To cook for oneself is always boring in the end; to cook for others, or better still for the one other, that is certainly an act of faith and love. Believe me, there is no cuisine without love.
M. Oliver, La Cuisine, 1969
A group of us was filled with anticipation for Cubiertos, a pop-up restaurant for one evening at Unit #120 in Chinatown, an incubator of gastronomic adventures of new Filipino-American chefs in Los Angeles. I had invited Hydee Ursolino, a photographer who hails from Lucena, Quezon. I have since interviewed four province mates, each with their own personal brand of artistry in photography, music, painting, and now, culinary arts.
Lord Maynard Llera closes out for this year, Unit #120’s series of chefs experimenting new dishes, a wild journey of culinary experimentations.
Chefs who have participated included Chase and Chad Valencia (Unit #120’s permanent resident on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), Carlo Lamagna (executive chef of Clyde Common in Portland), A’postrophe by Charles Olalia (former executive chef of Patina who opened Rice Bar lunch counter in Downtown Los Angeles) and Ria and Matt Wilson (introduced Wild, a lunch program at Canelé in Atwater Village.
Three months before Unit #120 was formally opened, Cubiertos, a brainchild of Maynard Llera, was planned, according to Alvin Cailan, the charismatic owner of Unit #120, Eggslut, Amboy, and Champ Ramen (has since been sold to a new owner).
Cubiertos planned service for 60, but oversold to 80 after selling prepaid prix fixe dinner of 5 courses, at $68.
His last seating of 30 customers at 845pm enthusiastically came and were eager to have their photos taken with him, after dinner.
It was close to midnight when Maynard Llera joined us for an interview.
Love, deconstructed
When you say humba is served on the menu, immediately, one remembers a certain taste of pig knuckles or trotters, or even pork belly marinating it overnight in bay leaves, salted bean curd known as tajure, bay leaves, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, peanuts and black beans.
With Maynard’s innovation, he combined shiitake mushrooms with oyster sauce and paired them with Chinese long beans artfully twirled and twisted like pasta on top of humba meat, which was sugar braised lamb ribs.
To Mediterranean and Italian eaters, his humba of lamb ribs would be top notch as the flavors of shiitake mushrooms and Chinese long beans all harmonized.
But, as one chews the meat, expecting a pork shank, the gamey taste of lamb became a big obstruction to our Filipino-trained palates and we simply could not put that aside.
One suggested if the lamb was braised first in wine and garlic, it might not have the gamey flavor. Would that work or would trimming the fat some more where most of the gamey odor and flavor reside?
As if the chef was prescient, he had done exactly that, days before, cold-smoking the lamb to remove the fat, and braising it in port wine, garlic and spices.
Two of our group members had tasted grass-fed lamb, supplied by Heritage Foods, USA in the East Coast, and there was not a hint of gamey taste.
So, for the next pop-up of Cubiertos, may we look forward to this humba again, and perhaps consider how to minimize the gamey flavor or change suppliers? This is quite a creative dish that we want this to be fully enjoyed, as Christine did.
Love is in the details
Maynard graciously joined his guests at each table after. With selfies taken, each table shared their feedback with the servers and the chef. Maynard had originally planned to serve 60, but by the time the tickets were sold out, 80 would be served.
Like a well-oiled machine, his team of Bestia staffers, with full support of his employer, Ori Menashe, Maynard was grateful as to the full support he got from them, “We work together 12 hours a day. We see more of each other than our own families. So, we really are close!”
Some wore a Bestia t-shirt, proudly displaying their place of work, but mostly their teamwork in how they enjoy themselves in the kitchen, preparing food but also in the dining room, “They went all out to help me.”
“I have been sharing with Ori my dream of having my own restaurant. He has supported me in trying new dishes. He is the one who pushed me to be more inventive, to take risks. For three years, I have been telling Ori about these dishes and he simply says, “Make it for me.”
He is grateful that Ori took time to taste all the dishes, “he has given me advice, go get these from these suppliers, to add one more cook if necessary, everyone in Bestia has helped me.”
“What a great boss you have,“ I told him.
Wearing a checkered black and white bandanna and a koi dragon tattoo on his left arm, and his characteristic smile, Maynard shared his intentions, “My wife wanted me to do the pop-up – to open a restaurant. I don’t cook in the Philippines, and till I went to Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, I discovered I have the passion for cooking. I want to cook for friends and family. I am happy I pulled it [Cubiertos pop-up] through. It is why the plating is generous, I went all out.”
I asked him about the tattoo on his left arm, and interestingly, it describes how his talents have grown: as the koi comes down the waterfalls, it becomes a dragon, an appropriate metaphor for how we would view Cubiertos, from now on.
Maynard took 30 minutes to develop the menu, a mark perhaps of his acquired talents in French, Italian, Asian and Mediterranean cooking styles. “I want to go beyond turo-turo, honed and trained myself with different styles and modern techniques.” For three days, he has had only 4 hours of sleep, planning, executing the menu, and cooking the dishes.
So for Palabok, it had a very unique metallic taste of uni and the characteristic dish has been modified to have dehydrated pork, dried fish, chiles, kumquat, bean sprouts, mint and thai basil. As you wrap the noodles with the herbs and swirled together all the ingredients, it had a refreshing taste when combined with lemon, which we asked for. It became a favorite of one of the pickiest eaters in our group, Dennis.
As to the consensus favorite, the “darling” dish of the night, for Mike, Christine, Hydee, myself, it was Dinuguan Longganiza served with a light, refreshing salad of scarlet frill, pickled fennel, frisee, mint, dill and pine nuts. This dish is seared in my memory and I want an encore. There was not a single pine nut left in our salad plate. And the dressing was done quite well from red wine vinegar and fish sauce, a kitchen staple in Filipino homes, called patis.
Another favorite was Kinilaw made with ono fish, coconut curry, radish, cucumber, sili labuyo, basil, cilantro and served with guacamole, sweet potato and plantain chips. Fish tasted sweet, no hint of fishiness, an indication of freshness and with a bite of spiciness. It felt balanced in eating it with guacamole, sweet potato chips and the ono coconut curry, a heavenly dish to the pickiest eater, Parker, a Thai foodie.
As to how Maynard feels about the pop-up, “Proud. Happy. Every pop-up has a different story; most of those who have done it have been born here or raised here. I came from Lucena, Quezon, the South, and others have come from the North. They have their own flavor profile. What I have done is cook what I like to eat; others recreate their childhood, their own food. For all of us, we do pop-ups to invite others to know about us, to test the waters, for publicity, and also, to invite investors to help in getting my dream of opening up my own restaurant: casual, relaxing, where family, friends are enjoying the food, not too stiff, where everyone is enjoying food, drinks, and company.”
A plug for his place of work, Bestia, three years running now, 500 served daily, 7 days a week. It is considered one of the top restaurants in Los Angeles.
Another consensus favorite in our group is the Pandan Panna Cotta with Mango Puree with peanut-coconut snap, lovingly topped with a spoon, wrapped in green leaf, over the cup of dessert.
What a lovely way of presenting his dessert, mimicking a gift, and we got your message, Maynard, Cubiertos’ pop-up is truly a gift from your heart. We get that totally!
Published on Asian Journal