August 23, 2025 • 27 mins
Technique of the Week – The Sweet Showdown: Cane Sugar vs. HFCS.
Get ready to dive into the ultimate sweetener face-off! This week, we’re uncovering the differences between cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Which one packs a sweeter punch, and what are the implications for our health and taste buds? Join us on this delicious journey to find out which ingredient reigns supreme!
Embark on a thrilling culinary adventure with Francisco Mendoza as he unveils the dynamic fusion of flavors in Mexican Sushi! Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with this exciting blend of traditions!
Get ready to dive into the ultimate sweetener face-off! This week, we’re uncovering the differences between cane sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Which one packs a sweeter punch, and what are the implications for our health and taste buds? Join us on this delicious journey to find out which ingredient reigns supreme!
Embark on a thrilling culinary adventure with Francisco Mendoza as he unveils the dynamic fusion of flavors in Mexican Sushi! Get ready to tantalize your taste buds with this exciting blend of traditions!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Niel Savedre. You're listening to kfi EM six
forty the four Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Happy to be with you. We have a slightly shorter
show where the last half hour of the program is
gonna be preempted for the Chargers pregame and then the
Chargers game, so stick around for that. So we've got
until four point thirty to hang out and talk food
(00:21):
and celebrate food and the people that make it, the
culture behind it and all that kind of good stuff.
So stick around. What a weird day weatherwise. So I'm
hanging out with my son Max this morning and I
get an alert that rain, that a thunderstorm, rain's gonna
(00:42):
come through, and I go, Max, it's gonna be gonna
be rain, and he looks at me and he goes
during a heat wave and I'm like, I know, right,
So you know, I don't know how you know who
got it and who didn't, But yeah, we got some
rain this morning. It's humid as heck out and that's
never fun. But I wanted to talk to you about
(01:04):
something that I've been seeing in the news popping around about,
you know, cane sugar and if you remember some weeks
ago there was some talk I think President Trump came
out jumped into the conversation about Coca cola. They might
switch from you know, the HFCs or what we refer
to as high fruit toose corn syrup. I'll explain that
(01:28):
and what that is in a minute, but that, you know,
started putting it into the public conversation again. And the
automatic reaction I think is like, hey, well, cane cane
sugar has got to be better. You remember growing up
talking about pure cane sugar and in a way to
(01:51):
think that, yes, coming from the source is a whole food,
it's going to have its benefits. However, going through the
health benefits or so called health benefits, it's important to
understand in balance as to you know, what it is.
Just because it's natural in one sense, and is it
(02:13):
modified like high fruitose corn syrup, it doesn't necessarily make
it better for you. So let's let's break it down
a little bit. What are the different sugar So cane
sugar well comes from sugar cane, pretty easy. If you've
ever been to Hawaii, it's really beautiful to see the
(02:35):
stocks of all this. If you go to maybe your
local farmer's market. Sometimes you'll find somebody with these cool
presses that will press the sugar cane into a beverage
and it's lovely. It really is lovely, and mostly we
think of it as regular table sugar. This is the
(02:56):
granulation manulated, usually process to be white, bright white, and
all of those things table sugar. It's made up of
half glucose and half fructose. These are two types of
very simple sugars. Now, corn syrup is different. It's made
from corn and it's pretty much one hundred percent glucose.
(03:24):
So you're like, well, why they call it high fruose
corn syrup if it's like one hundred percent glucose. Well,
that's where the modification comes in. So high fructose corn
syrup HFCs is corn syrup that has been processed. Now,
the way they process this is to turn some of
the glucose into fructose. So, just like cane sugar, it
(03:48):
ends up being about fifty percent glucose and fifty percent fructose,
which I just explained is what you're looking at when
you're looking at purecine sugar. So cane sugar and high
fruitose corn syrup are very similar in terms of what
(04:10):
they're made up chemically on the in the sugar sense.
Now it comes down to the part of your body
where your body intercepts this in foods and processes it
into things that are needed. Now, there's a lot of
issues with white sugar and added sugar and processed sugar. Obviously,
(04:33):
there's a lot of people that says you eat that,
say you should never have anything with added sugar in it,
and there are great arguments for that. So I don't
want to put that by the side. So really, the
way your body is processing these sugars are important. At
how much you're getting. Does your body need sugar? Absolutely,
(04:56):
your brain needs sugar. It's basically the food for your brain.
That's what your brain needs and that helps it. However,
too much of anything you're gonna have problems. We've said
this on the show many times before. That toxicity is
in the dose. There are a lot of things. Salt
is good for you and necessary to your body, but
if you have too much salt, it becomes bad for you.
(05:19):
Salt regulates the electricity in your body, it keeps liquids
in your body, It does a lot of things. As
a matter of fact, as far as your tastes go.
One of the tastes you have on your tongue is salt.
Things that are salty, And you know what's salty in life?
Only one thing is salty in life. That's salt, but
(05:42):
too much of it and it ends up causing problems.
