Kris Morningstar
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Kris Morningstar worked the line at some of Los Angeles’ most celebrated restaurants, some still with us, others dearly departed. They include AOC, Meson G, Opaline, and Patina. But it was at Blue Velvet where critics and foodies ‘discovered’ him. The Los Angeles Times’ S. Irene Virbilia awarded the restaurant 2.5 stars when Morningstar was at the helm (no small thing from the famously star-stingy critic). A short stint as the chef at Casa followed. Fortunately, Morningstar had a happy landing after these two amicable, but nonetheless difficult breakups. He’s the chef at two Hollywood restaurants: The Mercantile, a haute sandwich shop cum marketplace that opened late last year, and District, which opened this Spring and which Morningstar describes far better than we ever could.
Where are you from?
I was born in Inglewood. But I was raised in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.
What brought you back to this coast?
My folks had moved back during my junior year of college. I decided after many years of fighting against it that I did want to work in the kitchen. So I came out here and went to culinary school and had a place to stay in with my folks.
I was going to ask you if anyone ever tried to talk you out of this profession but it sounds like you were your own biggest obstacle.
No. Every chef I ever met told me not to become a chef.
How come?
The hours. They all said it’s not a fun life. I almost went to culinary school out of high school. I did receive a little pressure (and it’s not the worst idea) to have a bachelors degree, not just a cooking degree. In retrospect, I probably had the opportunity to mature a little more. It’s a double edged sword. I lost four years I could have done cooking and get a head start on my career: the four years when you’re young and can revel in being a cook. I felt I started a little late, so I definitely ended up on a fast track of sorts.
I know a lot of people became familiar with your food (and became fans) when you were at Blue Velvet. But where were you before this?
Casey’s, an Irish pub. Before the gastropub craze hit I wanted to open a gastropub. I didn’t have financing or even the right skills. But I knew that was what I wanted to do. When I went to Casey’s I said, “Don’t hire me unless it’s what you want.” The owners seemed like they wanted to make some changes. But we were fighting with regulars who had gone there for thirty years and didn’t understand why they couldn’t have cottage cheese anymore. I got some great chefs out of it.
What happened with Blue Velvet anyway?
Restaurants are always challenging businesses because you have different people with different concepts and different ideas. The best thing you can do for a restaurant is have an owner who knows what his concept is and aligns himself with people who want to do that concept. It was a great experience, a special time where I came into my own with a staff that was filled with passion and willing to be screamed at by me when I was a first time chef.
Are you still a screaming chef?
I’ve cooled down a lot. When I first got into it I think there was lot of pressure on me and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself.
And Casa?
It just wasn’t the right match. I wanted it to be. I really loved the experience of learning Mexican food. At some point I will probably open a Mexican place because I love doing it. At the end of the day, I think I wanted to go a little more on the authentic side. I battled for a long time for what I believed in and left on good terms.
How did George Abou-Daoud [owner of The Mercantile and District] get to you?
I met him right about the time I started helping out at Casa. I was sitting on the patio at his restaurant Delancey. He didn’t know who I was or that I was a chef. I think I told him flat out to his face: “I wish your beer list was better and I don’t really like your mashed potatoes.” But I said my wife is a fan of them. I don’t normally go around pissing in people’s pools.
What compelled you to this time?
Probably a couple beers. I did it in a nice way. He called me a couple weeks after I met him and said, “I’m the owner of this place Delancey. I don’t want to be there because I don’t really like the food.” This was when Delancey was first getting started. So he asked for help. I was more or less committed to Casa, but I wrote him a menu and we talked about it. I spent one Sunday on my day off prepping it all out with my sous chef.
Obviously it was successful?
It seemed to make a difference. Delancey seemed to hit its stride. I don’t know if I was the changing point. It was just consulting. When I left Casa I talked to George. He said he had a spot down the street he was working on. It was like two people who are talking and you know at some point they’re going to date, but you didn’t know when it was going to be. I saw the construction site. The story is, I said, “What do you think of me being a chef?” He said, “That’s what I was thinking.”
After Blue Velvet and Casa, weren’t you gun shy about going to work for someone else?
When I left Blue Velvet, David Haskell and I spent a couple months trying to open a restaurant. But it was just when the economy was taking a dive. Right now I have a good set up. Sometimes you want to open a restaurant and have your vision. You don’t want to have to be pulling teeth with someone. At some point when the time’s right I’ll do that. Right now I’m enjoying cooking at District. [Abou-Daoud] gives us a pretty solid amount of freedom. I’ve got beef tendons cooking right now. I’ve served veal kidneys. I’ve done simple homey stuff like soft shell crab sandwiches and squab. I don’t see any reason to go running.
How do you describe District?
