How Four Chefs Are Reimagining Food Service | Rebel Kitchens

0:00 [music] -We come from the underground.

0:02 -If you tell me to go one way, I'm going to go the other way.

0:05 -The food that I want to cook is something that feed your soul.

0:09 -I want to put my mom's stories, my mom's dishes from Turkey.

0:14 -Come with me in the kitchen.

0:15 Come on.

0:16 -Look at me, I'm cooking.

0:18 -We're here to learn the trade.

0:19 A bunch of rebels and outlaws.

0:22 We're all degenerates.

0:29 -This program was made possible in part

0:31 by a grant from Anne Ray Foundation, a Margaret A.

0:34 Cargill philanthropy.

0:38 [music] -This starter was started by my auntie family 69 years..

0:46 Every single piece of bread that I make,

0:48 every single focaccia that has been made here

0:50 at the Lele Dinner Club is made with that starter.

0:53 I'm giving to people a story,

0:57 not just a piece of bread or a piece of pizza or a piece of focaccia.

1:01 It's a family history that I'm trying to tell to people.

1:04 The food that I want to cook is something that feed your soul.

1:09 When you enter over here, it's like you step in a new world.

1:13 Basically, not anymore in Los Angeles, but you are in Naples.

1:16 The music that you hear, 100% Neapolitan rap.

1:20 The rap or rap.

1:22 Neapolitan rap.

1:24 That's how you say it.

1:25 Is that good pronunciation?

1:27 A rap.

1:28 [chuckles] When you make bread, you are dealing with living things.

1:35 Any living things for me reacts to your energy.

1:39 It's like if you wake up in the morning angry about yourself,

1:42 about anything else,

1:43 and you try to cook, nothing good is going to come out of it.

1:47 It's like, "Oh, you're going to be angry." Then I'm not going to rise.

1:51 I'm not going to do it.

1:52 People think that I'm crazy because I speak to the bread.

1:55 When I see that it's not rising enough, it's like, "Oh, please, come on.

2:00 We need to go.

2:01 Services starts in three hour.

2:02 I need you to rise.

2:03 Come on.

2:03 Be a good boy.

2:04 Be a good boy." Believe it or not, the bread rises.

2:07 I don't know why, but it works.

2:11 My auntie had an underground bakery.

2:14 Basically, in our house, we used to have a little oven down the basement.

2:20 It was an ancient oven.

2:22 We used to make bread and focaccias and all kind

2:24 of cuts of bread for the delis in my little town.

2:28 I loved mixing the dough because everybody was putting

2:31 their hands in the beautiful sticky dough, this wooden box.

2:37 A kid is drawn to mess, like why are they having so much fun?

2:41 It's like, I want to participate.

2:43 As soon they started to understand, I was starting to get a grasp.

2:50 I said, "Maybe we can save some labor.

2:53 Let's put him to work." Child labor.

2:55 I'm a product of child labor.

2:56 That's who I am.

2:59 Basically, focaccia is the precursor of pizza.

3:02 Focaccia used to be a plate for ingredients to go on top.

3:07 One of the focaccia that we serve at Lele is made with Concerto Romano,

3:11 which is one of the oldest cheese made by the Roman Empire.

3:14 It used to be served in Pompeii.

3:16 When you taste it, it's not super sourdough-ish.

3:18 It's more on the sweeter side.

3:21 That's a technique that has been in my family for a long time.

3:25 Also, it's in Caserta.

3:26 A lot of people use this technique.

3:29 When I came to US with that starter by my auntie, I jar it,

3:34 close it, wrap it like a baby, and put it in my suitcase.

3:39 Hopefully, pray God that the custom didn't stop me because otherwise,

3:43 I'd let you throw away.

3:45 The moment I passed custom and I knew

3:47 that the starter was with me, I was like, "God,

3:50 yes." I made it because that's the foundation of all

3:54 the bread and focaccias and all the flour products that I make.

3:58 [music] All right, another day in my life.

4:06 After learning the club, this is my main job, basically.

4:10 Come with me in the kitchen.

4:11 I'll show you every little things behind Pizza..

4:13 It's my first restaurant.

4:15 Come on.

4:15 When I came to US, I had $300.

4:18 I had to live in a van on Venice Beach for seven months and a half.

4:22 I started to work in a restaurant.

4:24 A lot of celebrities start to came in.

4:27 One of the celebrity was Chris O'Donnell.

4:30 Basically, he needed somebody to go to his house

4:32 and teach him how to make pizza.

4:36 The only answer I gave to him, like a good Italian, "Pizza, don't worry.

4:42 I got you, brother.

4:43 I got you." We started, and he started to stretch pizza with me

4:48 in one of these party that he used to organize.

4:51 The third try like, "Okay, you do it.

4:54 I'm just going to go and enjoy the party." In one of these parties,

4:58 I met my current partners in Pizzana, Candace and Charles Nelson.

5:02 They started Sprinkles Cupcakes a long time ago.