Your body has a hard time filtering out the salt
and can cause blood pressure issues and things like that.
So how does your body handle these things? Well, Cane
sugar it's also called sucrose by the way. It has
(06:03):
glucose and fruit toose, like I said, but they're linked together.
Your body has to break that bond. It has to
unlink those things before it can absorb them. However, with
high fruit toose corn syrup, the glucose and the fruit
toase are separated. They're not bonded in any way because
this comes from the process of changing that glucose part
(06:23):
of it into fruit toose. So you get that fifty
to fifty blood. Your body absorbs it just a tiny
bit faster than it does regular sucrose or sugar, but
in the end both give your body sugar in pretty
similar ways. We come back, we'll get into is one
(06:44):
healthier than the other, And I think you'll be surprised
about other things that people always go, oh, these are
better for you, not necessarily, so stick around.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Thanks for hanging out today. Happy to be with you
on this weird Saturday where it's hot but it was
also raining and just strange all the way around. I'm
going to ask a few things of you if you
are so inclined or interested. One, if you can join
me on Instagram on social media there, that's a great
way to connect. It's me. I don't have anybody do
(07:20):
my social media. It's all me. So for the food
stuff and this show, it's fork Reporter fork Reporter at
fork Reporter on Instagram, and I'd love to find you there,
and you can find me on on threads and all
this stuff under that as well. But my other side
of my life is making creating props, movie stuff, fixing
(07:43):
things around the house, and that side i'd love for
you to join me there too. So I started a
new one under Savco Industries and that's SAA v COO
Industries on Instagram Savco Industries. And because I love the
old school stuff like everything was like phil Co and
(08:04):
all these different names and it always makes me laugh.
So Savco Industries is the social media for you know,
stuff I do in the backyard. I'm making a new
I'm doing themes from movies in our backyard. Just stuff
to look at and fun things like that. And I
don't know, just travel with me. If you have questions
(08:26):
about making things or you know, adhesives for some reason,
I love adhesives or anything like that, you can hit
me up on there at Savco Industries on Instagram. But
it's been growing and I'm just kind of excited about
sharing that part of who I am. All right, back
to our technique of the week dealing with sugar, you know,
(08:49):
basically cane sugar versus high fruit toast corn shirp a
syrup so your body breaks it down. It's a little
easier to break down high fruit toast corn syrup because
the glucose and the fruitcos are separated in it because
it's a different process, whereas naturally glucose and fruitose and
cane sugar are attached to one another. So the big
(09:12):
question is one healthier than the other. In short, not
really when it comes to doctors and nutrition experts. They
agree that too much added sugar of any kind is
not good for you. Now I know, high fruitose corn
syrup becomes the bad guy, and there's other issues that
(09:33):
you can be concerned about, but it doesn't matter if
it's cane sugar, high fruitose, corn syrup, honey, or agave.
They can all lead to health problems, weight gain, type
two diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay. They can come across
the board on any of those. So really the usage
(09:54):
of it and the amount of it is the biggest issue.
So some studies say that high fructose corncerup might slightly
increase inflammation or stress on your liver more and that
should definitely be looked at because inflammation, anything that has
itis at the end of it is a bad thing.
(10:15):
Some people really think that the vast majority of our
concerns as we get older is inflammation in the body
because things swell, and that could very well be tied
to food for sure, liver processing these things, of course,
but both cane sugar and a high fruit dose corn
sugar pretty equal when it comes to the problem, which
(10:39):
is over consumption. Now I'm going to remind you I'm
not a doctor. I don't even play one on the radio.
I'm just your friendly neighborhood folk reporter who likes to
do research on your behalf. So where does high fruitose
corncer pop up everywhere? Sweet teas, sodas, even energy drink,
(11:00):
sports drinks, those things have it a place where you
probably don't think sugar is going to be like bread.
Now when you go to Europe, it's not the same way.
We have very sweet bread here in the US, package snacks, cereals,
even ketchup and barbecue sauce. If you knew how much
(11:24):
sugar is in these sayings, bottled salad dressings, some flavored yogurts.
Even so, it's why is it used so much. It's
cheapier and easier to use. That's the reality why it's
in everything. So corn is grown massively throughout the US,
and a lot of people don't know this. Corn is
(11:46):
government subsidized, so corn based sweeteners are incredibly affordable. Also,
hypructose corn syrup is a liquid. It mixes much simpler
into drinks and process food than granulated sugar. So look
at serving size, look at added sugars, do those things.
(12:07):
That's what's going to keep you safe. But the reality
is sugar is sugar, and moderation is going to be
the key. All right, Much more to come. Some folks
that I want to introduce you to coming up on
the program today, So go nowhere. Keep in mind a
little shorter show today because of the Chargers pregame coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
A six Happy Saturday to you. Weird weather day today.
There was some rain in LA today and it's hot
as hell, which means that it's all weird and gloomy.
