The Fork Report - Rob Arellano of Descanso

Lets give a big welcome to Rob Arellano of Descanso, now here in LA

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Neil Savedra. You're listening to kfi EM six
forty the fore Report on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Heybody,
it's the four Report, all Things Food, beverage and beyond.
I am your well fed host, Neil Svader. How do
you do? Happy Saturday to you as we watch as
the clouds are rolling in. Maybe you've got some rain
in your area right now. If not, it's probably going

(00:21):
to come in through later in the evening nine o'clock
in some areas and then going overnight a bit. And
it looks like it's really going to pick up tomorrow
night by the looks of things, but much needed rain.
Excellent excuse stay home and hang out with family and
have some good food. And speaking of good food, I'm

(00:44):
very excited about this opening. It happened on January twenty thirty.
This is the opening weekend, so we wanted to have
Rob Ariano come on from Desconso and talk about their
newest location. Rob how are you, my friend?

Speaker 2 (01:01):
I'm doing good?

Speaker 1 (01:02):
Neil?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (01:03):
I bet you're busy this weekend?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
I am? And did I just hear you on the radio?
Thing for people to stay home, you know, in the rain.
You know, I need the encouragement to get people out
and still go dining.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
You know, you know what, I'm a little selfish, and
I'm going to tell you something. You are now in
the delivery area for me, so I can finally have
your food delivered to my house. Oh I love it
so to me, it's same same, But I will tell
you going out enjoying yourself, I want you to break down.

(01:37):
Your first location is in Coasta masas So a lot
of people are familiar with it there. We've had you
on the show many times. I'm a big fan of
your food and your attitude towards super serving those that
come into the restaurant. This is not just as much
as I joke about, Yeah, I get to order your
food at home. You're actually creating an experience for people

(02:01):
to say, hey, when you come out, you're gonna get
more than just great food. You're gonna get a great environment.
So take us rob to the beginning of your vision
for Disconso and what you've brought now here on Wilshire Boulevard,
right next to the tar pits. Talk about that vibe

(02:22):
and the energy, the colors of Disconso restaurant.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Well, thanks for that intro. I love it, and yeah,
you definitely, you know, you get the essence of Wisconsin.
I really appreciate you. You know. Disconso is really built
off the Mexican street vendor. When I was a kid,
my father had the suvicinity to find always the perfect

(02:50):
taco and he was so good at really digging out
some of the you know.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Most just exclusive, you know, back at taco stands, food trucks, carts,
you name it, with the most exceptional street food.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
And I just love the experience. And it's really not
all about the food, although the food is fantastic, come
in the right off the grill on the stand, with
fresh flavors, homemade recipes and everything. But it really is
more than that. There's the sounds, you know, they have
music playing, the sizzle on the grill obviously, the aromas,

(03:27):
the interaction with the chefs, you know, using your hands,
and of course the flavor and taste. I mean, it's
really a full sensory experience and I love it. I
love it. As a kid, my dad, without even knowing,
you know, gave me this passion for street food and
the ultimate taco and it just it's been a fire

(03:48):
in me ever since, and when I was getting into
my professional hospitality career my twenties, I always knew I
wanted to bring that experience into a full service restaurant.
It was always how do I do it? What are
the elements that I'm going to need to replicate that
experience and bring it into a full service restaurant. That's

(04:08):
really how it responned, and our Coast Mesa was built
off of that notion. That is our mission is to
really create and then elevate and bring in some new
flavors mixed with traditional flavors, always keeping the base and
authentic recipes mainly that we pull from the Sinaloa Mutual

(04:31):
con central Western Mexican region, and that's that's really our mission.
And with that we have our Planta dining, which you
mentioned our open cook tops where our planches chefs cook
at your table and you go through a dining journey
with them and learn about the food, the history, cooking techniques.

