James Syhabout with Roy Choi

Thursday, January 25, 2018
8pm 
 
James Syhabout
in conversation with Roy Choi
 
discussing his book,
Hawker Fare:
Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef’s Isan Thai & Lao Roots

Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS 
$50 General Admission Seat + a copy of Hawker Fare
$60 Reserved Section Seat + a copy of Hawker Fare
$20 General Admission Seat  
$30 Reseved Section Seat

James Syhabout was born in Oakland. He graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 1999 and headed to Manresa and the Fat Duck before working as commis at El Bulli, chef de partie at Alkimia, and chef de partie at Daniel Patterson’s Coi. In 2009 in Oakland he opened Commis, which holds two Michelin stars, and its casual sister restaurant Hawker Fare in Oakland and San Francisco in 2011 and 2015 respectively. He’s also co-owner of Old Kan Beer and Co. in Oakland.

Roy Choi was born in Seoul, Korea and raised in Los Angeles, California, Roy Choi is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and later worked at the internationally acclaimed Le Bernardin. In 2010, Food and Wine named him Best New Chef.  His cookbook/memoir L.A. Son was a NY Times Bestseller in 2013. He was included in the 2016 TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World list. And in 2017, LocoL received the first ever LA Times Restaurant of the Year award.  Roy resides in Los Angeles where he is the co-owner, co-founder, and chef of Kogi BBQ, Chego!, A-Frame, Commissary, POT and LocoL.

“With Hawker Fare, Syhabout has done more than any other person in the world to get the word out about this unfairly, unnecessarily secret country and cuisine, and he’s done so with the most perfect invitation ever invented by mankind: spicy, fishy, MSG-y bowls of goodness. And BBQ. This book will make you a better person. That’s before you even try any of the recipes.”-Anthony Bourdain in the Preface of Hawker Fare

“James is a suspension bridge between form and flow, meticulous and laid-back, Thailand and Laos, chef and friend, awkwardness and confidence, technique and soul. He’s not one thing or another, and he’s probably going to be someone completely different than you though he was after you read this book. He’s a man of surprises.”  –Roy Choi in the Foreword of Hawker Fare

James Syhabout’s hugely popular Hawker Fare restaurant in San Francisco is the product of his unique family history and diverse career experience. Born into two distinct but related Asian cultures—from his mother’s ancestral village in Isan, Thailand’s northeast region, and his father’s home in Pakse, Laos—he and his family landed in Oakland in 1981 in a community of other refugees from the Vietnam War. Syhabout at first turned away from the food of his heritage to work in Europe and become a classically trained chef.

After the success of Commis, his fine dining restaurant and the only Michelin-starred eatery in Oakland, Syhabout realized something was missing—and that something was Hawker Fare, and cooking the food of his childhood. The Hawker Fare cookbook immortalizes these widely beloved dishes, which are inspired by the open-air “hawker” markets of Thailand and Laos as well as the fine-dining sensibilities of James’s career beginnings. Each chapter opens with stories from Syhabout’s roving career, starting with his mother’s work as a line cook in Oakland, and moving into the turning point of his culinary life, including his travels as an adult in his parents’ homelands.

From building a pantry with sauces and oils, to making staples like sticky rice and padaek, to Syhabout’s recipe for instant ramen noodles with poached egg, Hawker Fare explores the many dimensions of this singular chef’s cooking and ethos on ingredients, family, and eating well. This cookbook offers a new definition of what it means to be making food in America, in the full and vibrant colors of Thailand, Laos, and California.

 

Alice Waters with Jonathan Gold

Wednesday, October 4, 2017
8pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
 
Alice Waters
in conversation with Jonathan Gold
 
discussing her upcoming memoir,
Coming to My Senses:
The Making of a Counterculture Cook

Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS  — SOLD OUT
Video from the event will be posted week of  Oct 9.
$45  General Admission Seat + book
$55  Reserved Section Seat +book
$95  Reception (6:30-7:30pm)* + Reserved Seat + book
$20  General Admission Seat (on sale Sep. 4)
*includes selections prepared from recipes by Alice Waters

Alice Waters on Sex, Drugs and Sustainable Agriculture, (New York Times, Aug 22, 2017)

“I feel that good food should be a right and not a privilege, and it needs to be without pesticides and herbicides.  And everybody deserves this food.”

Alice Waters is executive chef, founder, owner and of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café in Berkeley, California. She also founded the Edible Schoolyard Project.  Waters has received the National Humanities Medal, the French Legion of Honor, the WSJ Magazine Humanitarian Innovator Award, and three James Beard Awards. Waters is the vice president of Slow Food International and the author of thirteen books.

“….every time you’re going to the grocery store, you’re voting with your dollars.  Support your farmers’ market.  Support local food.  Really learn to cook.”

Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People: Alice Waters on the Edible Schoolyard

Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook is the long-awaited memoir from cultural icon and culinary standard-bearer Alice Waters.  In it, she recalls the circuitous road and tumultuous times leading to the founding of what is arguably America’s most influential restaurant. Moving from a repressive suburban upbringing to Berkeley in 1964 at the height of the Free Speech Movement and campus unrest, she was drawn into a bohemian circle of charismatic (mostly male) figures whose views on design, politics, film, and food would ultimately inform the unique culture on which Chez Panisse was founded. 

Dotted with stories, recipes, photographs, and letters, Coming to My Senses is a quietly revealing look at one woman’s evolution from a rebellious yet impressionable follower to a respected activist, and how she established the iconic institution that redefined American cuisine for generations of chefs and food lovers alike.

Jonathan Gold is the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2007 and was a finalist again in 2011. A Los Angeles native, he began writing the Counter Intelligence column for the L.A. Weekly in 1986, wrote about death metal and gangsta rap for Rolling Stone and Spin among other places, and is delighted that he has managed to forge a career out of the professional eating of tacos.

 

Yotam Ottolenghi

Monday, October 2, 2017
8pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
 
An Evening with
Yotam Ottolenghi & Helen Goh
 
In conversation with Amy Scattergood
discussing their upcoming cook book,
Sweet


Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre

New Roads School

Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$50  General Admission Seat + book
$60  Reserved Section Seat +book
$95  Reception + Reserved Seat + book
$20  General Admission Seat (on sale Sep. 2)

“Here is my confession: I rarely go a day without a slice or bite or square of something sweet.” —Yotam Ottolenghi

We’e excited to welcome Yotam Ottolenghi back to our stage. Yotam Ottolenghi is the author of Plenty and Plenty More, and co-author of NOPI, Ottolenghi, and Jerusalem, which was awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals and Best International Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation. All five books were New York Times bestsellers. He began his culinary career as a pastry chef. Ottolenghi lives in London, where he owns an eponymous group of restaurants.

Helen Goh is a pastry chef, longtime Ottolenghi collaborator, and the Ottolenghi product developer. Head pastry chef at one of Melbourne’s landmark restaurants, she moved to London, went to meet Yotam, and they have been baking and discussing the sweeter things in life ever since. She lives in West London.

Watch the video of Yotam Ottolenghi in conversation with Russ Parsons at Live Talks Los Angeles (Oct 2014)

Yotam Ottolenghi’s shakshuka recipe

Widely beloved for his beautiful, inspirational, and award-winning cookbooks, Ottolenghi has created another must-have for home cooks. Fully illustrated with stunning color photographs, Sweet: Desserts from London’s Ottolenghi is an enticing cookbook filled with over 120 recipes for confectionary treats and firmly rooted in the Ottolenghi tradition of abundance, inclusion, and celebration; conceived with love and a generous dusting of flair.

Many of the recipes contain his signature ingredients and flavors: things such as rose petals, figs, saffron, orange blossom, star anise, pistachio, almond, cardamom, and cinnamon. In a happy accident, there are more than 30 gluten-free recipes, as well as nut-free offerings.

Amy Scattergood is the food editor for the Los Angeles Times. She has degrees from Yale Divinity School, the Iowa Writers Workshop and the Cordon Bleu and has written a book of poetry and co-written a whole grain cookbook. Although originally from Iowa, she’s lived in L.A. for a long time now and will continue to do so, as long as tacos and the Pacific Ocean exist.

 

Raghavan Iyer

Tuesday, February 28, 2017
8:00pm Talk
6:30-7:30pm  Reception
 

An Evening with
Raghavan Iyer

discussing his latest cookbook
Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked—and Fried, Too! a celebration of potatoes in 75 irresistible recipes

William Turner Gallery
Bergamot Station Arts Center
2525 Michigan Avenue,
Santa Monica, CA 90404 

PURCHASE TICKETS 
$35 Reserved Seat + Book
$20 General Admission Seat
$95 Reserved Seat + Book + Reception*
*Reception (6:30-7:30pm) includes selections prepared from the book

Raghavan Iyer received a 2016 James Beard Award for his online video series Indian Curries: The Basics & Beyond. He is the author of 660 Curries, Indian Cooking Unfolded, Betty Crocker’s Indian Home Cooking, and The Turmeric Trail. He is also the host of the Emmy Award–winning documentary Asian Flavors and a member and past President (2014–2015) of the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

A native of Mumbai who is fluent in six languages, Raghavan is a culinary educator, spokesperson, and consultant to numerous national and international clients including General Mills, Target, and Bon Appétit Management Company (BAMCO), where he helped launch an Indian meals program and trained all BAMCO chefs across the United States in Indian cuisine and global vegan cuisine through more than 75 national workshops. 

He has written for Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, Saveur, Weight Watchers Magazine, EatingWell, Gastronomica, and many others. Raghavan is also cofounder of the Asian Culinary Arts Institutes, an organization dedicated to the preservation, understanding, and enjoyment of the culinary arts of Asia. He has a line of roasted spice blends, Turmeric Trail, and an app, Raghavan’s Indian Flavors, available through iTunes and the Android Market. 

In Smashed, Mashed, Boiled, and Baked—and Fried, Too! A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes, Raghavan pays tribute to his favorite ingredient in a continent-by-continent celebration of the amazing potato. Its recipes, inspired by a diversity of cuisines and accompanied by enticing full-color photographs, feature scrumptious starters, like Ecuadorean Llapingachos and Sweet Potato Samosas. Hearty mains: Canadian Lamb-Potato Tortiѐre, Moroccan Potato Stew with Saffron Biscuits, Potato Lasagna. Plus rich gratins, a boundary-defying Mojito Potato-Pomegranate Salad, luscious sauces and condiments, and even desserts.

Patric Kuh with Antonia Lofaso

Tuesday, June 21, 2016
8pm 
 
Patric Kuh
in conversation with Antonia Lofaso
 
discussing his upcoming book,
Finding the Flavors We Lost: 
From Bread to Bourbon, How Artisans Reclaimed American Food


Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School

Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404

PURCHASE TICKETS
$20 General Admission Section Seat  
$45 Reserved Section Seat + book

Patric Kuh is the restaurant critic for Los Angeles Magazine and the author of The Last Days of Haute Cuisine: The Coming of Age of American Restaurants, which won the 2002 James Beard Award for writing on food. His new book is Finding the Flavors We Lost: From Bread to Bourbon, How Artisans Reclaimed American Food.
 
“Kuh artfully tells a food tale… As a chef, I am inspired by Kuh’s desire to give convenience and mass production a run for the money with a tasty vision for the American table. This book made me hungry!” (Alex Guarnaschelli, executive chef at Butter and author of Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook)

 
We hear the word “artisanal” all the time—attached to cheese, chocolate, coffee, even fast-food chain sandwiches—but what does it actually mean? We take “farm to table” and “handcrafted food” for granted now but how did we get here? In Finding the Flavors We Lost, acclaimed food writer Patric Kuh profiles major figures in the so-called “artisanal” food movement who brought exceptional taste back to food and inspired chefs and restaurateurs to redefine and rethink the way we eat.

Kuh begins by narrating the entertaining stories of countercultural “radicals” who taught themselves the forgotten crafts of bread, cheese, and beer-making in reaction to the ever-present marketing of bland, mass-produced food, and how these people became the inspiration for today’s crop of young chefs and artisans. Finding the Flavors We Lost also analyzes how population growth, speedier transportation, and the societal shifts and economic progress of the twentieth century led to the rise of supermarkets and giant food corporations, which encouraged the general desire to swap effort and quality for convenience and quantity.