And I don't know it's that what sticky weather. No
one likes, but I appreciate you tuning in and hanging
out with us today. We'll be with you until four
(12:50):
thirty and then we'll hand it over to the pregame
for the Chargers game today and you'll be able to
hear our very own Shannon Farren and the likes. So
go no where, stick around right here, and and then
I think everything's back to normal next weekend. I want
to introduce you to Francisco Mendoza. He is the proprietor
(13:15):
there at El Sushi Loco restaurant and I've always been fascinated.
I've not had his food as of yet, but I
think the combinations and the menu sound terrific. Francisco, Welcome
to the Fork Report.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
A no, my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Amazing to be here.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Thank you for having me, oh no, my absolute pleasure.
Now we don't have you in studio today, but we're
going to set that up because I would love to
try your food, and I'd love to shake your hand
and meet you, but I appreciate you taking the time.
Tell us a little bit about El Sushi Loco and
how it came about.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Well, Sushi Luka came about in twenty ten when I
was hosting a nephew that I just asked his mom
and asked him, what do you.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Know how to do?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And he said, I'm a suchetto And I said, what fuzetto?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Have you ever heard that suzetto?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I didn't either, and I said, oh, you make all
you mean? You're like the sushi singies. The little right
singis that you're popping your mouth.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I've never had sushi in my life. And that's what
he did, was the sushi chef.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
And I said one day, I get like a food
truck and you show me this Mexican sushi.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And he said, sure, but they were too expensive to.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Like seventy thousand. I was like broke at the time,
And to be quite honest, I was broken in heart.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I was going through a season in my life. That's
another story. I didn't have any money. I only have
fifteen hundred dollars saved up and went onto craiglist and
and I found a food cart that looked like a
hawk dog cart. And people google el Sushi local cart
you'll be able to see this thing. I don't know
(15:08):
how and how I got it over here, but all
I know is that's how I began in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Catering Mexican sushi on a hawk dog cart in the
streets of La Puente, California.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Well, of course Lapuente, and and the rest is history,
as they say, right, well.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Kind of because I had my I mean, I didn't
have no permit, I didn't know food.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I just knew that I just wanted to do something
for myself. I wanted to get married and wanted to
be a dad, to have all these dreams. And I
had this cart. But I got kicked out of everywhere.
Finally went home defeated. I said, what am I doing?
I need to just focus on.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I was an air conditioning technician doing pretty well, and
people just would knock on my door.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Hey, bro, what's up with this Mexican sushi? I go, dude,
don't you see my it's my house. Well, people found
this card because I would sell out everywhere I went,
and so people wanted more of this stuff, and I said,
there's something special. So I did it on the out
of the patio of.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
The Mexican sushi came alive on the body of my
mom's life, and so that's how I started.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Finally, I said, Mom, I have an idea. I'm going
to go into the restaurant business. Oh no, so I'm
here you go again. I don't know if some of
your listeners have been there, like when you're in you
know you're going people believing, But there was just something
there that I just go, you know what. I love
(16:39):
this Mexican sushi stuff, and I love serving people. I
know I can do it, And I told my mom
I know I can do it. Just give me a
can I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I know that.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Well see, but when you start with the passion and
the term you used, you love to serve people. Hospitality
has to start there. You have to desire to want
to serve people first and then having a great idea
like this, and and then you know, executing it well,
(17:18):
you know, people coming to your front door, it obviously
hit a chord with them and the you know, the
world was telling you basically, this is great. Now were
you born uh in Tijuana or you were you born here?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
That? And uh? But when I was a young young child,
maybe three or four, my dad kidnapped me. I was
living in in downtre La. My dad wanted to go
back to Mexico. My mom did not, and you know, uh,
he kidnapped me. What was amberger?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I just woke Yeah, I just woke up in a
in a town or city Gulakans in a lot of Mexico.
Got a lot of crazy stuff going on there and
still is you know, yeah right now there's war there
and so I was there. Years later, I guess my
dad realized that this kid knitted his mom and she
(18:15):
brought me back. You know, you know, she became a
you know residence. She never gave up. Now she's an
American citizens. Very proud of that. And she I get
to get it from my mom.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
She's just the grinder.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
She just she doesn't give up. And I have some
moments of Britain to my lives, I think the wrong
turns that took me to places that you had another story.
But but so I grew up back in East ly A.
That's right, that was I was born in East ly
A and I also grew up in uh Eastell.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, that's It's a very important part of Los Angeles
that a lot of people don't know much about. But
and and there's a lot of great food that has
come out of that area as well. I'm on the
eastern side of town as well myself, not East La proper,
but that you know, being part of your story is
(19:10):
uh is I think part of the American dream and
a part that is often mixed missed in especially you
know today with everything going on with ice and everything
like that. As to there the people that want to
come here and do good and want to be a
part of the American dream versus you know, the criminal
(19:32):
element that nobody wants no matter who they are. All right,
stick around. We come back and want to talk to
you about your your menu and of course people can
find more on Instagram at El Sushi Loco. You can
also find it on YouTube as well. El Sushi Loco
(19:52):
Puente and check.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That out on Instagram, Facebook, Al Sushi Loco in La
Puente and in down in two locations and Mexican Sushi.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I love it, So we'll talk about that menu. We
come back more as we talk with Francisco Mendoza L
Sushi local restaurant, So go nowhere. You've been listening to
the Fork Report, you can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty two to five pm on Saturday
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio. How Do you Do?
