@ForkReport - Hour 2

Chef Odesa Rodrigues of Tainos LA, a Puerto Rican cloud kitchen. 
https://la.eater.com/2023/2/15/23601383/tainos-puerto-rican-food-los-angeles-canoga-park-mofongos 

Chef Jose Olmedo. Chef Odesa Rodrigues.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You'relistening to KFI AM six forty The four
Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Don't let him intimidate you, be
yourself. Be yourself KFI AM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

(00:20):
Hey, everybody, Neil Savedra here, Howdy, howdy howdy. This is
The four Report. What a specialday today. Bill Asparsa is my co
host and curator of today's show.This is something I've wanted to do for
years now. Bill and I havetalked about it, and basically it's getting
experts and different people. Rather thanjust having them on for a couple of

(00:41):
segments and chatting with them, Iwanted to bring them to you in a
deeper, richer, more intimate wayand give them the reins of the program
they curate. I didn't pick anyof the guests and bring more to you
and to me together. So Billis just a great guy, connoisseur of
Latin American cuisine, from his grandmother'skitchen to his professional saxophone playing that took

(01:08):
him all over the country. Inthe world, he is considered a foremost
most rather authority on Latin American foodand culture in the US, celebrated writer,
food TV personality, consultant, eventcurator, and just a fantastic guy
to spend time with. I'm proudto call him my friend. And right

(01:30):
now we have been chatting with Chefjose and going through some of his food
that I'm just really has put meback on my heels. I'm so very
impressed with the experience that we're havingin the tastes and the flavors of everything
are just amazing. So with that, why don't you reintroduce chef and talk

(01:55):
about his restaurant and let's get backinto the next dish. Yes, again,
we are with Chef Joselo Carre Rojasof Simon in Venice and it's the
first fine dining Panamanian restaurant. Iwant to say in the country. Is
it? I don't want to say, I think you know what. We're
just gonna say it. I don'tknow of any other one. I okay,

(02:17):
come at us, if you've gotone, it's the only one.
Yeah, So what is the vibethere? What is you say? Fine
dining? How how is that ina Panamanium style? Is it? You
know? We all have our ideasof what that might mean in our head,
but what does it mean here?Well, Chef Jose is part of
a movement that's been brewing for yearsin you know this whole this fifty this

(02:42):
fifty best list, it's uh.I heard a chef talking about it in
an interview, Chef Elena Regadas fromMexico City. She was talking about how
this list actually gets a lot ofcollaboration, Like the chef's collaborate, they
get to know each other, theydo events to get they cooked together.
And so the list has become moreinclusive over the last few years. So

(03:06):
it before it did not include Panamaand Atemala and places in Central America.
It was more focused on on Mexico, Peru and lots of This is the
Latin America's fifty Latin America's fifty Best, and so now I think these other
countries did have a scene of peoplestepping out from their traditions and so everyone's

(03:30):
you know around the world is offeringfine dining based on their local tradition,
super local, like if it's inWalajada, it's the local uh Guadalajada cuisine
that they're they're basing the cuisine onso we had this dish Watcho, which
is a very traditional Funda dish,and how it's fine dining is really not

(03:53):
It doesn't look that much different.It's it's got a little bit of presentation
that you would not see in theFunda, but it's more about cooking techniques
and separating things and taking So you'retalking about are like little markets or little
yes market stalls. Yeah, andso this has been happening in Banama,
but we just didn't know about it. But now that we're the list is

(04:15):
being more inclusive, places like uhI came to our attention. You know,
so I didn't know. Again,I was really ignorant about Banama.
I would I would say I was. It was the one I knew least
about, you know, UH,in Central America, maybe in Latin America
in general. It's like I want, I don't. We don't hear much
about Bolivia, we don't hear muchabout Badaguay, and we weren't hearing much

(04:40):
about Banama and so among some others. But so, yeah, it's elevating.
I think what chef will say isdoing. He's taking this crazy uh
international influence of immigrants, this immigrantcuisine, multicultural cuisine of banama And and