(04:53):
They bring you into the food personally and cook you
a multi course meal and that it really is our
our signature experience at Disconso. And of course we have
standard dining as well with a full all of carte menu,
and here in La that concept is very much alive

(05:15):
and well and on even grander scale. You know, we
went from thirty eight hundred square feet in Costa Mesa
to nine thousand square feet here in this space on Wiltshire,
the old calendar space, and in that we have a
taco stand which we refer to as our Taco bar,
and morall a cart driven our Planta tables, and something
really unique to this location is our private Planta Room

(05:39):
where you can get up close and personal in the
private setting in sort of a villa style room, and
have a chef dinner if you will, with our Planchetto
chefs with a real exclusive menu. And it's just a
real sort of another element and elevated experience that's unique
to our LA location.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
That's the voice of Rob from Desconso we're lucky enough
to have it in Los Angeles now. I cannot recommend
it enough. Rob has been a guest many many times
on the show, and it's not blowing smoke. I just
love their food. I love his attitude towards hospitality. He
has the right vibe and attitude towards serving people and

(06:21):
making an experience. And I think we are incredibly lucky
to have this location. We come back, Rob, I want
to get into the history of the location a little bit,
some more about the Planchet dining and to help people
really understand that experience, because not only is that great
for parties or special nights or whatever, but getting groups

(06:41):
of friends or meeting new people at a Planchet table
is exciting as well as the other opportunities for a
more traditional dining environment. We'll talk about that color scheme,
vibe everything when we come back. You got to check
them out at Desconso Restaurant La dot com. Desconso Restaurant

(07:04):
la dot com. Look at the menu. We're going to
talk about that as well as we discuss all these things.
And you know what it takes to get a second
location and to have one in Orange County and now
in LA and what that means for Rob as well.
So go know where We've got more to come.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Neil Savadre with you today the Fork Report. As the
rains start to come in much needed rain, it doesn't
look like it's gonna be heinous by any way, stretch
or form. It just is much much needed. And what
a wonderful day for some warm food in your belly.
Talking about Disconso Restaurant, brand new restaurant here in Los Angeles,

(07:53):
those in Orange County know it well because of the
Coasta mesa location that has been hugely popular. You know,
I love the food. I've talked to Rob on the
show many times before and eating the food, and it
has been one of the standout foods I've had through
my whole career doing the Fork Report. Stuff that always

(08:15):
tends to stop me in my track and let my
tongue kind of go through the layering of flavors and
the textures, the freshness of the ingredients. And so when
Rob was on and said that he was going to
be bringing a place, I'm like, oh man, here in
LA we got to do a live remote. We're going
to try and put something together. You know, things have

(08:35):
been crazy here at the station and then with we
were the fires. We were supposed to broadcast from the
Dream Center today, but because of rain we couldn't pull
that off. And we'll set something up hopefully in February
to get out. I do want to do something with listeners.
Rob rob Ariano is here talking about it. I would

(08:58):
love to bring listeners in and do something at the
plancha explain the planche dining again. So the closest thing
that people are you know, even though it's different, is
that is like a tepanyaki or something where you're watching
Benny Hanna or something, You're watching the food made in
front of you. It's part theater, part culinary experience, all

(09:21):
of those things.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
Would that be correct in saying yeah, I mean, it
definitely is, although we hesitate in using that word because
we try not to give the.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Preconceived notion of that it's going to be a similar experience.
So the set of the same. And I was saying
before that, when you know, I was really trying to
think about how to bring the taco stand into a
full service restaurant. You know, it is really hard to
sort of conceptualize the implementation of that. And you know
there's health guidelines and all these other things you know

(09:53):
that go into cooking food in a restaurant. And you know,
when I was sitting at a tap on table one
day and I'm like, you know, light all went off.
You know, the Japanese have been doing this forever, and
you know, so I took some things in terms of
the setup style, so that's very similar, but of course
we make it our own experience.

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Yeah, and it really, I mean it literally is a
flat top of plancha table that is, you know, rimmed
with the sitting experience. The complexity of the food is impressive.
To see these things being made in front of you,
the flavors, the proteins, all of these things coming together.