5:06 I came from living in a van to going all over the US and making pizza.

5:11 This little piece of dough, it's what started everything.

5:14 People call it sourdough, right?

5:16 My starter is a fermented agent that makes the pizza, all the bread, the proof.

5:23 My auntie is the one that gave it to me, this starter.

5:28 Then I came over here in the US, and I refresh it every day.

5:31 Now, it's part of every pizza at Pizzana, every Focaccia a..

5:37 It's in everything I do.

5:38 [music] You know that every Italian is going to have a guy, right?

5:43 I have a guy for tomatoes, so come here.

5:46 -Daniele.

5:47 -Hello, my good friend.

5:48 -How are you doing?

5:50 -Now, better.

5:50 This is amazing.

5:52 -Good to see you.

5:53 -I love the hat.

5:53 -Thank you.

5:54 -Hans is one of the most amazing human being ever in Los Angeles.

5:59 It's a man that is focused on living in the past.

6:04 Hans went from having a job in a restaurant, a routine, to say,

6:07 screw it, just going to be home and make my home a farm.

6:12 How many years now that you're doing all this?

6:15 -This garden I've been working on for about five years now.

6:21 I started just before the pandemic

6:24 and slowly expanded to practically the entire backyard.

6:29 I have no employees.

6:31 I do all this by myself.

6:32 It's really a labor of love.

6:34 -That's why you've got that beautiful tan over there.

6:36 -I got too much sun.

6:37 I aged myself in 10 years and five years.

6:41 All right, come check out what I'm working on, Daniele.

6:44 I think this is something that's- -That's beautiful.

6:46 --near and dear to your heart.

6:48 Here, we have some of my own varieties that I've created,

6:51 and they're in the finishing stages.

6:54 This is a type of pianola you've probably never seen before, except from me.

6:58 -No, it's bicolor.

7:00 -I'm the only one in the world growing it because I created it,

7:03 and I get to name it.

7:04 This one is- -Can I try one of these?

7:06 -Of course, yes.

7:08 These are already about four weeks to a month old,

7:13 and they've been sitting here.

7:14 This is how I prepare them to hang them.

7:18 You've obviously done that before, I'm sure.

7:20 -That's delicious.

7:21 It's starting to get on the sweeter side right now.

7:24 -[crosstalk] It's rich.

7:26 One of the greatest misconceptions I hear all

7:28 the time is that, "Oh, we can't do things.

7:31 Food's so much better in Italy." This and that.

7:35 Obviously, there's a deep tradition.

7:37 The food in Italy is incredible.

7:38 -100%.

7:39 -The ingredients are incredible.

7:41 The biggest misconception to me is that our produce

7:43 isn't as good or that we can't compete.

7:46 I think the produce that we have available to us in California and some

7:51 of the farmers and the talent that we have producing that are on par,

7:55 can compete with the greatest produce anywhere in the world.

7:59 Anywhere.

8:00 -I agree.

8:01 When we talk about tradition,..

8:04 Tradition is something that before that became traditional, it was innovation.

8:12 I'll take the biggest example in the world.

8:14 When the first Margherita pizza was created, at the time,

8:20 that Margherita pizza wasn't tradition, but was something new.

8:24 People embraced them, tried it, and then after 250 years,

8:29 that Margherita pizza became something traditional.

8:33 Now, what prevents us from creating something, a technique,

8:38 or a method of harvesting tomatoes like you're doing over here?

8:45 What prevents us to make something that we

8:46 do over here to become tradition in 200 years?

8:50 Talking and looking over these beautiful tomatoes, it's just making me hungry.

8:54 Should we make a pizza?

8:55 -Let's do it, yes.

8:55 -Come on, let's make a pizza.

8:56 -I got the oven fired up.

8:58 Let's go.

8:59 I'll show you how I stendere la pizza.

9:04 -Some Italian in there.

9:07 Basically, in Neapolitan tradition, the dough usually is stretched like this.

9:13 See?

9:14 This one doesn't need to be slapped because

9:17 otherwise you get too thin in the middle.

9:20 See?

9:20 Let's see.

9:24 That's pretty good.

9:25 Look, I still know how to make dough.

9:28 -Oh, yes.

9:31 -You work your fields- -All by hand, no tractor.

9:36 -Then I destroy them.

9:38 See?

9:38 I destroy your tomato.

9:41 There you go.

9:52 -You ready to open up our pizza shop over here?

9:54 -Let's do it.

9:55 -Right here.

9:56 -Another one?

9:56 -My house.

9:57 -Another one?

10:05 We are on the farm making pizza.

10:07 Come on.

10:08 Salut.

10:09 -Cheers.

10:13 We did it.

10:17 -I love you.

10:18 -I love you too.

10:20 [music] -People always associate Naples with just pizza, right?

10:25 Pizza or spaghetti, which is okay.

10:28 It's one of our staples.

10:30 There's so much variety.

10:31 It's a seafood town.

10:32 We have a lot of seafood.