(05:00):
you know, and not overdoing it. This is not super uh, you
know, it's not not molecular thingsor or sure some sort of super modernist.
It's elevating traditions with respect. Anda lot of chefs are doing that.
They're not really going the fancy route, but like you're going to get
the flavors up on ama and Andfor a lot of people, I think

(05:25):
Chef Josse was saying, they don'tunderstand it when they see it, but
he's grown up in that. Andso I would say more than any other
Latin American country I can think ofat this point, you have so many
cultural influences. So what how doesthat play out on your menu? What
are some of the items that likethe dumplings, can you talk about that
one hundred percent? Like if yousee the Shika dumplings in the flavors,

(05:49):
you find something that is definitely superAsian, like in the way the dumpits
are shape. But when it comesto the flavor of the seuss like crazy
Caribbean and maybe like a little Indianin there, and it all works together.
And I think it's just because theway you say it right, like
Panama is such a big melting Butlike I always tell people, any room

(06:11):
that I go in, anybody inthis room can be Panamanian. And I
think, like the flavors make thesame way that people do sometimes, right,
And why are Chinese dumpling such abig thing in Panama. Well,
let's put this way, dim sumis as Panamanian as Chinese. If you,
as a Panamanian person, like whatwas the most traditional Panamanian breakfast have

(06:33):
like fifty percent will say like dimsum? Right, And the Chinese came
to build railroads one hundred and sixtynine, I think years ago, around
the same time the railroads were buildingSan Francisco, we had a huge Chinese
influencial Panama and San Francisco are thetwo biggest per capita communities of Chinese people

(06:56):
outside of China. So i'ah.So if you're Panamanian, you grow up
with dim sum, no doubt,with some Panamanian flavors, you know what,
interestingly like very little oh really,so it's just straight up yeah,
yeah, very very Cantonese. Ingeneral, it's the biggest one. And
so they're not putting ahi on there. You might find like mustard or like

(07:19):
something like that, you know,like but they do more traditional. Okay,
where do you go here in LosAngeles for dim Sum? Well,
I haven't really been in dim sumbesides I didn't typhoon. Yeah whatever which
is? But I go to hotpot in San Gabriel Valley. I forget
the name of the place. I'msorry, but I've been there probably like

(07:41):
fifteen times. My wife best hotever ever. Wow, it does say
a lot. Yeah, it's it'sa really I'm I'm I'm bare, I
would say, you know, ofcourse I've been twice. Now I've had
these two layovers. But I learneda lot in those layovers. But one
thing that really struck me about this, this going back to the watch show,
is how in most Latin American countries, they national dishes are really reflecting

(08:07):
on indigenous ingredients. But again you'resaying rice is number one in Banama and
this watcho is a base of rice, not corn or another sort of indigenous
product. So and that really speaksto what you're talking about, how it's
such an immigrant cuisine and what kindof rice is being used chef, Well,

(08:30):
in this case is an adjustment rice. But in Panama we have so
many different kinds of rices and theyall react so different. We have from
black rice or red rice or barborice, short rain, lone grain like
Bombus style, like I actually havea friend right now the moment has doing
a book base Rice that is goingto be out of this world when it
comes out. It's crazy to thinkthat there's so many, you know,

(08:52):
different styles, types, lengths,all these different things that add or change
the way we experience it because youknow, often you just think it's gonna
it's a bed that you throw otherthings on. All right, Hank Tight,
We'll be back coming up next.We'll have more conversations about this and
more as we kind of take atrip through South America, Central America,

(09:15):
Caribbean, Latino as we talk aboutthese foods with my special guest, Bill
Sparza. He is my co hostfor the day, also the curator of
all the guests that you hear,so don't go anywhere. Much more to
come next. I am six fortyLive Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Hey,

(09:35):
Everyboddy, Howdy howdy. It isSaturday. That means from two to
five it is the four Report,all Things Food, beverage and beyond.
I am your well fed host,Neil Savadra, how do you do?
Today's a special day. It's astart of a series I've been wanting to
do for a long time, andthat means I will give the reins of
the show over to someone that Itrust, that I believe in, that