(20:28):
I encourage you to join me on social media as
well at fork Reporter at fork Reporter on Instagram, also
my behind the scenes stuff. If you are an artist
or maker, or you work in the industry of making things,
building houses, whatever it is, please join me on my
other Instagram savco Industries at saa v COO Industries, and
(20:54):
I would love to follow you. If you're an artist,
you make things, your crafter, your builder, concrete worker, whatever
you do, I love following you as well and being
inspired by your work as well. All right, back to
Francisco Mendoza El Sushi Loco restaurant. We talked a little
bit about the history. We didn't get into all the
(21:14):
ups and downs. We'll do that when we can personally
sit and I talk about these things. But I want
to get into the menu. So why don't you break
down some of the things that are on your menu
and the twists that you did to them, to you know,
mexify them.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Sure, you know, actually coined the term Mexican sushi. Like
people still doesn't they what is that? But you know
it's made the same, it's wrap the same, you know,
but we usually like fry or grill it. For example,
we make a a gada role like we used type
the stuffs you was fine in like a taco truck
(21:58):
maybe like chicken and bacon. There's one. Well, so I
thinka believe that we actually wrapped this role in bacon with.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
You wrap it in bacon with what I'm sorry you
dropped out there? Oh no, did we lose him? Okay, yeah,
it sounds like I can't hear anything there, So well
why don't we Yeah, let's give him a callback? Thanks?
But breaking down the crunchy role, El Tres Kesos. They
(22:38):
have a rainbow roll. They have a dragon roll. Now
traditionally a dragon roll or a spider role to me
means one thing. So I'm curious as to how that
breaks down. El Sushi Loco, by the way, is the
brainchild of Francisco Mendoza or Frank Mendoza. El Sushi Loco.
(22:58):
They've got two locations and one in Downy and in
one in La Puente and you can find them on
Instagram at El Sushi Loco as well on Facebook at
El Sushi Loco. All right, we've got your back, Frank. Yeah,
we're sorry, brother, So you were, you were breaking down.
(23:20):
You know what, I love your spirit too. I love
that you laugh and enjoy yourself still at all this craziness,
so quickly quickly break down some of these these roles
that you have.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Well, there's one of one of the one of the
most famous roles called the embed the Emperor, and it's
like I make twelve twelve, we use fresh cilantrolls, fresh peppers, lemons,
and we make our own you know, spicy mail sauce,
our own eel sauce. So, for example, the in Prala
(23:52):
has canicama.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
These are in greens that you'll find in Japan or
in Asia or an Asian markets.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Can it come fake or crab meat? And then we
make it fun. We introduce it into some of these roles.
And you know, when I was in Japan, like, don't
mess with my sushi, Like, yes, you're alone, but here
she's loco. We make it fun, make it very alive,
you know. And uh, I mean we wrap one of
(24:23):
in bacon. I was talking to you about this folcino
row and my sinse in Japan goes, you make a
bacon roll, you know, eight hundred years and you want
to submarine my sushi?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I said, is that what they like?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
I like it, so I'm here to learn from change people.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But that's what we do.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's fresh ingredients that you kind of find in the supermarkets,
you know, but it's East east West. It's baked or fried.
Not all are fried. There's some natural roles, but we
still we use a lot of the sauces. We smother
our goal. It's fun, really colorful, and flavor really comes
(25:04):
to life.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I love it. Yeah, the understanding color. Of course. We
all say that you eat first with your eyes, and
I got to tell you it sounds like you're doing
it right and I can't wait to try it. Francisco
Mendoza aka Frank l Sushi Local restaurant again. The website
is El Sushi Loco dot com and you can find
(25:26):
him at the same El Sushi Loco on Instagram. And like,
what a pleasure to meet you over the phone. I
look forward to shaking your hand and getting to eat
your food next time we talk.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Okay, yeah, it's great having great great you having me on.
It's a pleasure to be on. I'm like kind of
like you and self admitted, you know, food geek. You know,
I love to try new things and this is no exception.
Those who ever try it, you know, they just keep
(25:57):
on coming back because it's such a good thing. So
it's a pleasure to be on your show, Neil Oh,
the pleasure.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Was all mine, brother, and I look forward to meeting
you May. We'll go out and we'll we'll go investigate
some other places too.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Maybe we'll get the Golden studio ward that oh look
at that.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Huh No, I know you're an explorer.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I know your story.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Thanks. I could think you will take a sushi Al
Sushi Loko.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You know we'll you'll.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Tear it up together. We'll cause havoc. But what what
a pleasure? Brother? We will talk again, my friend.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
The pleasure was on mine. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Francisco uh of course with Al Sushi Loco. Check them out,
support local, eat local, and keep these places in business.