10:34 During the week, we eat pretty light.

10:36 There is one of the most amazing vegetarian dish that we have.

10:41 Every day is a pasta with a different kind o..

10:47 At Lele Dinner Club, we do it.

10:48 We do pasta with zucchini, pasta with potato, pasta with butternut squash.

10:55 My favorite is the pasta with beans, pasta fagioli.

10:59 Mixing everything in this big pot with a lot of olive oil,

11:03 with garlic, parsley, the tomatoes, and you reduce it down.

11:08 Then you add this beautiful bean broth in it.

11:11 Then you add pasta mista, which is all broken ends pastas.

11:15 Back in the days, the pastificio basically is the pasta factories.

11:19 Back in Naples, when the pastificio had all these broken ends pasta,

11:24 instead of throwing them away, they couldn't sell,

11:27 but they used to put it in a brown paper bag and just

11:30 give it away to people that couldn't afford to buy the pasta for free.

11:34 A lot of Neapolitan dishes are born out of necessity, out of poverty.

11:38 To me, those are the best dishes.

11:44 -All right, ready?

11:45 Ready.

11:46 Misto.

11:48 [music] -You have nine courses, nine[?].

12:04 We're starting with the Neapolitan metodo classico.

12:15 -I cook like an Italian grandma.

12:16 Like I said, I'm not going to use my wooden spoon on..

12:18 All right?

12:20 When I started Lele Dinner Club, I started out on my house kitchen.

12:25 I wanted to cook for friends, basically.

12:28 Then my DMs started to crash.

12:31 I had 300, 400 DMs.

12:32 Like, "Where can I reserve?

12:33 When is it going to be?

12:34 Where do you do it?" It's like, I got to find a space.

12:38 This was perfect.

12:39 We are basically at Foodstiz Studios.

12:42 There's an underground feeling.

12:45 Already, everything's set up.

12:47 It was just a perfect spot.

12:49 Also, my co-founder over here, Ferdinando Muscherino,

12:53 is one of the most talented sommelier.

12:56 The first dinner I did at my house,

12:57 I invited him to come and say, "Listen, I need a sommelier.

13:00 I need you to pair all the wine

13:03 from Southern Italy with all the food that we do.

13:07 The menu is half written in Italian,

13:10 so you don't really understand everything that's going on.

13:13 You're hit with a lot of Italian-ness.

13:15 Southern Italy is famous for the warmness.

13:19 In Naples, we do this.

13:20 When we see somebody, it's like, "Hey, how are you doing?

13:23 Oh my God, it's so good to see you." "Where do you have to go?" It's like, "Oh,

13:27 I got to go to visit my family." "Okay,

13:29 let's go take a coffee first." Doesn't matter what you have to do.

13:32 Let's go get an espresso.

13:33 Take the time to talk a little bit.

13:35 Over here, it's[?].

13:36 Everybody's so focused on work, work, work,

13:38 and the human connection for me lacks over here.

13:42 I wanted to bring that back.

13:45 After that bite of food, you see the nod of peoples.

13:48 It's like, "Oh, this is good." That makes my day.

13:52 You cook because you want to make somebody else day better.

13:56 [music] -We come from the underground.

14:09 We got labeled as underground barbecue.

14:12 I was like, "That's cool." You're doing everything illegally.

14:17 People were supporting it.

14:20 Our local health department basically told us

14:22 that we couldn't do what we were doing anymore.

14:25 We got the rug pulled out from underneath us.

14:28 When your livelihood depends on it, just keep fighting.

14:38 The brisket, it's the pectoral muscle.

14:42 It's one of the most toughest pieces of meat that you can cook and barbecue.

14:47 It's the muscle that actually holds up the animal.

14:49 A Central Texas-style barbecue was mainly German and Czech influence.

14:54 It was a way of preserving meat that was

14:56 spoiling in a lot of the old German-Czech butcher shops.

14:59 Yes, making that meat last longer.

15:04 The pepper is what helps the bark form on the brisket.

15:08 What we're trying to achieve is this really juicy, black,

15:13 shiny piece of meat that looks really delicious and enticing.

15:17 I could always tell when a brisket's done cooking because of the way it smells.

15:21 To me, it smells like chocolate, like warm brownies.

15:26 When you know brownies are done because you can smell them,

15:28 the same thing with brisket, being a pit master, that's what you're doing.

15:33 You're mastering your pit.

15:34 They're all different.

15:35 They all have their own personal..

15:37 That's a time where you can pretty much figure

15:39 out anything that you have going on in your life.

15:42 You have to spend that time with you in the fire to see

15:46 how it breathes and how it eats and to realize that it's alive.

15:50 It teaches you how to be patient.

15:53 You're on its time.

15:54 You're sweating.

15:56 You're getting burned.

15:57 You're getting smoke in your eyes.

15:59 Then you still have to come back and do that again the next day.

16:02 It takes a special sort of individual that's

16:04 going to do that over and over again.

16:09 I met my wife back in Orange County when I was in high school.

