Italian food

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July 26, 2011 | 12:09 PM | By

Growing up Persian in an Italian restaurant

 

Photo by stopthegears/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Multi-American’s sister blog DCentric in Washington, D.C. has been taking on the topic of food authenticity, in particular whether ethnic food that’s prepared and served by chefs and proprietors of an ethnicity different from that of the cuisine is sufficiently “authentic.” Last week, blogger Elahe Izadi profiled a couple of these restaurateurs, a Salvadoran immigrant who operates a pizzeria and an Iranian immigrant who runs a Cajun restaurant.

In a first-person piece yesterday, Izadi explained her connection: She’s the child of an Iranian immigrant father who worked in Italian restaurants, eventually developed his own sauce recipe, and opened his own restaurant serving Italian food. From the post:

Growing up, many people assumed we were Italian, particularly since there weren’t many Iranians in our fairly homogenous community. Sometimes we’d joke that my grandmother was part-Italian, or that my father had flown over Italy and that counts for something. Some customers, among them Italians, would tell us how the food reminded them of restaurants in Little Italy or Italy itself.

In our home, my mother’s Persian cooking reigned supreme. But sometimes we’d eat white pizza and eggplant parmigiana from our restaurant, which was also home cooking. At large family get-togethers, we served traditional Persian dishes alongside baked ziti.

Today, Elahe considers a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs with her father’s sauce as much of her family’s culinary tradition as Persian food. The series continues today, with readers’ thoughts on what makes for an authentic meal, and if who prepares it makes a difference.

FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Economy, DCentric, Food authenticity, Italian food, Persian food
July 22, 2011 | 2:55 PM | By

‘What makes a restaurant authentic?’

Photo by cattoo/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Should it matter if Cajun food is prepared by a chef from Iran, sushi by a chef from Mexico?

In a land where your sushi chef might be from Mexico, they guy who makes your pizza might be from El Salvador, and the owner of your favorite Cajun joint might be from Iran, how relevant is “authenticity” to a restaurant if the food is good? And what constitutes authenticity, anyway?

Elahe Izadi of WAMU’s DCentric blog in Washington, D.C. poses these questions in an interesting post today, talking to the chefs and patrons of eateries operated by people whose ethnicity is different from that of the cuisine served.

Among those she interviews is Bardia Ferdowski, an Iranian immigrant who moved to Louisiana, working in Cajun restaurants and eventually opening his own Cajun kitchen in D.C. She also talks to Jose De Velasquez, an immigrant from El Salvador whose pizzeria, the Italian-sounding Moroni & Brothers, also serves Salvadoran and Mexican food. From the piece:

A wood-fire oven blazes in the back of the restaurant. Above it, a picture of De Velasquez making a pizza hangs on the wall, next to an ornament with “El Salvador” emblazoned on the front.

“The most important thing is to know how to combine the ingredients, and the dough recipe,” Jose says in Spanish. “But we’re Salvadoran and we wanted something traditional. This is a good combination.”

At one table, a couple eats pupusas. At another, Jeff Lindeblad and his two daughters eat their usual meal: quesadillas and pizza. The menu “didn’t seem odd at all” on his first visit, Lindeblad says.

“Is it important to have someone from Italy make the pizza? No,” Lindeblad says. “And the pizza here is fantastic.”

I’ll admit that I’ve been an authenticity snob in the past, especially in the post-“Buena Vista Social Club” era of a decade ago, when the humble, filling Cuban food of my youth – not to mention mojitos – became trendy and bad interpretations were popping up like weeds.

Similarly, I’ve turned up my nose at some American-style Mexican food, but I’ve since been schooled. In a recent Multi-American Q&A, the OC Weekly’s Gustavo Arellano presented a good argument in defense of Tex-Mex, Cal-Mex, even something he’s dubbed Bro-Mex as authentic in their own right.

In her post, Elahe asks: ”How important is authenticity in a restaurant? How do you judge a restaurant’s authenticity?” Feel free to share your thoughts below.

FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Economy, Cajun food, Cuban food, DCentric, Italian food, Mexican food, Salvadoran food, WAMU
February 12, 2011 | 12:25 AM | By

Five Valentine meals to share with your amor

Photo by jonathanb1989/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Their romantic dinner might taste like plastic - better to share some shabu shabu or an Ethiopian stew.

Forget momentarily about chocolate, oysters and the rest of the usual food suggestions that accompany Valentine’s Day, about aphrodisiacs and expensive dinners. As a favor to lovestruck foodies in the Los Angeles area, a few colleagues and I recently came up with an unscientific but well-loved list of some of the best date-friendly offerings to come out of our immigrant enclaves.

Five favorites:

Photo by Eekim/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Ethiopian There’s something very intimate about sharing a meal from the same dish, eaten with your hands. The spongy injera bread serves as a both plate and utensil with which to scoop up savory stews, called wot, and other dishes, making the meal a tactile experience. The food itself is fragrant, seasoned with garlic, ginger and other spices.

One place to find it: Nyala at 1076 South Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 936-5918

Japanese Shabu Shabu Much like with Chinese hot pot or Swiss fondue, shabu shabu involves dipping and sharing. Participants in this communal meal cook it together, dunking thin slices of raw meat and vegetables into a boiling pot, leisurely enjoying each morsel. Dip, swish, eat, then afterward share the delicious broth that’s left in the pot.

One place to find it: Shabu Shabu House, 127 Japanese Village Plaza Mall, Los Angeles, (213) 680-3890

Photo by Sarahbest/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Oaxacan Instead of a box of Godiva, why not a meal of rich mole negro as it’s prepared in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, dark and redolent with chocolate? Ridiculously complex, its ingredients are too many to mention, but they combine to make a sauce that is earthy and subtly sweet. I’ll take a plate of pollo en mole negro over chocolate truffles in a heartbeat.

One place to find it: Guelaguetza, the undisputed heavyweight of Oaxacan restaurants in town. Two locations are open, one at 3014 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 427-0608 and the other in Plaza Mexico, 11215 Long Beach Blvd. #1010, Lynwood, (310) 884-9234. Another location in Palms is closed for remodeling.

Persian One of the best things about Persian cuisine is its fragrance. Food is perfumed with saffron, cardamom and rosewater, a staple ingredient in desserts. Roses are lovely to look at, but a meal that ends with rose-scented lacy zoolbia or doughy baamieh is proof that roses are just as lovely to eat. Though taking a bite of your bouquet wouldn’t go over well – opt for a scoop of rosewater ice cream instead.

One place to find it: Shamshiri Grill in Westwood, 1712 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 474-1410. Nearby is Saffron & Rose Ice Cream, 1387 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 477-5533

Photo by librarianishis/Flickr (Creative Commons)

Spaghetti This most plebeian of Southern Italian staples, messy and kid-friendly, is the perfect meal if you have kids and can’t get a sitter. Boil up a pot, rent a copy of “Lady and the Tramp,” and let the tots slurp and enjoy the movie while you giggle over shared noodles like Disney’s canine lovebirds. Add a nice bottle of red to make up for the fact that you’re, well, home eating spaghetti watching a cartoon.

One place to find it: Thanks to the great wave of Italian immigration a century ago, everywhere.

Happy Valentine’s Day. And if you go out, bring a little extra cash, as the immigrants who will most likely prepare and serve your meal will appreciate the tip.

FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Economy, Ethiopian food, Italian food, Japanese food, Mexican food, Persian food, Valentine's Day