We'll be back with more of the show. Keep in
mind it's the shorter show today. We end up four
thirty for the Chargers game, at least the pregame there,
so go know where
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from kf I a M six forty s
Hey, it's Niel Savedre. You're listening to kfi EM six
forty the four Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Happy to be with you. We have a slightly shorter
show where the last half hour of the program is
gonna be preempted for the Chargers pregame and then the
Chargers game, so stick around for that. So we've got
until four point thirty to hang out and talk food
(00:21):
and celebrate food and the people that make it, the
culture behind it and all that kind of good stuff.
So stick around. What a weird day weatherwise. So I'm
hanging out with my son Max this morning and I
get an alert that rain, that a thunderstorm, rain's gonna
(00:42):
come through, and I go, Max, it's gonna be gonna
be rain, and he looks at me and he goes
during a heat wave and I'm like, I know, right,
So you know, I don't know how you know who
got it and who didn't, But yeah, we got some
rain this morning. It's humid as heck out and that's
never fun. But I wanted to talk to you about
(01:04):
something that I've been seeing in the news popping around about,
you know, cane sugar and if you remember some weeks
ago there was some talk I think President Trump came
out jumped into the conversation about Coca cola. They might
switch from you know, the HFCs or what we refer
to as high fruit toose corn syrup. I'll explain that
(01:28):
and what that is in a minute, but that, you know,
started putting it into the public conversation again. And the
automatic reaction I think is like, hey, well, cane cane
sugar has got to be better. You remember growing up
talking about pure cane sugar and in a way to
(01:51):
think that, yes, coming from the source is a whole food,
it's going to have its benefits. However, going through the
health benefits or so called health benefits, it's important to
understand in balance as to you know, what it is.
Just because it's natural in one sense, and is it
(02:13):
modified like high fruitose corn syrup, it doesn't necessarily make
it better for you. So let's let's break it down
a little bit. What are the different sugar So cane
sugar well comes from sugar cane, pretty easy. If you've
ever been to Hawaii, it's really beautiful to see the
(02:35):
stocks of all this. If you go to maybe your
local farmer's market. Sometimes you'll find somebody with these cool
presses that will press the sugar cane into a beverage
and it's lovely. It really is lovely, and mostly we
think of it as regular table sugar. This is the
(02:56):
granulation manulated, usually process to be white, bright white, and
all of those things table sugar. It's made up of
half glucose and half fructose. These are two types of
very simple sugars. Now, corn syrup is different. It's made
from corn and it's pretty much one hundred percent glucose.
(03:24):
So you're like, well, why they call it high fruose
corn syrup if it's like one hundred percent glucose. Well,
that's where the modification comes in. So high fructose corn
syrup HFCs is corn syrup that has been processed. Now,
the way they process this is to turn some of
the glucose into fructose. So, just like cane sugar, it
(03:48):
ends up being about fifty percent glucose and fifty percent fructose,
which I just explained is what you're looking at when
you're looking at purecine sugar. So cane sugar and high
fruitose corn syrup are very similar in terms of what
(04:10):
they're made up chemically on the in the sugar sense.
Now it comes down to the part of your body
where your body intercepts this in foods and processes it
into things that are needed. Now, there's a lot of
issues with white sugar and added sugar and processed sugar. Obviously,
(04:33):
there's a lot of people that says you eat that,
say you should never have anything with added sugar in it,
and there are great arguments for that. So I don't
want to put that by the side. So really, the
way your body is processing these sugars are important. At
how much you're getting. Does your body need sugar? Absolutely,
(04:56):
your brain needs sugar. It's basically the food for your brain.
That's what your brain needs and that helps it. However,
too much of anything you're gonna have problems. We've said
this on the show many times before. That toxicity is
in the dose. There are a lot of things. Salt
is good for you and necessary to your body, but
if you have too much salt, it becomes bad for you.
(05:19):
Salt regulates the electricity in your body, it keeps liquids
in your body, It does a lot of things. As
a matter of fact, as far as your tastes go.
One of the tastes you have on your tongue is salt.
Things that are salty, And you know what's salty in life?
Only one thing is salty in life. That's salt, but
(05:42):
too much of it and it ends up causing problems.
Your body has a hard time filtering out the salt
and can cause blood pressure issues and things like that.
So how does your body handle these things? Well, Cane
sugar it's also called sucrose by the way. It has
(06:03):
glucose and fruit toose, like I said, but they're linked together.