(10:34):
I'm at a at a bit of a handicap because
of the fact that we're on radio and don't have
those pictures, so I wanted people to kind of get
a jump on that experience. Now that's not throughout the
whole that, you know, the whole restaurant. You do have
regular seating and traditional style seating and the light and

(10:55):
the I'm going to say this with no disrespect to
other you know, to chain restaurants and life, the experience
is much more elevated, Yes, and we.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Try to do that, and not elevated in the sense,
you know, just to charge more by any means. But
we're really sort of you know that that's not our
definition of it by it, but it's really just you know,
really paying attention to the cuisine because like you said,
you know, you know, people are not only looking for
a good meal, but an experience, and it was really
important to us it just not be an experiential type

(11:27):
of dining, but that I was also embedded in really
good quality food and ingredients, and like you say, the
freshness of our ingredients is really what we pay homage to,
and that we're looking for flavors from ingredients and not
you know, substitute elements you know, such as lart and
other things that don't get me wrong, make great attitudes,

(11:48):
especially to Mexican food. But we're really honing in on
that sort of culinary process and you see it right
in front of you on the girl and you know,
get to you know, get that personal interaction and you
know even you know, will modify things, you know, because
of for me, culturally too, dining and Mexican culture, dining

(12:09):
is it's not just about, you know, when the food
is served, it's also the process of making it and
you know everybody's kind of involved in that, and so
we're really trying to foster that here at the at
the grill as well.

Speaker 1 (12:21):
You know, the energy difference between half two and one two.
I think is powerful in food. And you described when
we talked, you know, earlier, when you came on about
your experience with your father about getting the perfect taco
from a taco stanin street tacos. Because that is a
want to experience people wanting to share their flavors and

(12:42):
to be able to bring that inside to you know,
a large footprint, like your newest location here in Los Angeles.
For those who don't know, the new location is out
here on Wilshire It's five seven seven three Wilshire Boulevard.
You may recognize that because it used to be Marie
Calendars for forty years and then turn to Calendars, but

(13:03):
for forty years it was in that location right next
to it's a great area there and right next to
the tar pits and they're shopping in the area. It
really is a destination location to where you can spend
the day doing some shopping and all kinds of other
things there, go to the museum, and then get some food.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Rob.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
I know you got a lot going on, but I'd
love to keep talking to you. Can you stick around? Okay,
when we come back, let's talk a little bit about
that menu because just the description of these things. Now,
if you want to see some pictures, go to Disconso
Restaurant LA dot com. Disconso Restaurant La dot com. You'll
see all these things that we're talking about. You'll see

(13:44):
the freshness of those ingredients, the bright greens and the chilis,
the warm brown and red coming from those proteins, and
you'll see why it's set apart. I love the color choices,
by the way, for the dining room, and I'm looking
very forward to popping in soon. Rob So stick around

(14:04):
rob Ariano from Desconzo Restaurant here now in La from
coast to Mesa. We're very lucky to have it. And
I got to tell you, whether it's group dining, in parties, events, whatever,
or just going for a warm, inviting but vibrant experience,
Desconso is going to be your jam, trust me. And

(14:25):
this new location has plenty of space and private areas
as well to enjoy. So go nowhere the food talk
when we come back.

Speaker 4 (14:34):
You're listening to The Fork Report with Nil Savedra on
demand from KFI AM six forty.

Speaker 1 (14:40):
Hey, everybody, it's the Fork Report on Neil Savedra. We're
hanging out and talking with Rob Ariano right now. And
are you at the restaurant right now?

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Rob Hi?

Speaker 1 (14:49):
I am yes, you at there all night tonight?

Speaker 2 (14:52):
I am, oh yeah, absolutely. I've been paying extra attention
to the restaurant this weekend before obvious reasons, being here
a grand opening.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
So what we're talking about is Disconzo Restaurant now in
La Those listening in Orange County go, oh, I know,
Disconso in Costa Mesa. Rob told me some time ago
that he was going to be bringing it to Los Angeles,
and I'm very excited because I really love the food
and found out that I can have it delivered to
my house now because it's close enough, which is fantastic.

(15:23):
But really this is a marriage between food and vibe
and experience, great cocktails all of the like. And I
wanted to get into some of the menu as well,
so let me let me go through this. I mean,
just mind tastes some of this list on the menu
dealing with the tacos to The Gornito is a pork
belly taco braised in Mexican coca cola with Himalayan salt, garlic,

(15:48):
and herbs, chipotle, peach syrup. Oh. My god, Avocado, salsa meridated,
red cabbage, micros cilantro, and a blue on a blue
corn tortilla. You making the tortillas in the house, we
sure are.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
And the beautiful thing about this location being that's much bigger.
We have room to set up our little tortilleria and
yes we make them, put them on the camal, make
them fresh, so much better.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Taco deviia. You've got the short rib, oh Man's. That's
such a great combination. Got the walkamlee, You've got onions,
salsa verde, You've got the three cheeses on there, the
micro cilantro, the consomme of the beria consomme, and the
handmade tortilla. That is I mean, this is what you