(10:00):
I adore, and that means somebodyin the food industry that is going to
curate the entirety of the program.Bring in guests. I did not schedule
these guests. I'm learning about themwith you. And the first one out
of the gate that I asked todo this was my buddy Billa Sparza.
He's going to be my co hostand has been the curator of Today's Folk

(10:22):
Report, leading authority on Latin Americancuisine, and his acclaimed work spans writing,
food, TV and event curation,highlighted, of course by a James
Beard Award for his celebrated book LaMahicano, which you can find at Amazon.
I highly encourage you to put iton your library shelf the same way
it's on mine. You've got recipes, talks about the people, the places,

(10:46):
and beyond. You can also findhim at Street Gourmet La, Street
Gourmet La on your social media choicesRight now, we have been chatting with
Chef Jose from Simon in Venice andhad one of the all time one of

(11:07):
the best dishes. And I don'tuse the term best, I'll say my
favorite, but I think it's probablyone of the best things I think I've
ever eaten, let alone on thisprogram. It really is one of those
special dishes that stands out for itstexture, its color, the balance of
every ingredient in their place together inone of the most wonderful ways to where

(11:28):
it's one of those things that Ican imagine in Panama, you've got kids
that when they're going through tough timeswhen they get older, are going to
that dish to comfort them. Itjust has that power. So take it
away, Bill, It's an amazingdish. And you know we want you
to go to these places, theseSouth American, Central American Caribbean restaurants and
be open. I mean, don'tthink you're going to understand everything when you

(11:54):
walk in the door. Uh WATCHOis to me. I've because I've had
some brands with it. It makesperfect sense. But you know, ask
your servers to help you out howto how to eat the dish, but
be open to it. There's alot of things that are strange about all
countries. I was just talking.We were just talking about how in Mexico
people don't understand that a lot ofMexicans we put ketchup on our sevic.

(12:18):
Now, I personally don't like todo that when I'm having really nice products
in Mexico, but I do likeketchup on other things, and these types
of things, these ketchups and males. So sevice, which we just had
one of your dishes. We hadyour the was the tirato, the haramachi.

(12:39):
Can you talk about the flavors andthat dish? So that one has
a curry, mushroom oil, thebasis like curry bases that we make in
the restaurant and termary condiments, verysimple, so a little bit of like
Asian Indian, and you know someof the Japanese maybe a little too the
right. And again these you know, people are going to say, well,

(13:01):
okay, this is a fusion dish. It's it's a Panamanian dish,
it's Panamanian flavors. And you're goingto see ingredients on the menu at Simon
that you're not going to recognize andyou're also going to see some things that
are I know some people have talkedabout or you've gotten feedback on your fried

(13:22):
chicken dish, which is amazing,and that you have ketchup. But a
lot of people don't understand ketchup issuch an ingredient in Latin America. In
Brazil they put ketchup on pizza,and ketchup originally is Asian. I mean
it comes to the series of ketchupsand the types. The tomato ketchup came

(13:43):
much later, actually, tomato based. Yeah, there was a there was
a condiment that preceded ketchup because meatwas so terrible back then in the in
the cities, they didn't have properfood storage, so they were using condiments
to cover up. Broughten me,it's like how cocktails started. The alcohol

(14:05):
was so bad, yet I thinkit was something to drink it. Yeah,
but ketchup is a you know,people are like, oh, I
don't eat fried chicken with ketchup.Well, you know what a whole country
does. Yeah, And you knowwhat if you put it into a nugget,
I bet you people do, right. Yeah, it's just the way
it's how we think. It's verystrange, but when you think of the
complexity of ketchup and the different thetartness, the sweetness that's that unctious kind

(14:28):
of savory that comes with it's reallygreat as a I mean, it really
is more sophisticated. Everybody thinks it'sthis American like just put ketchup on it,
but it I think it's actually quitelovely condiment and goes with a lot
of things. All these condiments aregreat, you know. And again it's