It’s not quite a gastropub. What I like to think of it as is a foodie neighborhood restaurant. We try to cultivate a fun and friendly vibe. The servers are not too dressy. The prices are not designed to be crazy expensive. We use fun ingredients and not necessarily overly expensive ones. I’m not going to bring in a ton of lobster, but I’ll think of cool ways to use octopus. The food is kind of a mish mash. We had roasted goat with Mexican Pipian sauce, spicy clams with pork meatballs and a curry broth, Chinese braised beef tendon with quince mustard or bok choy.
Doesn’t that make it hard for the staff?
It’s challenging, but people rise to the occasion. At first it takes a second to catch the pace. Every week I ask my guys what they want to learn. Sometimes the food grows from that. Sometimes someone says, “I haven’t really done African food.” And I say, “Me neither. Let’s do African food.” We put a duck breast on the menu because I’ve got a solid cook working with me and he was like, “I don’t know how to cook a duck breast.” I was like, “You shouldn’t leave here without learning how to cook a duck breast.”
You sound really excited just talking about this.
This is the fun part. I’ve worked in places and I thought I had a lot of energy and will to be a good cook. I didn’t ever feel like I had anyone take me under their wing. At one point I almost left to learn the front of house. They say that’s almost the kiss of death for a cook because once you get a taste of the money you don’t want to go back. I was highly defeated after my first two jobs. All I wanted was for someone to mentor me. Then I landed with Jason Travi at Opaline. If I asked him questions he was willing to teach me. My career got a lot better. So I’m trying to correct things. I’m going to give my cooks all the knowledge I can. When they leave my kitchen they should be able to cook at any restaurant in the city. That is my goal. I take a lot of pride in making good cooks or giving them the opportunity to make themselves good.
Let’s talk about The Mercantile. I love the mix of products on the shelves: salt water taffy from Florida, corn nuts from Spain, spices I have never heard of, little containers of sodium alginate. Is this Kris’ favorite stuff?
A lot of it is not only my favorite stuff but my chef de cuisine’s, Kevin Na Pier. He did a tremendous amount of work and research. We tried to look at what was available and how we cook too. Over the years Surfas has come up and built a side of that they didn’t have before. I know Cube is doing some stuff. The way I looked at it is: What about the things I can’t get if I want to do something special? The chemicals are the same way. Juniper berries are another example. It’s really hard to get juniper berries without buying a pound of them. Even going into a grocery store and buying mace; how often are you going to use that? This offered us a chance to buy in bulk and offer a good value.
I have to sing the praises of the chicken sandwich.
That sandwich was inspired by my mom’s Thanksgiving turkey flavors: orange and rosemary. We ended up smoking chicken mostly because the price of turkey was going up. The Cuban has also become cult around here.
There has been some criticism of the prices. Some people think a Cuban should be $3.99.
My pork loin costs $4.60 a pound. It’s natural. We do a smoked paprika and garlic rub. The bread for that costs me 81 cents. You get what you pay for. We’re working on bringing in good ingredients. We’re making orange rosemary marmalade. I did marketing and sales in college. Everyone has a different perception of what the price should be.
You have moved around a fair amount in the course of a couple years. Do you worry about how this might affect your reputation?
Sadly my resume looks spotty and I know it. Jonathan Gold’s opening commentary on us, he had everything really nice to say. Then he said, “Kris Morningstar is on his 403rd restaurant.” It is what it is. People want to see that you can be loyal to a place. I have been loyal to people more than it shows on my resume.
Your wife works in this business too. Did you meet her at a restaurant?
I did. She was at AOC when I began there. She was friends with the GM. Two nights a week she was helping them out hostessing there. She was eight years my senior and I had to woo her. She called me “cheese boy.”
Cheese no doubt helped with the wooing.
Cheese and risotto. Otherwise I never would have gotten her.
Do you get to eat out at all?
I try to. Sometimes you’re so tired you don’t want to. It took me forever to get down to Lazy Ox.
How was it?
It was great. The pig’s ears were perfect. I was in the restaurant holding up the pigs ears and waving them at Joe with the thumbs up.
Are there places you return to?
We end up at Bowery a lot.
And you’re not just saying that [because Bowery is under the same ownership as The Mercantile and District]?
No. We like it and it’s dog friendly.
What do you order?
My wife has the tuna melt and I have the burger. Every couple weeks we do it on our day off. We grab a beer, too. We used to go to this taco truck down at Olympic and La Brea. But everyone has now found out about it.
When you’re not in the kitchen, where else might we find you?
I’ve got a garden going. I try to keep that up.
Are you a good gardener?
Not yet. I’ve got a bunch of artichoke plants, an avocado tree and figs, tomatoes and basil, epazote, Jerusalem artichokes, kumquats, cavalo nero. I’m learning as I go, but I enjoy it.
The Mercantile, 6600 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 323.962.8202, www.themercantilela.com
District, 6600 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 323.962.8200, www.districtonsunset.com
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