Your body has to break that bond. It has to
unlink those things before it can absorb them. However, with
high fruit toose corn syrup, the glucose and the fruit
toase are separated. They're not bonded in any way because
this comes from the process of changing that glucose part
(06:23):
of it into fruit toose. So you get that fifty
to fifty blood. Your body absorbs it just a tiny
bit faster than it does regular sucrose or sugar, but
in the end both give your body sugar in pretty
similar ways. We come back, we'll get into is one
(06:44):
healthier than the other, And I think you'll be surprised
about other things that people always go, oh, these are
better for you, not necessarily, so stick around.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Thanks for hanging out today. Happy to be with you
on this weird Saturday where it's hot but it was
also raining and just strange all the way around. I'm
going to ask a few things of you if you
are so inclined or interested. One, if you can join
me on Instagram on social media there, that's a great
way to connect. It's me. I don't have anybody do
(07:20):
my social media. It's all me. So for the food
stuff and this show, it's fork Reporter fork Reporter at
fork Reporter on Instagram, and I'd love to find you there,
and you can find me on on threads and all
this stuff under that as well. But my other side
of my life is making creating props, movie stuff, fixing
(07:43):
things around the house, and that side i'd love for
you to join me there too. So I started a
new one under Savco Industries and that's SAA v COO
Industries on Instagram Savco Industries. And because I love the
old school stuff like everything was like phil Co and
(08:04):
all these different names and it always makes me laugh.
So Savco Industries is the social media for you know,
stuff I do in the backyard. I'm making a new
I'm doing themes from movies in our backyard. Just stuff
to look at and fun things like that. And I
don't know, just travel with me. If you have questions
(08:26):
about making things or you know, adhesives for some reason,
I love adhesives or anything like that, you can hit
me up on there at Savco Industries on Instagram. But
it's been growing and I'm just kind of excited about
sharing that part of who I am. All right, back
to our technique of the week dealing with sugar, you know,
(08:49):
basically cane sugar versus high fruit toast corn shirp a
syrup so your body breaks it down. It's a little
easier to break down high fruit toast corn syrup because
the glucose and the fruitcos are separated in it because
it's a different process, whereas naturally glucose and fruitose and
cane sugar are attached to one another. So the big
(09:12):
question is one healthier than the other. In short, not
really when it comes to doctors and nutrition experts. They
agree that too much added sugar of any kind is
not good for you. Now I know, high fruitose corn
syrup becomes the bad guy, and there's other issues that
(09:33):
you can be concerned about, but it doesn't matter if
it's cane sugar, high fruitose, corn syrup, honey, or agave.
They can all lead to health problems, weight gain, type
two diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay. They can come across
the board on any of those. So really the usage
(09:54):
of it and the amount of it is the biggest issue.
So some studies say that high fructose corncerup might slightly
increase inflammation or stress on your liver more and that
should definitely be looked at because inflammation, anything that has
itis at the end of it is a bad thing.
(10:15):
Some people really think that the vast majority of our
concerns as we get older is inflammation in the body
because things swell, and that could very well be tied
to food for sure, liver processing these things, of course,
but both cane sugar and a high fruit dose corn
sugar pretty equal when it comes to the problem, which
(10:39):
is over consumption. Now I'm going to remind you I'm
not a doctor. I don't even play one on the radio.
I'm just your friendly neighborhood folk reporter who likes to
do research on your behalf. So where does high fruitose
corncer pop up everywhere? Sweet teas, sodas, even energy drink,
(11:00):
sports drinks, those things have it a place where you
probably don't think sugar is going to be like bread.
Now when you go to Europe, it's not the same way.
We have very sweet bread here in the US, package snacks, cereals,
even ketchup and barbecue sauce. If you knew how much
(11:24):
sugar is in these sayings, bottled salad dressings, some flavored yogurts.
Even so, it's why is it used so much. It's
cheapier and easier to use. That's the reality why it's
in everything. So corn is grown massively throughout the US,
and a lot of people don't know this. Corn is
(11:46):
government subsidized, so corn based sweeteners are incredibly affordable. Also,
hypructose corn syrup is a liquid. It mixes much simpler
into drinks and process food than granulated sugar. So look
at serving size, look at added sugars, do those things.
(12:07):
That's what's going to keep you safe. But the reality
is sugar is sugar, and moderation is going to be
the key. All right, Much more to come. Some folks
that I want to introduce you to coming up on
the program today, So go nowhere. Keep in mind a
little shorter show today because of the Chargers pregame coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You're listening to the Fork Report with Nil Sevedra on
demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
A six Happy Saturday to you. Weird weather day today.
There was some rain in LA today and it's hot
as hell, which means that it's all weird and gloomy.
And I don't know it's that what sticky weather. No
one likes, but I appreciate you tuning in and hanging
out with us today. We'll be with you until four
(12:50):
thirty and then we'll hand it over to the pregame
for the Chargers game today and you'll be able to
hear our very own Shannon Farren and the likes. So
go no where, stick around right here, and and then
I think everything's back to normal next weekend. I want
to introduce you to Francisco Mendoza. He is the proprietor
(13:15):
there at El Sushi Loco restaurant and I've always been fascinated.
I've not had his food as of yet, but I
think the combinations and the menu sound terrific. Francisco, Welcome
to the Fork Report.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
A no, my pleasure.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
Amazing to be here.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Thank you for having me, oh no, my absolute pleasure.
