The Next Inn Crowd

food drink | dish
Q&A
market forces From left: culina’s Victor casanova,
WP24’s David mcIntyre and Whist’s tony Disalvo.
The Next Inn Crowd
They aren’t yet household names like the masters under whom they trained. But these former protégés
of Wolfgang Puck, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud are determined to make their own
names. The Ritz-Carlton downtown just launched Puck’s WP24, and although the legendary chef’s
name is on the door, it’s hot shot Spago veteran david Mcintyre who’s charged with overseeing the
upscale, Asian-inspired menu. The Viceroy in Santa Monica has tapped Tony disalvo, the former top
chef at New York’s Jean Georges, to command the stoves at Whist. And for its high-profile, celebritystudded Italian restaurant Culina, the Four Seasons recruited Victor Casanova, who rose through
the ranks of New York’s Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Café and DB Bistro Moderne before taking
Scottsdale by storm at the legendary Phoenician resort. So, just who are these dudes?
Tony DiSalvo
Whist at Viceroy
1819 Ocean Blvd., Santa Monica,
310.260.7511, viceroysantamonica.com
at home—great sushi. We’d cook
Cantonese or Peking style Chinese
food, rolling our own pancakes
for mushu and stuff like that.
Describe Whist in three words.
First job? Peeling carrots, shucking
oysters, making deviled eggs—
thousands of eggs. At first I was
like, “Uh, this kind of sucks.” Most
important mentors? Jean-Georges,
of course. But also my dad. He
would take us to Chinatown or
to the fish market. He made sushi
Evolving. Fresh. Fun. Or maybe
coastal, modern, Mediterranean.
Signature dish? Te Muscovy duck.
I roast it until the skin is really
crispy, then glaze it with star anise
honey. Favorite food trend? Pizza.
Not traditional pizza but a piece
of crispy dough with great burrata
and farmers’ market whateveris-in-season. Minimal fuss. I
could eat that all the time. What
ingredient really turns you on?
Morel mushrooms. I love morels.
Favorite splurge? Pork belly. Tere’s
no substitute for that unctuous,
fatty flavor. Most vivid childhood
food memory? My grandmother’s
tripe Parmigiana. What do you cook
for yourself? Simple things, such as
my grandmother’s lemon chicken.
Where do you go for late-night
eats? Tai town or Little Tokyo.
Which L.A. restaurant are you still
dying to try? Animal. Weirdest
request? Shellfish with no butter.
Tat’s so strange because shellfish
is high in cholesterol in general.
If you’re on a low-cholesterol diet,
you might as well skip the lobster
altogether. Most embarrassing
kitchen moment? I’m embarrassed
on a daily basis. But early on, I
was working at JoJo and I forgot
to stock the birthday candles. Very
simple, small detail. We ran out of
candles in the middle of dinner, and
it was my fault. I got screamed at. It
was horrible. But I learned that no
detail is ever too small.
Victor Casanova
Culina at Four Seasons
300 S. Doheny Dr., L.A.,
310.860.4000, culinarestaurant.com
First job? Washing dishes. Most
influential mentor? He’s a piece of
continued...
106 | Angeleno | May 2010
chefs photo by Melissa Valladares
Three new rising-star chefs are cranking up the heat at posh hotels | By Lisa Cohen |
cHeck-IN tIme Clockwise from top left: the patio at
culina, the four seasons’ new resto; culina chef Victor
casanova’s salmon with black rice; WP24 chef David
mcIntyre’s pork belly; Whist’s dining room; Whist chef
tony Disalvo’s roasted halibut with pistachio pesto.
What do you
always have on
hand? Culina’s
...continued
work, but Cesare Casella, at Beppe
in New York, probably changed
my life. He always wore orange
pants, green sneakers and a red
wristwatch, and in the pocket of
his jacket there’d always be sprigs
of fresh rosemary and thyme. He
taught me respect for the Italian
kitchen. What three words best
describe Culina? Sleek, fresh, clean.
And vibrant, so four. Signature
dish? Ricciola. It’s amazing and
really simple: an artichoke-fennel
purée, a sauté of caramelized fennel,
baby artichokes, tomatoes and basil,
topped with grilled yellowtail and
a Ligurian black olive vinaigrette.
What inspires you? Seasonality
and experience. And by experience
I mean, I eat out a lot. Our
menu pulls from Sardinia, Sicily,
Calabria, all over Italy. But, really,
I’m inspired by anything that has
a bit of a kick: Spanish, Korean,
Japanese... Favorite splurge? Cheese
108 | Angeleno | May 2010
Victor Casanova:
thai chiles, always!
Whist’s Tony DiSalvo:
homemade fruit
mustards—sour cherry
[or] rhubarb. WP24’s
David McIntyre:
sichuan pepper. it
explodes in your
mouth. it lingers!
and good olive oil. I’ve been using
DaVero. It’s expensive, but really
worth it. Which ingredient turns
you on? Basil. Tere’s something
about the aroma, the freshness, the
feeling that basil conjures inside
me. Where do you go for late-night
eats? Musha, a funky Japanese spot
that reminds me of the Village in
New York. I also hit Mozza a lot.
What do you cook for yourself? I
keep fresh fish in our house at all
times. Grilled or roasted bass with
a squeeze of lemon, and I’m a really
happy guy. Most vivid childhood
food memory? My grandmother’s
lasagna. I actually serve it at the
restaurant. Weirdest request? Te
create-your-own-dish thing. A
restaurant is a full experience—the
ambiance, the music, the people,
the scene, the food. If you’re a
person who always needs to change
everything, why go out?
David McIntyre
WP24 at Ritz-Carlton
900 W. Olympic Blvd., 24th fl., L.A.,
213.743.8800, ritzcarlton.com
First job? Patina. It was trial by
fire. After that, I went to Spago
and worked my way through the
whole kitchen: pantry, soups—even
did a little bit of pizza. I ended
up working with Lee Hefter and
Wolfgang Puck for nine and a half
years (including four months at
Cut). Most important mentors?
Obviously Hefter and Puck. I’m
very fortunate. And you have to
understand: Wolfgang is obviously
this super successful mogul—yet
he’s in the kitchen almost every
single day. What three words
best describe WP24? Spectacular,
innovative, and… ugh, I’m no good
at vocabulary. I’m going to have to
think about that. Signature dish?
I’m really excited about the slowroasted pork belly, cured overnight,
seasoned with 10-spice powder and
black pepper. You hang it so the skin
becomes very dry, then slow-roast it
until the skin just pops, almost like
popcorn. Which ingredient really
turns you on? Porcini mushrooms.
Tey have such an amazing, earthy
flavor and texture. Favorite splurge?
Pork belly, the suckling pigs from
Niman Ranch. What do you cook
for yourself? I eat out a lot. Which
restaurant are you still dying to try?
Rivera. Most vivid childhood food
memory? My mom cooking her
chicken pot pie. So did you think of
that last word to describe WP24?
Creative. Yeah, creative, innovative
and spectacular! A