16:12 She got pregnant at a young age.

16:16 She dropped out.

16:17 I dropped out.

16:18 We were teen parents, so we struggled a lot.

16:21 We barely scraped by.

16:24 We lived paycheck to paycheck.

16:26 I just loved gathering people together and cooking,

16:30 looking back that we were preparing ourselves

16:33 for these gatherings and cooking for big groups of people.

16:37 My wife would be like, "Oh, these people are just coming over,

16:40 and they're just mooching off of us," and this and that.

16:43 Finally, she was like, "Hey,

16:44 we got to start charging for this." It was her idea, really.

16:48 We had our first pop-up in late 2017,

16:52 in the backyard of our first home in Garden Grove.

16:57 Most of them were just friends and family.

16:59 We had people show up that we didn't know.

17:02 It went on like that for quite some time until we actually got in trouble.

17:07 We got pop.

17:08 We had this raid done on us.

17:11 It was a city of Garden Grove and Orange County Health Department.

17:16 They basically told us that we couldn't do what we were doing anymore.

17:20 The hardest thing was the offset smoker.

17:23 It wasn't approved for food use.

17:26 I went back and typed out some documents,

17:30 tried to argue my case on why this would be a safe way to do it.

17:37 I had to write all the procedures.

17:39 We got an answer back and that was, "Okay, well,

17:41 if you can get somebody to build this apparatus with these specifications,

17:47 then we will allow it." We then went

17:49 to our builder and then had the smokers build the specific..

17:52 We became the first in the state to have an offset smoker approved for food use.

18:00 Evan.

18:01 -Yes, brother.

18:02 -Hey, good morning.

18:03 -Nice.

18:03 Yes, great to see you.

18:04 -How are you doing, brother?

18:05 Good to see you.

18:06 -Yes, man.

18:07 Welcome.

18:08 -Thank you.

18:09 The Ecology Center is a regenerative organic..

18:13 in San Juan Capistrano.

18:14 One of the biggest things that they do for the city is..

18:17 education for all ages.

18:19 Yes, I love coming out here.

18:20 -Yes, beautiful day.

18:21 -You got such a hard job.

18:24 -Well, we're all doing the good work,

18:28 putting the culture back in the agriculture, as we like to say.

18:31 -Yes, absolutely.

18:33 -No, we're lucky to be here.

18:34 This is a 28-acre paradise.

18:38 -It is.

18:39 Evan is someone who has been an advocate for su..

18:47 to nourish their bodies with the best that they can get.

18:50 -The conversation that we're having as farmers is

18:53 really exploring that bioregional cuisine that's not just indigenous.

18:58 It's really this evolution of time of— Because trading has happened

19:02 from Mexico all the way through San Juan Capistrano for hundreds of years.

19:09 The Spanish came in the 1800s but before that even.

19:13 The milpa has a strong anchoring here.

19:15 We grow the milpa, the traditional corn, beans, and squash for a lot of reasons,

19:19 not just to preserve the past, but really to bring culture into the future.

19:23 -Yes, you can really see why the natives would settle for this land here.

19:27 It's in this valley, and then we have the river that runs through here, right?

19:30 -Absolutely.

19:31 This is some of the most fertile soil..

19:34 This watershed, this San Juan Creek

19:36 watershed that connects the Saddleback Mountain,

19:39 or Calapa, as the Ahajans say, all the way to Doheny, it's pretty epic.

19:44 You want to harvest some tuna?

19:45 There's some low-hanging fruit right here.

19:47 -Yes.

19:48 Actually, I had my eye on some of these ones over here.

19:51 -Do it.

19:52 Yes, rock it.

19:53 You need a knife or you're going [crosstalk]?

19:54 -Yes, I got one.

19:56 There's an abundance of everything here, huh?

19:59 -That's true.

20:00 -I get some of these prickly pears, these tunas.

20:03 -Yes, help yourself.

20:05 It's so good.

20:06 -Yes, grab a couple more.

20:09 -This is the San Juan Blue.

20:10 This is our heritage ingredient that we've been growing here for years.

20:17 It's just starting to flower.

20:20 There's nothing like a corn field, right?

20:24 This is one of the most powerful

20:26 ingredients for the Americas and for the people,

20:29 which is— This is the sustenance and the spirituality of the people of the land.

20:35 On the other side of that, in America,

20:37 is we've bastardized this sacred ingredient.

20:40 We've turned it into a commodity that's not even edible.

20:43 Even though this specific corn isn't from San Juan.

20:46 That's the journey that we're all on, embarking

20:49 on, is how do we become native to this place?

20:52 Of course, honoring all of our indigenous communities

20:55 that are showing us the ways of being.

20:58 It starts with conversations like this, and it

21:01 follows through with so many other ways.

21:05 -On my dad's side of the family, my grandmother was born here.

21:10 Her bloodline stems from being what people call Californian.

21:15 What do Californians look like?

21:16 It could be mestizo, which is a mixture of Spanish and Indigenous.