(16:40):
want when you go out to eat. Oh I bet
it's like, wow, I went straight forward. Now, you know,
I have some of my favorites as well, and one
of my favorites there to get a chance is the alumbre.
And this is a fantastic dish that when Rob was

(17:01):
on and brought it to me one time on the air,
it just kind of stopped me in my tracks to
the point where you were telling me Rob that people
still come in and say, what's the dish that Neil
had that he talked about?

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Oh yeah, whatever Neil ate that day. That's what I want.
I love that.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
So tell us.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
About this menu because all of it is bright and
it looks fulfilling and robust, but it's really gorgeous to
look at the combinations and colors and everything else that
you're putting on there. How do you and your chef
work through these recipes and go, Okay, this is becoming

(17:41):
a permanent one on our menu.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Well, that's the most fun process of being a restaurant
tour is really going through conceptual dishes to tastings. I mean,
the tasting is my favorite part. So I'm not a
culinary train I'm not a chef trained restaurant tour but
I am definitely a self proclaimed foodie and love to

(18:09):
eat more than anything on this planet. So that's where
I spend my expertise is tasting, and so I really
try to put people around me that have the creativity
and the you know, the really sort of you know,
culinary passion wherewithal to dive into a conceptual dish. And
like I said, everything is sort of inspired by street food.

(18:30):
So I'll usually kind of drive through different you know,
street food options and then present it to my chef.
You know, how can we now bring this in and
elevate it? And like I said, visually is important because
it's not you know, you eat with your eyes first,
and I firmly believe that. So that's a great natural
thing about Mexican food is there's always so many beautiful colors,

(18:53):
you know, at the bat from you know, beautiful tomatoes
and obviously we use blue corn, and a big part
of that, you know, flavors better, but also presents better
such a beautiful looking tortilla. I'll present conceptuals and then
my chef goes through and digs through you know, recipes
and you know, brings in other influences and we set

(19:17):
up our tastings and go through e to one and
really have deep discussions on each. So that's my favorite
part of this whole process.

Speaker 1 (19:26):
Looking through some of the appetizers and the starters here,
that ria impanada sounds great. So imagine there's two corn
masa ipanadas stuffed with four hour braized short rib beia,
the three cheeses, the onion, the crama pickled red onions,

(19:47):
and the Beria consumme, Holy smokes, that sounds delicious.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
I actually just had a customer last night come up
to me and tell me. He said he just thought
me in my track, didn't really know who he was.
And I just want to let you know that was
the best or ipinat I've ever had on was some
great feedback.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Well, it's obviously got similar textures and flavors to the
taco and this sealed up. But you could imagine that
thick fresh corn massa with its tiny bit of sweetness
and then stuffed with that long braized short rib. I mean,
how can that go wrong? What are some of the.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Because I'm hungry as hell and you have no idea.
How thrilled I am That Desconzo Restaurant is now here
in Los Angeles again easy to find. It's the old
location of the Marie Calendars. Now this was not just
your average Marie Calendars. This was a forty year old
flagship location, done in brick, stunning well appointed on the inside.

(20:53):
Yeah right, you know it's a I think it's across
the street from Golden Voice too. I think they're up
in the building across the street, So SAG headquarters our
Union is there. Yep.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
Every time I had to go do business down there,
I would go get lunch at Calendars.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
It's a beautiful building. Yeah, it's gorgeous, right next there
to the tar pits. So it's really a destination location
to get out to and enjoy. I really want to
encourage people listening in Los Angeles to check this out tonight.
You're looking for something different. It is the opening weekend.

(21:27):
Now you've tied some things and you've got some some
stuff going on. Is there a charity aspect this weekend
or something going on that I have in the back
of my mind somewhere.