Now we don't have you in studio today, but we're
going to set that up because I would love to
try your food, and I'd love to shake your hand
and meet you, but I appreciate you taking the time.
Tell us a little bit about El Sushi Loco and
how it came about.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
Well, Sushi Luka came about in twenty ten when I
was hosting a nephew that I just asked his mom
and asked him, what do you.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
Know how to do?
Speaker 4 (14:03):
And he said, I'm a suchetto And I said, what fuzetto?
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Have you ever heard that suzetto?
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:15):
I didn't either, and I said, oh, you make all
you mean? You're like the sushi singies. The little right
singis that you're popping your mouth.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
I've never had sushi in my life. And that's what
he did, was the sushi chef.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
And I said one day, I get like a food
truck and you show me this Mexican sushi.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
And he said, sure, but they were too expensive to.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Like seventy thousand. I was like broke at the time,
And to be quite honest, I was broken in heart.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I was going through a season in my life. That's
another story. I didn't have any money. I only have
fifteen hundred dollars saved up and went onto craiglist and
and I found a food cart that looked like a
hawk dog cart. And people google el Sushi local cart
you'll be able to see this thing. I don't know
(15:08):
how and how I got it over here, but all
I know is that's how I began in twenty ten.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Catering Mexican sushi on a hawk dog cart in the
streets of La Puente, California.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Well, of course Lapuente, and and the rest is history,
as they say, right, well.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Kind of because I had my I mean, I didn't
have no permit, I didn't know food.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I just knew that I just wanted to do something
for myself. I wanted to get married and wanted to
be a dad, to have all these dreams. And I
had this cart. But I got kicked out of everywhere.
Finally went home defeated. I said, what am I doing?
I need to just focus on.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
I was an air conditioning technician doing pretty well, and
people just would knock on my door.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
Hey, bro, what's up with this Mexican sushi? I go, dude,
don't you see my it's my house. Well, people found
this card because I would sell out everywhere I went,
and so people wanted more of this stuff, and I said,
there's something special. So I did it on the out
of the patio of.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
The Mexican sushi came alive on the body of my
mom's life, and so that's how I started.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Finally, I said, Mom, I have an idea. I'm going
to go into the restaurant business. Oh no, so I'm
here you go again. I don't know if some of
your listeners have been there, like when you're in you
know you're going people believing, But there was just something
there that I just go, you know what. I love
(16:39):
this Mexican sushi stuff, and I love serving people. I
know I can do it, And I told my mom
I know I can do it. Just give me a
can I love it.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I know that.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Well see, but when you start with the passion and
the term you used, you love to serve people. Hospitality
has to start there. You have to desire to want
to serve people first and then having a great idea
like this, and and then you know, executing it well,
(17:18):
you know, people coming to your front door, it obviously
hit a chord with them and the you know, the
world was telling you basically, this is great. Now were
you born uh in Tijuana or you were you born here?
Speaker 3 (17:31):
That? And uh? But when I was a young young child,
maybe three or four, my dad kidnapped me. I was
living in in downtre La. My dad wanted to go
back to Mexico. My mom did not, and you know, uh,
he kidnapped me. What was amberger?
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I just woke Yeah, I just woke up in a
in a town or city Gulakans in a lot of Mexico.
Got a lot of crazy stuff going on there and
still is you know, yeah right now there's war there
and so I was there. Years later, I guess my
dad realized that this kid knitted his mom and she
(18:15):
brought me back. You know, you know, she became a
you know residence. She never gave up. Now she's an
American citizens. Very proud of that. And she I get
to get it from my mom.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
She's just the grinder.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
She just she doesn't give up. And I have some
moments of Britain to my lives, I think the wrong
turns that took me to places that you had another story.
But but so I grew up back in East ly A.
That's right, that was I was born in East ly
A and I also grew up in uh Eastell.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Yeah, that's It's a very important part of Los Angeles
that a lot of people don't know much about. But
and and there's a lot of great food that has
come out of that area as well. I'm on the
eastern side of town as well myself, not East La proper,
but that you know, being part of your story is
(19:10):
uh is I think part of the American dream and
a part that is often mixed missed in especially you
know today with everything going on with ice and everything
like that. As to there the people that want to
come here and do good and want to be a
part of the American dream versus you know, the criminal
(19:32):
element that nobody wants no matter who they are. All right,
stick around. We come back and want to talk to
you about your your menu and of course people can
find more on Instagram at El Sushi Loco. You can
also find it on YouTube as well. El Sushi Loco
(19:52):
Puente and check.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
That out on Instagram, Facebook, Al Sushi Loco in La
Puente and in down in two locations and Mexican Sushi.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
I love it, So we'll talk about that menu. We
come back more as we talk with Francisco Mendoza L
Sushi local restaurant, So go nowhere. You've been listening to
the Fork Report, you can always hear us live on
KFI AM six forty two to five pm on Saturday
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio. How Do you Do?
