Cookbooks & Art: baco: vivid recipes from the heart of Los Angeles by Josef Centeno

baco: Vivid recipes from the heart of Los Angeles by Josef Centeno and Betty Hallock

Chef Josef Centeno opened his first restaurant, Baco Mercat, in a dicey neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles in 2011. He would open four more restaurants on the same block in the next four years, which led a revitalization of the area. What was once skid row quickly became hip, with lofts, boutiques, and nightclubs.

The chef briefly recounts his history in the culinary field, cooking in various restaurants and finding the flavors that inspired his restaurants. Centeno spent time with menus from Spain, Korea, Japan, and now in his restaurants incorporates flavors from North and East Africa, Tex-Mex, Tejano, Italy, the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia. He comes from a family with a huge mixed heritage that includes Mexican, Irish, French, German, and Polish.  All of these flavors influence his dishes. “The goal isn’t authenticity but deliciousness.” Spices are at the heart of Centeno’s arsenal. He has a fifteen pound mortar and pestle that he uses to grind the fresh spices he uses in his original dishes.

Baco: Wild Recipes From the Heart of Los Angeles takes a crack at replicating some of the dishes from the five restaurants, although Centeno admits that none of these are recipes sacred. The menu at Baco changed rapidly in the restaurant’s first few days, with staff doubling and tripling the menu, then changing it virtually daily.  His focus is on flavor, and a dish’s flavor profile might change over time as Centeno and his staff redefine dishes. The recipes in this cookbook offer a glimpse of what the restaurants were putting out at a given time. Everything is fluid, based on what is fresh and what spices are available.

If you’re used to cooking family meals out of a quick-fix five ingredient cookbook, Baco will blow your mind and senses. Spice blend recipes include the Japanese inspired urfa Biber shichimi togarashi and arbol-guajillo furikake (pages 38 and 39) or marcona almond, coconut, and rosebud breakfast dukkah (page 51). Check out beautiful salads like the castelfranco with cheddar and miso-fenugreek dressing (pages 98 to 101) or crudites with walnut miso bagna cauda (pages 114-115).

While some of the recipes might seem way out of reach for the average home cook who might not have access to many of the exotic ingredients, there are still a number of recipes that are within reach. Baco Bread (pages 175-179) is a flatbread that can be enjoyed on its own or with a variety of dishes in the book. Other recipes that have ingredients the average home cook can find at an average supermarket include: Panko crusted shrimp with chives and Mexican sriracha (p. 148), potato croquettes (pages 151-153), sweet potatoes with aonori mascarpone butter, feta, and honey (pages 188-189), hand-torn pasta (pages 201-209), whole roasted orange- and soy-glazed duck (pages 266-269), salty caramel (page 279), and many of the drinks starting on page 296.

Aesthetically, Baco: Wild Recipes From the Heart of Los Angeles is a joy to behold. The top corners of the pages are rounded, while the bottoms retain the traditional 90 degree cut. The photography is breathtaking and artistic, with a majority of the photographs taken on a white background to help the spices and food stand out. The photography further elevates the elite culinary recipes within the book.

Give Baco: Wild Recipes From the Heart of Los Angeles to the foodies in your life, as well as your friends who worship Top Chef and Top Chef Masters. While Centeno has not (yet) appeared on the show, these are the sort of culinary masterpieces that could win someone the title.