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John Sedlar Worries About the Future of Mexican Food

By Barbara Hansen | LA Weekly
Wednesday Oct. 26 2011 at 9:00 AM

John Sedlar, chef/owner of Rivera and Playa, once thought that Mexican food would take over the world. Now, the world is taking over Mexican food, he says. And this is not a good thing.

Chef John Sedlar (left), his corn flan with fish in curry sauce (right).

Today's hot young Mexican chefs want to show that they can compete on an international level. In their eagerness to shine, they are drawing away from their Mexican-ness, he laments. "Where is the epazote? Where are the calabacitas?" he wants to know.

Named Esquire's chef of the year for 2011, Rivera was mulling over what he saw at the recent Baja California Culinary Fest 2011, which brought chefs from all over Mexico to collaborate on showcase dinners.

"They are super talented," he says. "They have great composition on the plate. Their flavors are vibrant." But their cooking is modernist, almost sanitized of its Mexican character.

This is not all bad. "In Mexico, the cuisine is in evolution. It's a very natural step that the chefs want to explore the cuisines of the world," Sedlar says. Eventually, he thinks, they'll look at their own cuisine with fresh eyes and come back to it.

Although innovative, his own restaurants are solidly grounded in Mexican tradition. During the festival, he prepared a salmon mousse tamal with fines herbes sauce for a lunch in the Guadalupe Valley. Then he contributed two courses to a four-chef dinner at Mision 19 in Tijuana. Both were original, yet classically Mexican.

One was his signature corn flan topped with black quinoa and served tamal style in rose-tinted cornhusks. This he paired with Mexican white bass in a delicate curry sauce with cumin, coriander and orange puree. The fish came from the restaurant and seafood market Erizo Cebichería, owned by Tijuana chef and restaurateur Javier Plascencia.

The other was grilled Guadalupe Valley quail accompanied by an Anaheim chile stuffed with mushroom duxelles. Plascencia, who owns Mision 19 and also cooked at the dinner, provided the quail, which Sedlar marinated with tarragon, basil, cilantro, red chile, honey and orange zest.

Sedlar says he falls back on safely mild Anaheim chiles when he doesn't know what wines will be paired with his dishes. The wine for both his courses was Pao Pijoan's Doménica 2009, a Grenache blend from the Guadalupe Valley. The Anaheims came from Los Angeles.

"I do believe all eyes are on Mexico right now for its cuisine, its historic cuisine," he says. "People are opening up to everything Mexican -- the fashions, the music, the food. The food is very colorful. It's very nourishing. It's very fresh, and it has great story and history."

Read more from Barbara Hansen at EatMx.com, Food, Wine and Travel ... With Recipes: TableConversation.com


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Last night I made a red fish curry with local vegetables and fish. Yummy with rice and a mango/baby cucumber salad. So, Mexican main ingredients, Thai and Indian spices, all cooked by a Chilean/Czechoslovakian/Dane woman.

If cuisine is to remain static and true to it's 'roots', we as humans better stop communicating!

B

Originally Posted by Mudhen

Last night I made a red fish curry with local vegetables and fish. Yummy with rice and a mango/baby cucumber salad. So, Mexican main ingredients, Thai and Indian spices, all cooked by a Chilean/Czechoslovakian/Dane woman.

If cuisine is to remain static and true to it's 'roots', we as humans better stop communicating!

B

What part of Chile are you from, I lived in Santiago until 1972.

I was born and raised in San Jose, CA, USA. My Chilean relatives are from Zone 10, the lake district. But I think they may have recently rezoned. Anyway, not far from Villarica.

B

Villarrica volcano and lake are beautiful place, California and Chile are very similar. Glad to hear you postponed your trip with a gas leaking car, muy peligroso. I work at a petroleum refinery and have lots of training on firefighting hydrocarbon fires and gasoline is very explosive and easy to ignite!

I am kind of scratching my head now that I thought I could keep driving. Once I pulled it out of the sand it made perfect sense to go absolutely nowhere until the leak is fixed.

Sur de Chile is quite a bit like some parts of CA, USA, true. But so much cleaner! Being able to see the bottom of a lake is not something I ever experienced in the US. Pristine. And the trout.....oh man, the trout.

And swinging it back to topic, kinda, the food there was very fresh but so bland! Did you find that? I really liked the empanadas de horno, but the lack of use of spices surprised me. Worked out though as when I was there I was staying with a friend on her farm, and we made magic on the big wood burning stove.

:)

Hey, much thanks for the insight on Chile... more would be appreciated ... a very interesting place from a lot of area's... Astronomy would also be high... sorry for the pun...

The America's have given the world "food" of a different flavor and nutrition standpoint ..... I mean where would we be without meat and potatoes... not even talking about chilies ... sativa vs indica ... without the America's...