21:22 There was no boundaries back then.

21:24 The people of this land were the people that were here before anybody else.

21:28 Before there was a flag.

21:30 Who was really anywhere?

21:31 Does anybody really have a right to be someplace?

21:35 Using the land to cook with outside, there's nothing better.

21:40 We're using a local California white oak, burning it down to coals.

21:44 From there, we're going to take our beef heads that we actually marinated

21:48 in some orange juice from some Valencia oranges that are here on the farm,

21:53 and citrus leaves, and avocado leaves.

21:56 We are going to rub that down with a spice

21:59 mixture of achiote and some other dried chili peppers.

22:03 Wrap them up in some palm leaves because that's what we have here on the farm.

22:07 We'll lower those into the pit, and then we'll cover the whole thing with earth.

22:12 They'll cook overnight.

22:13 These cuts of meat that would normally be thrown away,

22:16 they were the cuts that all the poor people were eating.

22:18 Tomorrow, we'll find out how we did.

22:23 I think that's a wrap.

22:24 We're just going to let the land do its thing

22:31 and trust in our ancestors to finish the process for us.

22:37 This is their method, so we'll just leave them to it.

22:54 One, two, three.

22:58 Okay.

23:00 As long as it doesn't combust right now.

23:03 [music] -There it goes.

23:17 I knew that was going to happen.

23:22 Oh, no.

23:25 No.

23:27 -Want to eat?

23:28 -No.

23:29 I've got to save it.

23:31 There you go.

23:33 -Good save, good save, good save.

23:35 -That looks good, actually.

23:36 -Yes, it does.

23:36 Look at the meat.

23:37 -There you go.

23:41 -Oh, man, that's good.

23:43 [laughter] -Yes, put it right there.

23:46 Fire is going to do what it wants to do.

23:54 We're basically going to pull all the meat off of him,

23:57 the cheeks, the tongue, and we'll pull everything apart.

24:01 Come on, Dwayne.

24:02 You know I'm not going to leave you out, bro.

24:06 I'm not going to give you more brains again.

24:07 That's what I gave you the last time.

24:09 Did you know that?

24:11 I reached in and grabbed a piece of brain.

24:13 -I was going to- -You know I got to mess with you, dude.

24:17 -It's like Cooper when we made him eat the eye.

24:20 -That's some of the cheek.

24:21 -Is this some of the cheek?

24:22 -You know I got a brain left.

24:25 -We're going to take some blue corn that we got from the ecology center,

24:33 make these tostadas, lay some beans down,

24:36 put a nice layer of the beef head on there,

24:39 a couple of eggs, prickly pears, some tunas.

24:42 We're going to roast this off.

24:43 We're going to make a nice ranchero salsa for it and some

24:46 of the little nopal relish that we got from the farm, too.

24:52 Eat it with a little bit of queso fresco.

24:54 That's a ranch meal right there, right?

24:58 After all this hard work, that's something that we deserve.

25:03 -I love the cabeza.

25:05 It tastes just perfectly cut, soft,

25:07 with a little bit of crispiness, the salsa de tuna.

25:10 What I really love is the tostada, because most tostadas, they just shatter.

25:14 There's nothing to it.

25:15 You eat it, all right, it's hard, but..

25:17 you can still taste the corn in it, and it's the tiniest bit soft on the inside.

25:22 Danny never messes up.

25:30 -Heritage Barbecue is full of ragtag chefs,

25:36 but we all find a common interest, and that's cooking.

25:41 I try to give them something to think about when

25:43 they hear our story of where we started in our backyard,

25:48 with no money, and that sort of thing,

25:50 and you can be anything that they want to be.

25:53 Not any of us are here because we did amazing in school..

25:58 We're here to learn the trade.

26:00 A bunch of rebels and outlaws, and we're all degenerates.

26:05 Barbecue is the only really thing that I've been really good at.

26:10 I'm very blessed that it found me because I don't

26:15 know where I would be if I didn't have it.

26:28 -The ale churro is just, it's a statement piece now, which is cool.

26:32 It was my way of being bratty.

26:35 Also, me being out here in LA.

26:38 I love representing the city, too, that it's just like what we're doing

26:42 is taking what is traditionalist to somebody,

26:44 but still twisting it to what we know.

26:48 If you tell me to go one way, I'm going to go the other way.

26:58 I grew up going to games and everything.

27:01 You always had those churros that they're carrying around in the bag,

27:05 or if I go somewhere to certain bakeries,

27:08 they offer churros, and they have them sitting

27:10 under a heat lamp for who knows how long.

27:13 It was never like a fresh bite.

27:15 That Ale Churro started at Cha Cha Chá.

27:17 When I first took over the pastry department,

27:20 I was very like, I don't want to do a churro.

27:23 Because having a churro in a Mexican restaurant,

27:26 you kind of fall into that gimmick.

27:27 If you don't do it right, it sucks.

27:30 For me, it was just very the brat moment of like, "No,

27:33 I don't want to do it." Then one day,

27:36 just playing around with the shapes, and we piped an ale inside.

27:40 We were like, "Damn, I think I did something." It just kind of blew up.

27:45 When it came to Santa Canella, I want a stadium-sized churro.

27:49 I want it to grab people's attention.

27:53 There's no sugar in our dough, too.

27:56 We just cook it until like a thick paste develops,

27:58 and then we take it from there to the mixer.

28:01 Then once that's ready, we'll bag it up.

28:04 We pipe the ale.

28:05 We froze it, and then we fry it from freezer

28:09 to fryer that held so cool and so clean that we're like, "All right, this is it.

28:14 This is our shape." Santa Canella is the bakery that can play with traditional

28:22 things that we grew up with just through the eyes of somebody from LA.

28:28 My first year at Cha Cha Chá, the owner brought it up to me of planning

28:32 on opening a space that is a churrería,

28:35 and that's why we wanted to develop a really good churro.

28:38 They're like, how about we switch the concept to a bakery?

28:42 Then it was just like, "Oh, oh-oh." I'm such a restaurant person.

28:46 They were putting baby in the corner.

28:50 Then it became really important to me, and now I'm like,

28:53 I don't think I could see myself anywhere else now.

28:55 [chuckles] Oh, that's cute.

28:59 -I could be a pastry chef now.

29:01 That's all it takes.

29:03 Right?

29:05 -Look at me, I'm cooking.

29:06 -Look at me, I'm a pastry chef.

29:08 -I wasn't going to walk for graduation and high school,

29:12 so my dad took me to this trade school.

29:15 My mom was like, "Just do the medical assisting route."

29:18 I was just working in the ER for a little bit.

29:21 It was just so sad to me that I didn't want to see everybody suffer.

29:25 I love doing things for people that is going to make them happy and whatever.

29:30 At some point, it wasn't doing it for me anymore.

29:32 I signed up for culinary school behind my parents' back, and nobody knew.

29:38 The only way they found out was because they

29:40 sent my toolkit that they give you to my house.

29:43 Then when I got there, my mom asked me like,

29:45 "What is this?@ She was like, "Why would you do that?

29:48 You're going to end up at a Denny's." I always remember her telling me that.

29:52 I was just like, "Damn, that's crazy." Then somewhere,

29:56 my dad came around and was like, "Hey, I know you want to bake,

30:00 but if you want to learn something, you need to learn everything." He's like,

30:05 "If you're going to do that, you need to learn how to cook fi..

30:08 and then you can do whatever you want at some point." That's what I did.

30:12 [Foreign language] [music] -Paco and I go way back.

30:29 We go almost now 12 years.

30:32 He is the executive chef of the restaurant group we work for, like my mentor.

30:38 I wanted to take Paco through where I grew up in El

30:41 Sereno and all over LA to show him where my inspirations come from.

30:47 La Águila is one of the main panaderías in El Sereno.

30:50 It's somewhere I grew up going to for the last 25 years probably.

30:54 -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language]

31:10 How long have you been coming here?

31:12 -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign

31:20 language] -[Foreign language]-[?] That's crazy.

31:40 -They make about 450 conchas in the winter of each kind.

31:47 -They have two different sizes here that they do

31:50 nine trays of both the small and the big ones.

31:54 -Just two guys.

31:56 -Just two guys.

31:57 Isn't that crazy?

31:58 [chuckles] [Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language] Yes.

32:17 -Take the one that I wanted to try, right?

32:19 -This is my favorite one.

32:21 -How did you come up with the concha?

32:23 Did somebody teach you how to make it, or you just learned it on your own?

32:27 -No, I just learned it on my own.

32:31 Concha to me is a brioche base with some type

32:35 of either just a plain vanilla shell or a flavored shell,

32:39 and then you cut it using a shell stamp.

32:43 This one we make with vanilla bean and orange blossom in here,

32:49 and then I just do a little ball, and hit with my palm of my hand to flatten

32:56 it out bigger than what my brioche base is here.

33:00 Then I just push down, and I squish.

33:03 I'm going to start to tuck in and go the opposite, one down, one up.

33:10 Then I just give it one quick stamp, and then I shape it back,

33:17 and then it goes on to the next one.

33:23 My first trip to Mexico, all I saw was the concha that is completely covered,

33:29 and so that one we do one here to honor that, what I saw in my time there.

33:35 My mom was from DF in Mexico.

33:38 I want to uplift my mom being from DF as much as I can.

33:42 We have the Santa Canela concha, which is filled with a burnt vanilla cream.

33:47 You almost have this really cool cinnamon crust,

33:51 and then the filling inside is just a burnt vanilla

33:54 that carries this very— I don't know what it is for me,

33:58 but it's a nostalgic cookies and cream flavor almost.

34:01 Then when you eat the entire thing,

34:02 it almost tastes like horchata, which is another cool little twist.

34:08 I'm half Salvadorian from my dad's side.

