Interview: chef Nyesha Arrington (Wilshire Restaurant)

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Chef Los Angeles

Photo courtesy of Kelley Carroll

INTERVIEW CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE

Do you see signature dishes as a positive?

That’s an interesting question. Being that this is my first executive chef position, people are like, “What is your signature dish?” I don’t know that I have one. I’m still developing that side. I’m not known just for the best roast chicken ever. I feel like I make a lot of things extremely well that aren’t typical, because I’m very much a chef who’s inspired by a season, so when I come up with a dish, all those things come into play. I kind of don’t like that question. I love Korean food, I love French. There are too many to choose one.

What are your top selling dishes at Wilshire?

The black cod and the gnocchi are the two top selling dishes right now.

Why do you think those are the big sellers?

The black cod is a dish that looks sort of simple and elegant, but when you’re eating it, there are extremely bold, delicious flavors. I marinate in Dijon mustard, honey, soy, and broil it and do a celery root puree and cippollini onion broth, that we pour tableside. Once you start to eat the dish, it sort of morphs, because the celery root blends with the broth and it sort of becomes a different flavor profile and texture. It’s garnished with scallions, so fresh greens.

If you could travel to any city in the world right now, primarily to eat, what would it be and why?

I suppose some kind of – I don’t know lots of names of cities in Japan – but I’d really want to go to Japan to study with experts in Japanese fish, sushi guys. I love that very much regimented school of cooking. It’s hard to come by that now. It seems like – I kind of play the fence because I’m young and kind of like that simplistic approach to food – but I also like that regimented, old school focus on food. If I could go to Japan and work with some sushi guys, that would be cool.

Who’s a person you’ve never cooked with before that you would most like to cook with?

There are different people for different reasons. I’m going to say Heston Blumenthal, who’s just some an imaginative, awe-inspiring chef.

Is there anything that you won’t eat?

No. I eat anything and everything.

Do you eat anywhere after you get off of work?

I live off of Main Street, so there’s La Cabana on Rose. The Dogtown Dog Truck, they have this one hot dog with arugula and crispy onions, it’s pretty delicious. It’s all convenient stuff.

What’s the last meal that you cooked at home?

When I went home to my parents’ house a month ago, my sister and I made japchae, the Korean noodle dish, and it was amazing.

What’s the key to a good version of that that?

A good amount of the garnish. Sometimes, there’s too much noodle, so a good amount of beef, a good amount of scallion, not too sweet. The key to ours being delicious is that our mom makes a really good Korean chile paste called gochujang, and she makes it there. It’s like crack to me because I love spicy food. Hers is the best, so that’s what makes that dish good for me.

Have you had a chance to go to Korea before?

No, I haven’t. It’s definitely on my list of places to go. That would be amazing. I was thinking about saying that too, but professional wise, Japan. For a culinary adventure, I would definitely like to go to Korea.

Did you play any sports in high school?

Oh, god, I’m a big sports fan. I played soccer, softball, I was very much into martial arts. I competed internationally for kenpo. I was a swimmer.

How are you able to find balance in your life, now, if you’re even able to?

Honestly, that’s something I need to rekindle in my life, because my life has been so, so, so hectic in the past year. Pretty much from the moment I came back from the islands, I went from 0 to 60. I was good at it. When I was at Cache, I was on a softball team, and we played on Sundays. Sometimes I’d have two days off. I was pretty good about trying to take two days off, and now, I want so much for the restaurant to succeed. At Wilshire, I touch every table. I try to be there as much as possible. I’m at the farmers market twice a week. It’s hard to find balance. I really, really, really need to do that, because I’m realizing that if you don’t find balance, it affects your cooking and your psyche and your happiness. It’s not good.

Were you comfortable right away, appearing on television?

No. I hated it. I hated it. I hated being in the limelight, being on all the time, because in the back of house, I’m not used to that. It’s different when you’re talking about food. You can charm people, and it’s a certain amount of matter-of-fact points that you’re making, but when it’s about your personality, and it’s lights and cameras, with 15 other chefs around you, in the beginning, it was really hard. Towards the end, it got fun. When I started to see myself on TV, you tweak here and there and start to realize, basically, what you’re trying to do is talk to the public, but to be able to reach a large number of people in that sort of format, it’s important to do that well, and I didn’t take it that seriously in the beginning. I got more comfortable as I went on and realized I had to get in touch with people and my fans. It’s cool.

So you’re happy you did it?

I’m totally happy I did it. It changed my perspective on a lot of things, people, life, the way other people view me. I’m glad. At the beginning, I wasn’t so excited, but it’s good.

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Joshua Lurie

Joshua Lurie founded FoodGPS in 2005. Read about him here.

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