(14:48):
I think it's it's a lot offun. It's a lot of fun for
me to go to a place andsay, well, how do you guys
eat it? You know, becausepeople even it goes the other way too.
The country that you're visiting, they'regonna so that you don't like this
and they're going to try to takethat away from you, and or you
know, I get this a lotwhen I go into Thai restaurants. I'm
like, I have to fight sometimesfor my spice, you know, And

(15:11):
my answer is always, well,you know, I'm Mexican, Like we
gave you the Chiles, we gaveit to you, so give it back,
give it back to me hard.I want it all the way,
So you know, I have todo that sometimes, and when I go
into different types of Asian cuisines thatuse a lot of chilis, I'm like,
that's that's all of stuff. Don'tworry. I'm good. You know

(15:33):
we can do that. I'm notsigning any documents or waivers. Yeah,
you know exactly. But you know, so when people see these things,
they should understand that your your cuisineat Simon is coming from the Panamanian perspective,
even though it might be dishes thatthey're familiar with. All right,

(15:54):
we're unfortunately up against the clock andgot to get some news. But Chef,
what a pleasure. It was reallynice to meet you. That the
dishes were fantastic. Simons in Venice, Simon in Venice. You've got to
check it out. Hit hit meup on social hit you know if you
have any questions. But really absoluteworthwhile day trip if you're coming from Orange

(16:15):
County, Riverside beyond and of coursehere in Los Angeles. But what a
pleasure, chef, Thanks so much. All right, next, much more
to come. You're listening to TheFork Report with Nil Savedra on demand from
KFI AM six forty KFI AM sixforty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.

(16:37):
Hey everybody, it's the Fork Reportall Things Food, beverage and beyond.
So every Saturday we have three hoursto just shake off everything going on in
the world, the things that weput on ourselves all week, and we
come together to shake them off andin kind of a sanctuary to just celebrate
food and the people that make it. I'm not an expert. I'm an

(16:57):
enthusiast. I love. I wantto share places and people with you,
and today is no different. Theonly thing that has changed is I've wanted
to do this for a long time. I'm privileged to be behind this mic,
and I want to share it withothers as well, people that I
believe you need to know, peoplethat are thinkers, and people who are

(17:21):
curators and find other place to eatand other people of interest. And I've
always said that I'm basically a curatorof curators on this show. And today
we start a series that I've beenwanting to do for a long time,
and it is me giving the reinsof the show essentially over to a co
host for the day who's curated peoplethat he thinks you need to know.

(17:44):
His name is BILLI Sparsa been onthe show many times, and a very
simple introduction would be that he isa leading authority on Latin American cuisine.
He has acclaimed work in the writingfield and food TV of curation. He
received in twenty sixteen James Beard Awardhis celebrated book La Mexicano. You can

(18:10):
find at Amazon, and you canfind him at Street Gourmet La, on
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, atall. And he has someone else that
he wants to introduce to you,Bill, Yes, I do, Neil.
You know, we've been talking aboutall these great cuisines. We've we
got a Dominican trend happening, wegot Panamanian cuisine, and we've always had

(18:32):
Wamala Salvadoran cuisine in La in abig way. But you know, one
of my favorite places I've been toin recent years is Puerto Rico, and
you know going I went for atrip and just hit every kiosco, these
little stands that it's kind of crazybecause they do everything they do open fire

(18:56):
and oil, which is nuts.Like they have these big vasus's where they're
frying foods but they're using an openflame and I'm like, oh, that
could go wrong, that could gowrong, but it doesn't and they're just
splashing, you know, making allthese wonderful savory snacks that the Puerto Ricans
are known for. And so,you know, we don't have a lot

(19:18):
of places. I recently stumbled upona place called Lass and they're like a
real kiosko. They're a street standin Long Beach and just wrote about that
recently. But it started with mefor me, with tinos La. And
so we have Chef Odessa Rodriguez heretoday and she makes the best mofongo we