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Of course there is. And this has always been my
mantra as a restaurant operator, a smarter and more successful
restaurant tour than myself that just over thirty restaurants. You said, look, Rob,
as you're diving in, you know, head person of this industry,
He's like, make sure you know you're always community minded
to take care of your community, because you cannot floors

(22:00):
without a you know, as a restaurant without a good
strong community not only functioning on their own, but you know,
in supporting you. And I was like, I've always taken
that to heart. So of course, with the devastation of
the fires and our weekend coming up, you know, we
made a pledge to portion or to donate a portion

(22:22):
of our sales to the California Community Foundation Wildfire Recovery Fund.
And that's from our official grand opening which was Thursday,
all the way through this Sunday. And so you can
come and dine and obviously four a great cause at
the same time and help us kick off our grand
opening weekend.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Another great excuse to get out there. All right, can
you hang on for one more segment?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Rob? Sure?

Speaker 1 (22:48):
All right, Well we'll come back. We're going to talk
more with Rob Ariano from Disconso Restaurant. It's now here
in La Disconso Restaurant, La dot com. Disconso Restaurant, La
dot Com. I highly encourage you looking for something special
this weekend. You just heard another excuse to get over
there on Wilshire Boulevard, have a great meal, and part
of the what you're paying goes to the fire relief.

(23:14):
So that's all good as well. Another part of welcome
being Rob and Disconso Restaurant here to Los Angeles. 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 app.
Happy Saturday to you. We're talking with Rob Ariano from

(23:35):
Disconso Restaurant in Coasta, Mesa. You may know them well.
Now we have one here in Los Angeles on Wilshire
Boulevard at the old Maria Marie Calendar building. So well
known building there at five seven seven three Wiltshire Boulevard,
gorgeous structure, now the home of Desconso. Find out more

(23:56):
Disconso Restaurant La Desconso Restaurant, La Rob Your last thoughts,
what do you want people to know about the restaurant?
The new restaurant there and opening weekend this weekend?

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Oh so much? Where should I start? You know, we're
happy to be here in this neighborhood. I'm so honored
to be on the Miracle Mile and this great neighborhood
just all the you know, the history of the culture
of the art scene. We're really trying to emulate that
here in the restaurant. You know, like you said, we're
definitely experiential dining. You know, we really do love when

(24:32):
people come in celebrate birthdays, plant of dining where we
cook in front of you and we have a chef,
our punch of hose. Chefs cook a multi course meal
to order right at your table, and a plant of grill,
and of course we have our standard dining. We do
brunch on the weekends, so we're doing brunch from eleven
to three Saturday and Sunday, delicious brunch, chili ki eggs

(24:52):
and you can also do brunch. Is a very unique
way of doing brunch. This brunch on the plant of
grills where they're cooking your eggs, Rebelsoncero's or chilaus right
on the flat roll, right in front of you, which
is a very cool, interactive experience. And of course we've
bottomless mimosas which also really do help that brunch aspect.

(25:12):
I believe and have music too, so we have live
musicians on the weekends Friday and Saturday night. So it's
a lot of fun, a lot of energy, you know,
of course, a lot of good food and fantastic margaritas.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Well, I will tell you this has the four Report
seal of approval most certainly, and if you heard us
talking with rob Ariano today and you're curious about Wisconsin
Restaurant now in La on Wilshaw Boulevard and the Miracle
Mile there near the Tarpits. Go in and say hello,
go visit today. You know, starting a new restaurant is

(25:45):
always a nail bier. Why don't you ease things up
by going in and enjoying the food and saying hi
to Rob and all the people going to work there
in this new beautiful three times larger almost than the location,
and coach to Mesa and enjoy it and start booking
those rooms up for special events, whether it's for work

(26:07):
or player or these types of things. And of course
with it being a weekend, definitely get in on that
brunch as well. Rob. Always great to talk to you,
my friend. I want, I wish you nothing but success
in that location, and I'm thrilled to have you here
in La Neil.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Thank you so much, appreciate you having us.

Speaker 1 (26:24):
Of course, so Disconzo Restaurant la dot com. Disconso Restaurant
La dot com. Check out the menus and tell me
I'm not telling you the truth. Go out there, say
hi to Rob and get yourself some good food. I'm
gonna try and get out there this week and myself
and say hi, shake his hand and congratulate him for
the new location, and get some of that good food.

(26:45):
All right, we'll be back

Speaker 4 (26:46):
With more, so go know where you're listening to The
Fork Report with Nil Savedra on demand from KFI AM
six forty