(20:28):
I encourage you to join me on social media as
well at fork Reporter at fork Reporter on Instagram, also
my behind the scenes stuff. If you are an artist
or maker, or you work in the industry of making things,
building houses, whatever it is, please join me on my
other Instagram savco Industries at saa v COO Industries, and
(20:54):
I would love to follow you. If you're an artist,
you make things, your crafter, your builder, concrete worker, whatever
you do, I love following you as well and being
inspired by your work as well. All right, back to
Francisco Mendoza El Sushi Loco restaurant. We talked a little
bit about the history. We didn't get into all the
(21:14):
ups and downs. We'll do that when we can personally
sit and I talk about these things. But I want
to get into the menu. So why don't you break
down some of the things that are on your menu
and the twists that you did to them, to you know,
mexify them.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Sure, you know, actually coined the term Mexican sushi. Like
people still doesn't they what is that? But you know
it's made the same, it's wrap the same, you know,
but we usually like fry or grill it. For example,
we make a a gada role like we used type
the stuffs you was fine in like a taco truck
(21:58):
maybe like chicken and bacon. There's one. Well, so I
thinka believe that we actually wrapped this role in bacon with.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
You wrap it in bacon with what I'm sorry you
dropped out there? Oh no, did we lose him? Okay, yeah,
it sounds like I can't hear anything there, So well
why don't we Yeah, let's give him a callback? Thanks?
But breaking down the crunchy role, El Tres Kesos. They
(22:38):
have a rainbow roll. They have a dragon roll. Now
traditionally a dragon roll or a spider role to me
means one thing. So I'm curious as to how that
breaks down. El Sushi Loco, by the way, is the
brainchild of Francisco Mendoza or Frank Mendoza. El Sushi Loco.
(22:58):
They've got two locations and one in Downy and in
one in La Puente and you can find them on
Instagram at El Sushi Loco as well on Facebook at
El Sushi Loco. All right, we've got your back, Frank. Yeah,
we're sorry, brother, So you were, you were breaking down.
(23:20):
You know what, I love your spirit too. I love
that you laugh and enjoy yourself still at all this craziness,
so quickly quickly break down some of these these roles
that you have.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Well, there's one of one of the one of the
most famous roles called the embed the Emperor, and it's
like I make twelve twelve, we use fresh cilantrolls, fresh peppers, lemons,
and we make our own you know, spicy mail sauce,
our own eel sauce. So, for example, the in Prala
(23:52):
has canicama.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
These are in greens that you'll find in Japan or
in Asia or an Asian markets.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Can it come fake or crab meat? And then we
make it fun. We introduce it into some of these roles.
And you know, when I was in Japan, like, don't
mess with my sushi, Like, yes, you're alone, but here
she's loco. We make it fun, make it very alive,
you know. And uh, I mean we wrap one of
(24:23):
in bacon. I was talking to you about this folcino
row and my sinse in Japan goes, you make a
bacon roll, you know, eight hundred years and you want
to submarine my sushi?
Speaker 3 (24:35):
I said, is that what they like?
Speaker 4 (24:38):
I like it, so I'm here to learn from change people.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
But that's what we do.
Speaker 4 (24:43):
It's fresh ingredients that you kind of find in the supermarkets,
you know, but it's East east West. It's baked or fried.
Not all are fried. There's some natural roles, but we
still we use a lot of the sauces. We smother
our goal. It's fun, really colorful, and flavor really comes
(25:04):
to life.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
I love it. Yeah, the understanding color. Of course. We
all say that you eat first with your eyes, and
I got to tell you it sounds like you're doing
it right and I can't wait to try it. Francisco
Mendoza aka Frank l Sushi Local restaurant again. The website
is El Sushi Loco dot com and you can find
(25:26):
him at the same El Sushi Loco on Instagram. And like,
what a pleasure to meet you over the phone. I
look forward to shaking your hand and getting to eat
your food next time we talk.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
Okay, yeah, it's great having great great you having me on.
It's a pleasure to be on. I'm like kind of
like you and self admitted, you know, food geek. You know,
I love to try new things and this is no exception.
Those who ever try it, you know, they just keep
(25:57):
on coming back because it's such a good thing. So
it's a pleasure to be on your show, Neil Oh,
the pleasure.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Was all mine, brother, and I look forward to meeting
you May. We'll go out and we'll we'll go investigate
some other places too.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Maybe we'll get the Golden studio ward that oh look
at that.
Speaker 4 (26:15):
Huh No, I know you're an explorer.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
I know your story.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
Thanks. I could think you will take a sushi Al
Sushi Loko.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
You know we'll you'll.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Tear it up together. We'll cause havoc. But what what
a pleasure? Brother? We will talk again, my friend.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
The pleasure was on mine. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
Francisco uh of course with Al Sushi Loco. Check them out,
support local, eat local, and keep these places in business.
We'll be back with more of the show. Keep in
mind it's the shorter show today. We end up four
thirty for the Chargers game, at least the pregame there,
so go know where
Speaker 2 (26:51):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from kf I a M six forty s
The Fork Report w Neil Saavedra News
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