34:12 For me, it was very important to highlight both sides of my upbringing.

34:17 I always tell people if they ask me what I am, I'm like, "Oh,

34:21 I'm half of this, and I'm half of this." I was also born here, and I'm from LA.

34:25 My parents had their experiences where they are, but I'm not from Mexico,

34:30 so I don't really know the super deep culture there.

34:34 I'm not from El Salvador,

34:35 so I know what I know from them telling me stuff and showing me things.

34:40 Also, me being out here in LA, I love representing the city,

34:43 too, that it's just getting to do all three is pretty cool.

34:54 [Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign

35:06 language] -[Foreign language] From what I know,

35:15 champurrado is an old-school— A lot of people say

35:20 it's an Aztec drink because they needed to incorporate masa,

35:23 which was always on hand for them.

35:27 -[Foreign language] -[Foreign language] -[Foreign

35:33 language] -[Foreign language] [music] -LA, you have so many donut shops here,

35:42 and I felt like it was important for me to have a donut.

35:45 My favorite donut is a maple bar.

35:47 It's very subtle and it's so sweet and it's really good.

35:50 I also wanted to try to incorporate champurrado into it,

35:55 which is also such a common thing for us to drink.

35:59 For me, the idea behind that donut was how can I incorporate something

36:03 that's so LA and also so Hispanic that it just put two and two,

36:08 and I made the champurrado glaze, and now it's a donut.

36:19 My mom is very happy.

36:21 Now she's very like, it's crazy to see how much you love what you do.

36:26 You basically told me and your dad, "Shut up,

36:28 and you did what you wanted to do anyways," and that for us,

36:31 makes our sacrifice of coming here worth it.

36:34 When she told me that, I was like, "Damn,

36:37 that's crazy." We were taken in by the community so well here that shifted my..

36:44 okay, now that we're here, how can we keep the traditions alive,

36:48 and how can we be that next step for the next bakers here?

36:52 How can we keep the momentum alive of what a paneria is?

36:59 -This is the chef.

37:01 It's me.

37:02 I'm a line cook, CPA, dishwasher, and I'm a server.

37:08 Looks like I'm octopus.

37:10 I'm everywhere.

37:12 I'm owner.

37:14 [laughs] I'm owner, too.

37:17 Everything I do by myself.

37:19 I want to put my mom's stories, my mom dishes from Turkey,

37:24 and then my experience a little bit Japanese,

37:27 and I work so many years French restaurant,

37:30 and I'm thinking, I'm going to mix these three.

37:34 I think it tastes crazy.

37:38 [music] My mom made kitel twice a week, and I saw it always.

37:51 The kitel good with yogurt and butter.

37:56 This is the bulgur, like a pasta dough, pizza dough, similar.

38:02 If you make mistake, the broken.

38:06 That's the deal.

38:07 There's nothing inside.

38:08 Just salt and water.

38:12 The meat, I use very high-quality ground beef.

38:16 After I make dough, I just pour inside and then close it.

38:21 Looks like dumpling.

38:22 I remember the taste.

38:26 I know this.

38:30 I know how much my mom put in the spice.

38:33 It's ready.

38:35 My mom made twice a week.

38:37 When I go school, she say tonight have kitel.

38:40 I can't wait.

38:42 I need to finish the school and to go home and eat kitel.

38:45 Now I have every day now.

38:47 [chuckles] My family have the restaurant when I young,

38:52 and then I learn everything, but it's not professional.

38:55 Cut, I cook, but it's not like technique.

38:57 Then I want to go school, like culinary school.

39:00 I want to learn how to cut, how to clean, how to organize.

39:06 Nobody show me anything.

39:08 Then I start culinary school.

39:10 After two months, they send me to Japanese restaurant for the stash.

39:14 I saw Japanese restaurant, it's not easy.

39:17 Maybe like two months, I just clean shrimp.

39:20 After 20 days, I'm like a machine.

39:22 Boom, boom, boom.

39:24 Then I move French restaurant.

39:27 I learn French cuisine, like sauce, puree.

39:30 Then I start working.

39:31 Eleven Medicine Park, three Michelin-star restaurant in New York.

39:35 I learn everything over there.

39:37 Work, work, work, and then go home.

39:39 Sleep, another day, same.

39:41 Focus.

39:45 Turkish cuisine, not just Turkish cuisine, it's Middle East.

39:48 We have a lot of dishes,

39:50 and we eat a lot of meat, and actually, we eat fish too.

39:55 I use a lot of spice.

39:58 Very hard to find it but I'm trying.

40:00 I use tarhana.

40:01 Tarhana like a Turkish dry soup mix.

40:06 Tarhana tastes similar to miso.

40:11 I use a lot of miso for the shrimp, lobster, and some fish.

40:19 Then I'm thinking why I'm not using the tarhana.

40:22 Then I got this idea.

40:23 Tarhana inside have yogurt, tomato paste, pepper paste, and some Turkish spice.

