hollywood. He used an entire heritage Berskshire pig from Cook Pigs Ranch to prepare 5 spectacular dishes for the judges and the 400 attendees to savor, taste, and judge.

In a tight finish Chef Ray Garcia of FIG Restaurant at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica came out on top. In June he heads to Aspen, Colorado and the Aspen Food & Wine Classic to battle in the finals on June 16th!

May 11: Cochon 555, Jenn Stoker, Kedric Francis, Vic Vegas, Brandon Boudet

Podcasts

Segment One: Chef Jet Tila
Segment Two: Chef Jennifer Stoker the Chicago-based author of She Cooks, She Scores: The Steamy Stories Behind the Recipes
Segment Three: Kedric Francis, Executive Editor of Coast (monthly) as well as the co-founding editor of the new OC Register Magazine (appearing twice monthly with the Monday edition of the Orange County Register.) Part One
Segment Four: Kedric Francis, Executive Editor of Coast (monthly) as well as the co-founding editor of the new OC Register Magazine (appearing twice monthly with the Monday edition of the Orange County Register.) Part Two
Segment Five: Chef Vic Vegas, chef/proprietor of Vic’s restaurant in Anthem, NV, a suburb of Henderson
Segment Six: Chef Brandon Boudet, Executive chef and co-proprietor of Dominick’s, Little Dom’s and Tom Bergin’s

Incredible food with a lot of variety is on the menu for this week. It’s pork, a taste of Chicago, a dine-around in the OC, crawfish broil with New Orleans seasoning and inspiration, and yummy Venezuelan food hidden in plain sight in Las Vegas! Bring it on…

Chef Jet Tila host of the SoCal Restaurant ShowLast Sunday our own Chef Jet competed as one of five esteemed teams in the highly competitive Los Angeles stop of the 5th Anniversary tour of Cochon 555. It’s intense…

Each selected chef was tasked with creating five original dishes using all parts of a Heritage pig. The winner was decided by a team of 20 judges and the votes of the 400 pork-loving attendees.

The winning Los Angeles team now moves on to the National Finals in Aspen on June 16th as part of the celebrated Aspen Food & Wine Classic.

Jet will share his ringside observations on the competition.

 

 

Jenn StokerChef Jenn Stoker is a Chicago-based personal chef and graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park.

Along the way she has perfected some fun recipes and interesting relationships. She has put all of this into her book, She Cooks, She Scores: A Satisfying Collection of Tastes and Tales.

Here’s what a reviewer had to say : “This accomplished chef and author has combined her talents and life experiences to bring us along her life journey with an inside look at her passion for cooking, life, and love.”

“Most Cookbooks are technical and without any flavor. Chef Jenn breaks it down as if you are in the kitchen with her. She doesn’t stop there! She turns the heat up a little with recipes that were inspired by ex-boyfriends! Mamma Mia!“

Perceptive journalist and veteran editor Kedric Francis has been on the Orange County scene for seventeen years. He is currently the Executive Editor of Coast (monthly) as well as the co-founding editor of the new OC Register Magazine. Previously he was the founding editor-in-chief of Riviera as well as Riviera San Diego.

Kedric is going to share his perspective on the dining out scene in Orange County as compared to dining out in Los Angeles County. He’s also discussing the differences he notes in restaurant criticism in each area.

It’s voting time for the best restaurants section in the OC Register’s annual Best of OC publication. Reader/public voting is on now through the end of May.

Vic VegasMany of you may remember the name Vic Vegas from a recent season of the popular Food Network series, Food Network Star. Vic originally looked like a weird MMA fighter turned chef, but it turned out he’s really a Mama’s Boy from Jersey with some great Italian recipes.

Fast forward two years, and now Vic has his own restaurant, aptly titled Vic’s, in the Las Vegas suburb of Anthem, Nevada. It’s only been open two months and it already has a great following.

Vic will share his experiences of opening the new restaurant, what’s on the menu and what he thinks about the upcoming season of Food Network Star, about to hit the airwaves in just a couple of weeks.

Brandon Boudet of Dominick’s, Little Dom’s and Tom Bergin’sNew Orleans native, Chef Brandon Boudet, is the co-owner of Dominick’s, Little Dom’s and Tom Bergin’s.

On Saturday, May 18th and May 25th from Noon to 4:00 p.n. Chef Boudet is holding his 4th Annual Crawfish Boil on the patio at Dominick’s. It’s 300 pounds of fresh Louisiana crawfish cooked at each event!

It’s a real taste of New Orleans in Los Angeles!

Also on the menu are Boudet’s New Orleans specialties including Po’ Boys and Crawfish Boiled Artichokes with Remoulade. For dessert there are New Orleans Sno Balls.

Podcasts

Segment One: Chef Jet Tila
Segment Two: Chef Jennifer Stoker the Chicago-based author of She Cooks, She Scores: The Steamy Stories Behind the Recipes
Segment Three: Kedric Francis, Executive Editor of Coast (monthly) as well as the co-founding editor of the new OC Register Magazine (appearing twice monthly with the Monday edition of the Orange County Register.) Part One
Segment Four: Kedric Francis, Executive Editor of Coast (monthly) as well as the co-founding editor of the new OC Register Magazine (appearing twice monthly with the Monday edition of the Orange County Register.) Part Two
Segment Five: Chef Vic Vegas, chef/proprietor of Vic’s restaurant in Anthem, NV, a suburb of Henderson
Segment Six: Chef Brandon Boudet, Executive chef and co-proprietor of Dominick’s, Little Dom’s and Tom Bergin’s

Show 18, February 23, 2013: Govind Armstrong the Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Post & Beam in Baldwin Hills

Chef Govind Armstrong started his culinary career in Los Angeles early with Wolfgang Puck at the tender age of 13. Before Post & Beam he was best known for Table 8 on Melrose Avenue.

Chef Govind Armstrong of Post and BeamGovind is friends with super chef Marcus Samuelsson of Red Rooster and Ginny’s Supper Club fame in Harlem. They originally met at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic. Marcus even mentioned Chef Govind in his well-received memoir (published last year,) Yes, Chef.

Since Post & Beam opened Chef Govind has been looking for the opportunity to collaborate on a celebratory dinner with Chef Marcus at Post & Beam. The result is a “Taste of Harlem in Baldwin Hills” which will take place Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at Post & Beam as a benefit for the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP.)

Unfortunately the dinner is sold out but an After Party has been added. Guests will have the unusual opportunity to meet Marcus Samuelsson, Govind Armstrong, and 2nd generation restaurateur Brad Johnson (the co-owner of Post & Beam.)

There is a modest donation of $20 for admission to the After Party with a DJ and a cash bar. All the money goes to benefit C-CAP. This is a ticketed event.