Diana Stavaridis
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with Diana
At 14, Diana Stavaridis landed a job in her native Boston making pizza at Domino’s. One might argue Domino’s isn’t the most auspicious of culinary beginnings. On the other hand, you gotta start somewhere. Lured by the sunshine and waves—she’s a surfer—Stavaridis headed west in 2000 and enrolled at LA Trade Tech to fine tune her cooking skills. Among the restaurants she has worked at are Axe, Joe’s and Grace. These days, she helms the kitchen at Grace sister restaurant BLD. Stavaridis was recently named a Rising Star by StarChefs.com.
Why did you come to Los Angeles to study? I mean, LA Trade Tech is a good school. But I can’t imagine it is well known on the other coast.
I was doing a lot of surfing out of Boston, driving down to Rhode Island. I was tired of winter, tired of driving down there and it coincided with a career change.
What had you been doing?
Financial software.
Were your parents supportive of you becoming a chef?
Very. Both have their own businesses and did what they wanted to do.
What are the pluses and minuses of a chefing career?
The major plus is getting to do what I love to do and the power and freedom I have to create and test anything. The minus is the fact I work nights. I love to work dinner service, but it’s the opposite life of everyone I know. My weekend starts Monday and usually everyone’s going back to work Monday.
I hear you surf. How often?
Two to three times a week. When it’s cold I go snowboarding.
What would be the perfect pre or post surf meal?
Pre surfing: coffee and toast. Post surfing: some tacos from Taco Miendo.
Where’s that?
There’s one on Washington and Culver and one on Gateway and Pico. They make fresh tortillas.
What was the last great thing you ate?
Probably up in Half Moon Bay at this restaurant El Gibraltar: a manti pasta, a thin- skinned pasta, with a lamb and raisin and nut filling.
What Los Angeles restaurants are on your list to check out?
I still have not been Downtown to Church and State. I am going to Animal this week.
And what are a few of your favorite local restaurants?
There’s a little Greek place I like a lot, Papa Cristos. I love their spanakopita, their gyros. The lamb chops are very good. I always go to Bay Cities to get my subs. For
restaurant restaurants, AOC is nice. I try to get there as often as I can. I like Mozza. But mostly I am working nights.
I am told you have a penchant for smoking things. In the words of BLD co-owner Amy Knoll, “Not pot or cigarettes, but meat.”
I love to barbecue. When I first started working with chef Neal [Fraser] at Grace—they’re closed during day—they could smoke pork shanks and bacon in the morning. I went into BLD and thought, how can I do that here? (We’re open all the time.) I got my hands on a smoker and away we go.
What is the process?
For example, for beef brisket we do ten to twelve days of brining first. To make pastrami, you brine it a pound a day, then dry out the meat. Then you do a pastrami rub, then the slow smoker for about three hours and finish in the oven until it gets a hard crust. We have turkey pastrami on the menu right now. We also smoke tofu and pork shanks.
Ever tried smoking anything really strange?
Eggs.
What happened?
The smoke didn’t really get through.
I have what might be a delicate question. You’re pretty much running the show at BLD. But I imagine a lot of people think, oh, this is Neal’s food. Is that annoying at all?
Chef Neal opened it and built the core menu. He literally cut me free and said, “Do what you want.” I try to get his feedback. He is my mentor. People get crossed up and ask, “Is Neal cooking today?” The regulars know me.
I know you were just named a Rising Star by StarChefs.com and you have done some television recently. How do you feel about being in the limelight?
I like it because it gives us a little more exposure: more people I can cook for, more people I can try my food out on.
Is it a necessary part of chefing these days: putting yourself out there, doing television and all that?
In a city like LA with so many new restaurants opening all the time and so many great restaurants where you can pay like eight or nine dollars and get something awesome, every little bit helps.
And you’re comfortable in front of the camera?
I don’t know why I am so comfortable. I did the Food Network on pancakes.
[Stavaridis and her ricotta blueberry pancakes appeared on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate.”] It was this big production. It took like six to eight hours. I was so nervous. But when the light on the camera came on, I was calm. The producer said, “You’re like a one take wonder.” I scripted that in the back of my brain. One thing about cooking I don’t enjoy is I don’t get to talk to guests.
You use Twitter to let diners know what you’re cooking, what you’re eating. Is the audience listening?
I have a couple hundred followers right now. It’s fun because when I pull something out of the smoker and I wish people could see it, this way they can.
Tell me about the tweet-a-dish plat du jour.
What we’re going to start doing very soon, I’m going to put out the Thursday the week before that Chef D is open to suggestions for next week’s plat du jour. The person whose dish gets picked gets to come in with two friends and get their meal for free.
I’ve seen a couple pictures of you in a red bandana. Is that your signature look?
Usually I wear a bandana and my Red Sox hat too. The guys laugh at me because I am such a big sports fan.
But you’ve kept your Boston allegiance?
Yes with sports.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a chef?
Probably helping kids in some way, either with education or maybe with sports.
Is there anything else I should be asking you about?
The latest thing we’re doing that is really cool is, we have a vegan Benedict. We get the vegan [English] muffin custom made by La Brea Bakery. The standard one has egg. We make our own for the restaurant, but I can’t use them. [In lieu of eggs, Stavaridis subs a veggie patty.] The veggie patty is the one on the menu [also used for the vegetarian burger]. It is made with black beans, quinoa and wild mushrooms. There’s arugula, vegan hollandaise and house smoked, maple glazed tofu bacon.
How do you make vegan hollandaise?
Basically it’s like a tofu aioli: soft tofu, lemon juice, paprika, roasted red bell peppers, nutritional yeast. People really like it. I used to work at Real Food Daily [a local vegan eatery]. There still are some ideas from there that trickle in my brain. Ten to fifteen percent of our clientele is vegetarian.
When do you serve it?
Breakfast seven days a week and brunch on weekends.
One last thing, the economy.
We’re lucky. Since BLD opened four years ago this July, we probably just had one of the busiest months we’ve had. We stay busy. It’s slightly slower than it was the first two years. But we do 500 [covers] on the weekend. We go on waits. I’m really thankful.
BLD, 7450 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, 323.930.9744
BOOK IT
to LA >>
Show:
