Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012 - (Page 106)

E A ST WEST From far left: Rack of Lamb glazed with Korean chili paste; a plated Angry Lobster, spiced with Szechuan chilies; prepped vegetables on the line. 1982 — before Nobu and supermarket sushi — and people loved it. “I wanted a restaurant where the cooking expressed the culture of the city. LA is such a melting pot, so it made sense to put a Japanese dish on the menu.” We might call the middle course Chinois, where Puck ﬁrst created an all-Asian menu. It was loosely Chinese. He would add mint to plum sauce and serve sea urchin dishes created by his Japanese chef. Woven into this are side dishes of entrepreneurship: his long-standing gig cooking for the Oscars’ Governors Ball, a chain of casual restaurants and an extensive line of kitchen products. Although Puck has continued to expand on so many fronts, with WP24 he has upped the authenticity, catering to the increasingly sophisticated palates of diners well versed in global cuisine. These are diners schooled by Anthony Bourdain’s dispatches from Malaysia and beyond, the Yelpers who out-post one another with reviews of restaurants in the nearby Chinese enclave of Monterey Park. “Rather than do my food with a Chinese twist, I wanted to do Chinese food with our twist,” Puck says. It’s a recalibration that shows up in modernized versions of classic regional dishes like a short rib hot pot infused with star anise, and some ﬂights of fancy like a Kobe beef fritter dusted with curried salt. To develop the menu, Puck confers with his partner Lee Hefter, who shares his fascination with the Far East, making frequent pilgrimages to Asia to do research. “It’s like a marriage,” Puck says. “For it to work, you need to share the same interests and beliefs.” The underpinnings of these dishes are ingredients from the best purveyors: Meat is prime and produce is local and organic — much of it from family farms that Puck’s buyers confer with at the weekly Santa Monica farmers market. And all of this is presented in a ﬁne-dining experience, with gracious and attentive service and a wine and beverage program entrusted to none other than Puck’s brother, Klaus. “A good restaurant is a good restaurant,” says Puck. “If you’re a fashion designer, it’s the same thing. Everyone wants to buy something with a name on it, like a Chanel or Gucci bag. But Coco is dead a long time, and Karl Lagerfeld is doing a great job with the label. If Chanel didn’t make great clothes, they would’ve gone out of business a long time ago.” So what’s the trick, beyond Puck visiting four restaurants a night, greeting diners and checking out every detail in the kitchen? “It’s about creating memories. We want people to say, ‘We had this great bottle of wine, or this great appetizer, or the Peking duck was amazing. I can’t wait to go back and have it again.’ ” And like the Wong Farms mango dessert, these memories are created layer by layer. Right now, the sweetest layer in the Puck empire is high up in the air, 24 ﬂoors above Los Angeles. Full recipes from this article and other Ritz-Carlton Magazine culinary features are available at . / 106 W W W. R I T Z C A R LT O N . C O M http://www.ritzcarlton.com/magazine http://WWW.RITZCARLTON.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012
Contents
Contributors
Editor’s Letter
President’s Letter
Falling in Love With ... Hong Kong
Design
Auto
Technology
On the Boulevards
Shopping
Jewelry
Watches
Palm Beach
Wellness
Santiago

Ritz-Carlton Magazine - Winter 2012