What's Cooking?
By Tovin Lapan
The first 10 years of the millennium have been a boon for the restaurant industry. More celebrity chefs are household names than ever before. The Food Network and shows like "Top Chef" and "Hell's Kitchen" have increased the public's culinary vocabulary.
San Diego saw an exponential growth of dining options and an expansion of the region's palate, as new ingredients and styles were steadily introduced.
But after the economic boom ended in the latter part of the decade, the pace of new openings slowed. There were a rash of restaurant closings in 2009, as the industry took a step back.
To take stock of the current environment, The San Diego Union-Tribune hosted a chef's round-table discussion on San Diego dining. All five chefs were raised in San Diego, attended area schools, are under the age of 35 and are in charge of a local restaurant. Their cuisines range from Mexican to Asian fusion, and their fine dining locales stretch from the East Village to Oceanside.
They talked candidly about what inspires them, why San Diego is a unique place to be a chef, and where the dining scene has come from and where they see it going.
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ON WHAT INSPIRED THEM TO GET INTO COOKING
William Bradley: There weren't that many restaurants where I grew up (Bonita). I wasn't born into a food family in the sense of wanting to be a chef from the get-go, so some of my first memories of food are just some of the local restaurants that were around where I lived. That's where I started at one of the local restaurants when I was 16, and that was more driven for a job. Then it turned obviously into a passion and then to a career. So I was very fortunate for that.
Jay Payne: When I was about 14, I had a cousin who owned a route in a bread company -- I worked with her on the weekend, and there were a couple of kitchens on her route. Just from being in the kitchens and seeing that energy kind of stoked an interest. When I was 15, I got a work permit, and a gentleman by the name of Bernard Guillas at the San Diego Yacht Club gave me an opportunity, and I started working on the weekends, peeling vegetables and washing dishes.
Anthony Sinsay: San Diego didn't really lend itself to a huge culinary scene when I was growing up. There really wasn't that much going on in the sense of cuisine. But I think my earliest influences were definitely from my father -- I remember sitting up with him and watching "Yan Can Cook," and seeing my dad trying to duplicate what he saw on TV really piqued my curiosity and my imagination. He passed away when I was 11. So I sort of picked that up after him and started early on. I picked up a knife and started going and haven't put one down since.
Pablo Becker: I definitely have to agree, growing up in San Diego, we didn't have the whole culinary scene as other cities do -- I enrolled at UNLV for hotel management. I basically just wanted the easiest course, and to me it was hotel management. Once I got behind the kitchen, I loved what I was doing and started working with my family, with the restaurants -- and that's all she wrote.
Nathan Coulon: Well my family had a restaurant (The Belgian Lion) since I was born, so I didn't really have a choice. I remember in second grade we were going around the class and the teacher was asking people what you are going to be when you grow up, and I said, "I want to be an astronaut," and he said "No, you can't be an astronaut. You are going to be a chef." So, I guess I didn't really think about it after that. My first memories of the kitchen, I would stand on buckets and peel potatoes and get paid a dollar an hour.
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ON THE PERCEPTION OF SAN DIEGO NOT BEING A 'FOODIE' CITY
Payne: I don't think San Diego will ever be like New York or that type of place, and I don't know that we would ever want to be that. I think the uniqueness behind San Diego is the "laid backness."
Bradley: I think we need to learn as a group to make our own voice. San Francisco is completely different from New York. So we just have to continue to evolve from that and we can be talked about and mentioned with these (foodie) cities but for our own distinctive style.
Coulon: The (chefs) who come in from out of town, they never seem to last that long. They think they are going to come to San Diego and start a revolution. They realize that's not going to happen and they leave. It's not that it's too hard; you have to understand what San Diego wants.
Sinsay: I completely agree. I think a lot of chefs, when they first come here, they are quick to say San Diego doesn't get it. But in reality it's not San Diego that's not getting it, it's us that aren't getting San Diego. And so you have to be immersed into the culture. I think it's our responsibility as chefs to do our homework and get more involved in the food scene as opposed to trying to change it.
Becker: For us it's been a little difficult because I think everyone in Southern California kind of has an idea of what Mexican food is and they compare us with Lolita's and Roberto's (taco shops). It's been very hard for us trying to show anyone that comes in the restaurant that there's a different side to Mexican food. I could put gold chandeliers all over the place and people would still say, "Hey can I get my two-dollar tacos?"
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ON THE SAN DIEGO STYLE OF COOKING AND WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL
Bradley: I have friends and family that come from different parts of the country and even as far up as Canada, up in Toronto, and they come here and they're like "Oh my God, even the produce you have in Vons is better than anything I've ever seen," and its true. We are known as having crisp, light cuisine that is driven by the market. That's what makes San Diego food. We've come a long way. We're not known for fish tacos anymore. We're definitely going in the right direction.
Coulon: (San Diegans) aren't fooled by the smoke and mirrors. They're not going for what's the coolest, latest and greatest.
Sinsay: We don't substitute what people call molecular gastronomy for proper cooking techniques. I think that incorporating a new technique into a dish, as opposed to making the technique the dish itself, is the way to go. And I think that's how San Diego is going to start seeing it.
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ON HOW THE RECESSION HAS AFFECTED BUSINESS
Becker: It's been very hard. I opened in East Village (in June). When I signed the lease, they said in the area there was going to be a local market there, and they're going to open up this and that. Then all of a sudden, when I started building, nothing's opening up. Right now, basically what I'm trying to do is just maintain and listen to what the market has to say. The market is saying right now, well for me, that my restaurant is too expensive for a Mexican restaurant. I think that downtown is very, very difficult.
Payne: We did create a $35 menu for earlier in the night -- and honestly it just hasn't taken off. I don't know why. We mix it up because typically prix-fixe menus do not work at Japengo because people want a little bit of sushi and a little bit of hot food and they just don't want to be stuck with a complete order of one or the other. And I think part of it was that it really wasn't promoted all that much, or as much as it should've been.
Sinsay: Well, I know in Oceanside, and more than likely in Old Town, too, we might be switching to more of a tapas-style cuisine. I don't have to be as committed to a menu item as I do with putting out the food that I do now. I think it's going to be easier to change and easier to play with -- its definitely going to help us grow with the San Diego crowd, and I think it's more along the lines of what they are looking for.
Bradley: If you're committed to quality from the beginning, you will always be committed to it, and that's just by nature. I think what it comes down to (during the recession) is you are being more creative; everyone is. I think it's great. It shows another side of us. We all know it's been a hard time, but I think, moving forward, we've just become more creative.
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ON LOOKING FORWARD AND HOW NUTRITION AND COOKING SHOULD BE TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS
Coulon: I would want to set up a class in the schools that is part of a program. They learn how to cook, and those are the people who cook for the cafeteria. You'd be amazed how even cooking a hamburger seems so simple, but there are people who honestly don't know how to do it. There are people who wouldn't know how to start.
Payne: It's a lot of processed food (in school), and I think we have to get away from that and offer them more fresh things. We have such great access to fresh products here. ...
Bradley: You need to educate them on what they need to eat, and then exercise afterward. So then they understand how the two and two work... It's because of what we're putting in them. It's very simple, you go back to the food wheel, the right amount of bread and fruits and vegetables and milk, that's the basic nutrition. If you do everything in moderation and follow the daily food pyramid -- you'll be fine. It will cut obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
Tovin Lapan writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.
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