(19:40):
have in La and she operates outof a cloud kitchen, and uh,
explain what that is for people.Fongo mofongo is a both mufungo and also
cloud kitchen. Go ahead, okay, Well, mofongo mufungo is a mash
of plantains with chicharon so and theytake a ball out of it. Now

(20:00):
it's really a base dish for PuertoRicans that they stuff it. That's a
big We see that a lot.But they also use it as a side
dish. It's also mixed in withas they have all these trendy snacks,
these cups that they do and theyput mofongo and rice and beans in there

(20:21):
and and beIN cholls, which areskewers, and so you have all these
it's really I would say the centraldish and the national dish, but it's
it's one of those things. Noteverybody it's very garlicy, and not everybody
makes a good one, you knowthat to get the texture right, the
flavors, and it can end upjust tasting like you know, bananas and

(20:45):
chicharn and not really have any complexityto it. But what is the secret?
Well, you asked about a cloudkitchen and are you calling it a
cloud kitchen? Is that what you'reIt's a cloud kitchen goes kitchen, however
you want to call it virtual.They have a lot of different names for
it. So cheffo, this isin this one area where they have like

(21:08):
a commissary kitchen and she does allher food to go. And we were
lucky enough, my editor Matt Kangand I were lucky enough to go.
How many months in were you?Well? Two weeks? Wow, sews.
You know that's how fast I findthem. Yeah, and you guys
came right before the year ended.Its meeting chefs. When they're babies,

(21:33):
you will grow up to be fantasticone day you will have your own ghost
kitchen. Yeah, and so wetried her food or that cheffle that's us
food out on a back patio areaand oh my gosh, it's amazing.
I can still remember the spread thatthat she made for us, and uh
we my editor agrees. It's likeit's one of the best dishes we've had.

(21:56):
But it's definitely the best mofongo forsure. And Okay, so we're
knocking on the door of the clock. So what I'll do is we'll get
some news and then coming up next, we'll find out some of the dishes,
find out more about chef and diveinto the flavors, the textures and

(22:18):
the things that we need to knowabout Puerto Rican food. All right,
go nowhere, up next more tocome. Bill A. Spars and my
co host and the curator of today'sprogram. He is a leading authority on
Latin American cuisine and I'm so excitedto give the reins to him as he's
been curating some fantastic food and I'mstaring at more stacks and stacks more before

(22:41):
my very eyes. And we'll letyou get to know chef Odessa Rodriguez as
well. More when we come back. I am six forty live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app. Hey everybody,it's the four Coport all things food,
beverage and beyond. I'm your wellFed host Neil Savadra. How do you
do? Thanks for hanging out withus today. Don't forget Tualla Sharp coming

(23:02):
up at five. Then after thatat seven you will have Unsolved with Steve
Gregory. So go know where rightnow. My co host and curator of
today's Fork Report is Bill A.Sparza, leading authority on Latin American cuisine.
I encourage you to go and takea look at purchasing his book La
Mexicano. You can find that atAmazon. It's recipes, it's about the

(23:25):
people, it's about the places.And you can find out more about him
on social media at Street Gourmet La, Street Gourmet La. He has brought
Chef Odessa to our door today onthe Fork Report, and we were just
starting to dive in looking at thefood that she has brought with her today
and talking about my fungo and that'swhere we left off. That's a lot

(23:49):
of discipline that we didn't touch itduring the break. I know we talked
about it I've been staring at it, and I think you and I both
wiped our mouths, but we oh, yeah, and then of course here
it comes. Yeah, it's allthe lids are coming on. We are
in Puerto Rico. Now these thisfood. Doesn't it look amazing? It

(24:10):
does. The colors again, thewarmth of those colors, your oranges,
your browns, the bright greens,the reds, just very very beautiful.
But the yes, and these recipeshave a story behind them, Olisa,
can you tell us about where theserecipes come from? Absolutely so. My
sick My uncle who I love verymuch, Edwin, he is the magic

