INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

JL: Are there any culinary aspects that grab your interest in California, specifically Los Angeles?

FM: Well, California is an important state in my life. I first came to California when I was 16 with my guitar. I arrived in San Francisco in search of the music of those times. I lived in many places of California, the following years. From San Francisco to Santa Barbara to Solana Beach. Never in L.A. though. I’m a big admirer of the Edible schools that Alice Waters is doing around the country, and we are planning to open one in Patagonia. I’m a big admirer, too, of all the farmers in Bolinas, where I go quite often. That’s a landmark for organic growing that started 50 years ago. I love California. It’s a very beautiful home for me.

JL: Who do you turn to at this point for inspiration, guidance or advice?

FM: I admire a lot the democracy of thought in cooking, and in doing, because cooking in restaurants is a language of life. I find that the democracy of thought in that environment is a very beautiful thing. As examples, I could talk about Zuni Café in San Francisco, who had an extremely democratic mother in Judy Rodgers. Or Alice Waters, and many others. I find that growing up in this world of cooking and restaurants, the beautiful thing is the democracy in the way you work, in the people who work with, how you share with them, hear them, and let them be who they really are, and know who you really need them to be for you. That’s the beauty.

JL: When people hear the name Francis Mallmann, what do you want them to think?

FM: Well, I’ve been trying for the last 20 years to invite people into a certain lifestyle, which includes cooking. It has to do not only with taste, but with a lifestyle of wildlife, of being outside, of getting out of your chair, of breaking rules, believing that opposites are very beautiful in the world of cooking. That’s what I would like to represent.

JL: What would it take for you to open a restaurant in Los Angeles?

FM: Oh, God. It would take a healthy investor and a fire permit.

JL: I hope you’re able to achieve both of those goals.

FM: Not easy.