Kuh examines how a rediscovery of the value of craft and individual effort has fueled today’s popularity and appreciation for artisanal food and the transformations this has effected on both the restaurant menu and the dinner table. Throughout the book, he raises a host of critical questions. How big of an operation is too big for a food company to still call themselves “artisanal”? Does the high cost of handcrafted goods unintentionally make them unaffordable for many Americans? Does technological progress have to quash flavor? Eye-opening, informative, and entertaining, Finding the Flavors We Lost is a fresh look into the culture of artisan food as we know it today—and what its future may be.

Antonia Lofaso joined Joe Bastianich and Tim Love in the second season of CNBC’s ‘Restaurant Startup,’ as a consultant and the show is now in its third season. Best known for her role on Top Chef Season 4, Top Chef All Stars and Top Chef Duels, Chef Antonia Lofaso is one of America’s most loved chefs. Most recently, Lofaso has gone from television personality to business owner and is currently executive chef and owner of Black Market in Studio City, California and Scopa Italian Roots in Venice, California. With a lifelong passion for cooking, Lofaso chased her dreams and has managed to balance her busy career with being a single parent. She shares her secrets and tips in her book The Busy Mom’s Cookbook re-released in paperback and can be seen as a frequent judge on Food Network’s Cutthroat Kitchen.

Padma Lakshmi

Tuesday, March 15, 2016
8:00pm (Reception, 6:30-7:30pm)
 
Padma Lakshmi
in conversation with Aimee Liu
 
discussing her memoir, 
Love, Loss, and What We Ate

Ann and Jerry Moss Theatre
New Roads School
Herb Alpert Educational Village
3131 Olympic Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90404


PURCHASE TICKETS

$43 Reserved Section Seating + Book*
$95 Reception**(6:30-7:30pm)+ Reserved Section seat + Book*

$20 General Admission Seats
* Books will be picked up at the event, and signed immediately after the talk
** Reception will include selections prepared from Padma Lakshmi’s recipes

Padma Lakshmi is the host of the Emmy Award-winning, top-rated Bravo series Top Chef, and the author of two cookbooks: the award-winning Easy Exotic and Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet. The first internationally successful Indian supermodel, she has appeared in numerous fashion spreads and has walked the runway for designers Ralph Lauren, Emmanuel Ungaro, and Alberta Ferretti, and starred in campaigns for Versus and Roberto Cavalli. 

Love, Loss, and What We Ate  is a vivid memoir of food and family, survival and triumph; and traces the arc of Padma Lakshmi’s unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera—a tantalizing blend of Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone and Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.

Long before Padma Lakshmi ever stepped onto a television set, she learned that how we eat is an extension of how we love, how we comfort, how we forge a sense of home–and how we taste the world as we navigate our way through it. Shuttling between continents as a child, she lived a life of dislocation that would become habit as an adult, never quite at home in the world. And yet, through all her travels, her favorite food remained the simple rice she first ate sitting on the cool floor of her grandmother’s kitchen in South India.

Poignant and surprising, Love, Loss, and What We Ate is Lakshmi’s extraordinary account of her journey from that humble kitchen, ruled by ferocious and unforgettable women, to the judges’ table of Top Chef and beyond. It chronicles the fierce devotion of the remarkable people who shaped her along the way, from her headstrong mother who flouted conservative Indian convention to make a life in New York, to her Brahmin grandfather—a brilliant engineer with an irrepressible sweet tooth—to the man seemingly wrong for her in every way who proved to be her truest ally. Her memoir includes evocative recipes, and is alive with the scents, tastes, and textures of a life that spans complex geographies both internal and external.

Love, Loss, and What We Ate is an intimate and unexpected story of food and family—both the ones we are born to and the ones we create—and their enduring legacies.

Aimee Liu is the best-selling author of Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders and the novels Flash House, a tale of suspense and Cold War intrigue set in Central Asia; Cloud Mountain, based on the true story of her American grandmother and Chinese revolutionary grandfather; and Face
a psychological mystery involving mixed-race identity. These books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Liu’s articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in anthologies and periodicals such as The Los Angeles Times, Ms., Cosmopolitan, Self, Glamour, and Good Housekeeping. She is a past president of the national writers’ organization PEN USA and a current member of the faculty of Goddard College’s MFA program in creative writing at Port Townsend, WA. Visit her website.