40:32 I use with yuzu kosu and butter.

40:37 Then I cook with the shrimp.

40:39 It tastes like Turkish-Turkish.

40:41 I put Japanese-style more umami.

40:44 It tastes like fusion.

40:48 [music] I'm in New York.

41:01 Then my wife got a offer job in Los Angeles.

41:06 Then I feel like, "Okay, we got to go." Can change.

41:09 Change your life.

41:11 Then we move here.

41:13 I'm always looking for the space to open my restaurant.

41:16 What is the rent?

41:17 It's expensive.

41:18 Every day, I make little, little money.

41:22 Then I put something in the menu.

41:23 Two months, very bad because no money.

41:27 I'm trying to survive.

41:29 I feel like that I'm not lucky guy.

41:33 Every single person say, "You are crazy.

41:37 Why you spend money for this restaurant?

41:40 You are stupid.

41:42 Lost your own money." Nobody trust me.

41:45 What should I do?

41:45 What should I do?

41:46 I'm going to drive maybe Uber after restaurant all night.

41:50 I need money.

42:04 -Hi.

42:05 -Hello.

42:05 -Welcome.

42:06 How are you?

42:07 -How are you?

42:08 -Hi.

42:08 Come.

42:09 -All right.

42:11 How was your trip?

42:12 -It was perfect.

42:13 I bring you a lokum actually.

42:16 -Lokum?

42:16 Oh, yes.

42:17 -Here.

42:18 Try.

42:24 Is it good?

42:25 -Yes, it's good.

42:26 -Yes, I will not c..

42:27 -Some Turkish people came to my restaurant for dinner.

42:30 Selin, she comes with the husband here.

42:34 She solved my plate because I don't have the money.

42:37 $1.

42:39 IKEA.

42:40 You know the last chance in IKEA?

42:43 I buy there.

42:46 I'm going to clean this.

42:47 I touch a lot.

42:50 She say I have a studio, ceramic studio.

42:53 I really want to help you because I saw you work alone.

42:57 "What should I do for you?" I'm like, "I don't have money".

43:03 That's the deal.

43:04 She say, "Don't worry about that.

43:05 I'm going to make him for you." Then I'm like,

43:09 "Are you sure because I don't want regular plate." She say,

43:13 "What you want?" "I want interesting." She say, "I can do it.

43:21 Tell me your dream." -I feel it's so close to my story too.

43:26 We are all coming from Turkey.

43:29 He learns Turkish cuisine and Japanese cuisine.

43:33 I feel myself I'm doing the same thing with my designs.

43:38 My master was Japanese, and we connect.

43:44 -We measure all dishes, like kebabs, fish,

43:49 and then we choose this plate for kebab.

43:54 -We measure it.

43:57 -This is for kitel.

44:00 This much area for dumpling.

44:05 That looks beautiful.

44:11 -Do you want to try to throw this plate?

44:14 -Yes.

44:15 Let's do this.

44:19 [chuckles] I think if you're working with right person,

44:38 you're going to make every day better.

44:41 You need to find the right person.

44:47 Okay.

44:47 [laughter] -Yes.

45:05 Normally, my brother, my father,

45:08 they call me during the day because they know I'm sleeping in the night.

45:16 When I saw 5:00 AM, my brother call me,

45:19 I feel like, okay, I lost someone, father or mom.

45:28 Then I open the phone, then he say, "Mom." Actually,

45:32 after I lost my mom, I never go back in Turkey.

45:35 I feel like she's over there still.

45:40 I'm trying to be not emotional.

45:42 [chuckles] Six years now but I think she's going to be happy we are together.

45:55 We see each other.

46:00 When I lost her and then I really want to open restaurant for her.

46:07 I'm going to make the kitel because my favorite dish.

46:15 [music] Every single day, coming three or five people in the restaurant all day.

46:23 I make little, little money.

46:25 I'm starting to use very, very high-quality meat, all farmers market.

46:31 Just money coming, whoop, go other side.

46:35 Coming in incredible ingredients, look at this filet, how big?

46:45 Then when the people came, they say, "Wow,

46:48 what is this?" I'm like, this is the high-quality experience.

46:52 The LA Times, they do two different article.

46:57 After that, my Instagram is going up.

47:01 300 DMs, people coming here, that time, crazy.

47:06 I can't sleep.

47:07 I sleep here too.

47:08 No time.

47:10 I'm trying to my best.

47:11 I want to cook everything perfectly, no mistake,

47:15 because this is— I have one chance.

47:19 Everybody going to be happy.

47:20 Every single person.

47:22 I don't like saying the VIP.

47:24 Every single person is VIP.

47:29 Thomas Keller say every day a little better.

47:32 I try every day a little better, but I don't have team.

47:38 Every day, I try little.

47:41 Not like Thomas Keller say a little better.

47:45 It's like health, but I try.

47:49 If I try more, I think I'm going to burn out.

47:52 Make better, little, it's okay, little, it's good.

47:55 Every day, little, it's good.