Zocalo Event: What is Authenticity?

The last Zocalo event at the Hammer Museum moderated by Jonathan Gold, which tackled the question of "What is Los Angeles Cuisine" didn't end up really answering the question. I tried answering that question with a series of columns in FoodGPS that concluded why Los Angeles is such a great food city.

This time, Gold gathered notable chefs Nancy Silverton of Osteria/Pizzeria Mozza, Jimmy Shaw of Loteria Grill, Roy Choi of Kogi, and Jazz Singsanong of Jitlada. Gold began the night with a fifteen minute setup of the unique state of cuisine in Los Angeles, a mishmash of cultures and ethnicities that more often strive to capture the "original" cuisine from the home country. However, because of the distinct resources and ingredients available in Southern California, Angelenos have been able to adapt these traditional methods and techniques to make it their own, or perhaps even revise those "authentic" preparations.

Gold started out by discussing Silverton's approach when she created Campanile with Mark Peel in the late 80's, where they tried to reflect the food they act during a 6-week furlough in Tuscany. When they opened the restaurant, naysayers categorized the food as "Cal-Italian" instead of "authentic" Italian. Silverton really didn't care to perfectly reflect that cuisine because she was neither Italian nor lived there for a prolonged period. However, with the Mozzas, Silverton is definitely trying to "authentically" capture what an experience an Italy might be, albeit with her own interpretations of the food. For example, she gave an anecdote about how she will get dozens of comment cards from grateful diners who praise the pizza and then a fiery comment left by an Italian (in Italian nonetheless) accusing her of not making real pizza. I thought at this point that Gold left a conteplative mood for the audience, causing us to wonder if it's really even valuable to be truly authentic.

Jimmy Shaw, with whom I was unfamiliar, but whose food at Loteria Grill I have very much enjoyed, talked about the food he ate growing up in Mexico City. He complained that there were actually more good Italian restaurants in LA than Mexican, and tried to capture the flavors and styles he had growing up in Mexico. He said that travelers from Mexico City sometimes stop at Loteria Grill first when arriving in LA, confirming to him that it in fact does reflect what these travelers expect in an authentic Mexican restaurant. I think Gold's tilt at this point was that there is a value to authenticity, even with certain ingredient shortcomings, because we are able to see a true reflection of a cuisine, especially if we are unfamiliar with it.

I liked how Shaw pointed out that the stews and meats that he serves at Loteria are what you might expect at a top-notch taqueria in Mexico City, reflecting the central and Oaxacan/Puebla regions of Mexico. You won't find simple, "carne asada", which in our point of view would be as vague as saying "seared meat" instead of "flat-iron" or "sirloin." Most Angelenos' expectations of Mexican food are really limited compared to the diversity of preparations for tacos in Mexico, where one may find tacos at formal parties, casual dinners, and even date-worthy restaurants. Shaw's ideal was to carbon-copy this approach to tacos and elevate it from the Angeleno's perspective of ghetto taco truck on the street corner (although that still has its place in the culinary pantheon).

The discussion moved at a comfortable, enjoyable pace to Roy Choi, whose less than four-month foray into the food scene has been propelled by the overwhelming success of Kogi BBQ Truck, a superb blend of Korean and Mexican that reflects the styles seen in the greater Koreatown area. This were the two foods that Choi ate growing up here in the city and he really wanted to put those two flavors together. He earnestly spoke of his approach to the Korean side of the concept, saying that the recipes he uses are what he learned growing up at home and in his family's restaurant. As an ethnic Korean, he was well versed in Korean cuisine's history, how the differing regions have specialities and distinct approaches to certain dishes.

I was certainly impressed by his humility when he pronounced that despite the Internet sensation that the truck has created, he would rather be cooking in a plain truck on some shady street corner in a nameless truck. But he knows that Kogi is bigger than him, that the so-called fad of the moment could easily grow organically into a brand that pervades every major city in the country. Though right now he is probably the most well-known faces of the operation, he realizes that if and when certain opportunities to grow beyond his culinary reach, he would concede. He admits that Kogi is becoming bigger than himself.

Jazz Singsasong, the jovial proprietor of Jitlada, talked about how all she wanted was to accurately portray the food of her upbringing in Southern Thailand. Her heart-felt story of an immigrant really resonated with me. Though I was born here, I hear this story all the time from my parents and especially my grandparents who gave up everything in Korea to come to the States (actually they made a stop in Brazil for a few years first). Jazz was easily the least well versed in the high-speed culinary culture that moves LA and the rest of this country, the Food Network-driven mentality that the latest and greatest needs the spotlight. Jazz's simple aim is to make the food she grew up on, the intense, non-Americanized flavors of fiery chilis, curries, and more. The wonderful thing is, people have caught on. Foodies, tourists, curious diners - they are all brought to wonder by this stuff, food that they probably cannot find anywhere else in the country at this level of quality. I can attest to this from multiple visits - Southern Thai food is like nothing I've ever tried and as soon as I finish my meal, I wonder when I can go back. Now that Jazz has increased the number of dishes from 70 to 126, I need to go and try some of the new ones.

Afterwards, I was able to chat with the panelists. I waited a bit for Silverton and noticed that a couple younger boys eagerly went to talk to her. Two of them were no older than 13 and goaded by their mother to speak with Silverton. I was thinking of that 12-year old food critic in NY's Upper East Side, profiled by Alan Richman in this month's GQ Magazine. I also recall Regina Scrambling's article on the kids being too involved in the food world at a young age. While there certainly isn't anything wrong with young people pursuing a career in the food world, I think it's just weird when their parents (who don't even know how to pronounce gnocchi - Silverton had to correct the mother) are pushing their kids like an ambitious soccer mom or overzealous Asian parent with a musical instrument. Anyways, once I was able to talk to Silverton, I commended her for her excellent food and told her we still had to make the trip to the Osteria. She invited us to come on any night regardless of whether or not we had a reservation and wait for a place at the bar. I might do that this weekend. Overall a great event.

Afterwards we hit up Sasaya, Benito's, and Apple Pan for a little West LA late night food romp because we were starving. Reviews of those places should be coming soon.

(BTW: thanks for Zocalo for putting the event on, but NO THANKS for not letting us take any photos of the event. And your flickr of the photos from last night? First off your photo guy was using a really dim 18-55 zoom lens that left shadows galore of the panelists, AND I can't download any of the photos for use on my own blog! I understand not being able to take photos during the event for sanity's sake, but at least let us download the photos. *Thanks to Jo of MyLastBite for furnishing the few photos I have here* You can find video and photos of the event here)