(24:34):
behind all this. These are fortyyear old recipes. You know he's been
He worked in the restaurant industry inPuerto Rico in restaurants that people, uh
probably my age or older would remember. And there are rapidle restaurants like Lataca

(24:56):
and San Juang Windows of the Caribbean. These were very tourists, touristic hotels
where they had like restaurants and servedinternational food. And he learned a lot
of his stuff. He started cookingat seventeen years old, going to He
went from Bonsa all the way tothe capitol and got a job in the

(25:17):
kitchen and just stood there for manyyears. For thirty years. This mofongo
was taught to him, he said, in his twenties, and he's been
doing it the same way for manyyears. Recipes evolve, but this one
stays the same, because this isthe winner everybody. It's mophong was like
a mac and cheese. It's avery simple item with simple ingredients. Everyone

(25:42):
knows the recipe for mac and cheese. But you can easily mess it up.
Oh yeah, it's just very somethingyou can mess up so easily,
and for some reasons. You cango to someone's house and try mac and
cheese and you can have the bestmac and cheese you've ever had in your
life and always crave that mac andcheese. Or you could go somebody's house
and it's just you know, soup. You know, it's just not right.

(26:04):
This mufungo. We don't try toexperience too much of it. I
was even scared to put it onthe menu at the beginning because I had
another uncle that came and cooked andit wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't
what I remembered, and I wasif you'm putting it because if it's not
going to be what I know whatit should be, I can't put it
out, you know. And whenhe made it and he flipped it over,

(26:26):
I said, you know, makeme a whole fungle. Let me
see, let me see what we'retalking about right here. Let me see,
I'm gonn put this on the menu. And just by looking at it
when he flipped it over, justby looking at it, you know it's
right. And I said, oh, if it tastes how it looks,
this is gonna be it. Becauseit's exciting to finally get that gem that

(26:48):
you've been looking for. And whenI tried it, I was like,
yep, this is it. Andso far I've gotten so many compliments from
everyone. I mean not only frompeople that are Puerto Rican, that are
that know that this is the one, but even people that had never tried
it love it. And it's thedish that is you have. You know,
you have to be open to it. A lot of people are not
raised with plantains, especially the greenones. A lot of cultures don't use

(27:11):
the green plantains, especially in thisform like that. Yeah, they do
tilstones or something like that where they'redeep fried and pressed and a little salt.
Correct Dominicans in Puerto Ricans, Iwould say, would be the only
ones, because the Dominicans make themongol and we make the mufungo. They
make mofongo too, but and theCubans have the fu ful what is that.
It's also a mash of plantains.Puerto Ricans have the most famous one.

(27:34):
The muffongo is more famous. Mongolis uh again, it's great.
But in Cuba for breakfast mongol,right exactly. And in Cuba they have
fou fou, But it's not justfried. Mongoo is boiled and I don't
know how food. Maybe it's boiledas well. Yeah, it's it's not
it's not as complex as the it'snot such a big presence as it is

(27:57):
in Puerto Rico. I mean,so for you, my phone go is
something you have for what time ofthe day, anytime of the day,
especially left over time, good morning. You can have it for breakfast.
Absolutely. Personally, for those whonever tried it, I would rather them
eat it hot and at the momentthat's when it's best, that's when it

(28:21):
tastes best. But a Puerto Ricanwould never throw away a piece of my
phone Go, absolutely not we wouldput it in the fridge and we would
bust it down the next day withsome rice. Absolutely delicious. So we're
coming back for some more. Okay, yeah, hang tight. Coming up
next more with Chef Odessa and talkingabout Puerto Rican food, and then we're

(28:41):
going to dive into this because nowthe tops are off and we have to
have a little more strength to dealwith it. All right, Coming up
next more as I share the showtoday with my co host and curator of
today's for port Esparza, leading authorityon Latin American cuisine, So go no
where. This is KFI and theFork Report. You're listening to The Fork

(29:04):
Report with Nil Seveedra on demand fromKFI AM six forty