José Andrés and Aitor Lozano at center. Image courtesy of José Andrés
Handsome and tattooed Chef Aitor Lozano Zabala earned his place as Jose Andres’ right hand man by working his way through heavyweight kitchens, like elBulli in Spain (now shuttered), where José himself was once fired in his early 20s. Now Aitor is chef at SAAM at SLS and also serves as creative director at ThinkFoodGroup—the innovative company behind all of José Andrés’ culinary and philanthropic projects. Chef Aitor may have a lot on his plate, but the plates he dishes out for customers only become more impressive with time. In regards to his success and inspiration, the Spanish chef credits his new home, southern California:
“I love California and Los Angeles because they’re very similar to where I'm from—Catalonia and Barcelona. LA has great weather, food, and fresh ingredients. There are always new cultures, products and styles of cuisine to explore. This is instrumental in my evolution as not only a chef, but also as a person.”
Image courtesy of SLS Beverly Hills
Image courtesy of @aithor_zabala
With its ongoing 22-course tasting menu, SAAM certainly specializes in absurdly rare and responsibly sourced ingredients. This past month Aitor has been highlighting white truffles, with a special 16-course White Truffle Dinner Series. (Psst, it ends on November 19th so get on it!) Despite his SoCal appreciation, Aitor can’t deny he still gets nostalgic for a taste of home:
“I go home to Spain twice a year and I can't leave without having my mom's bacalao al oil -pil (cod with emulsion sauce from the fish), canelones de gambas (shrimp cannelloni), aoili and txangurro (dungeness crab).”
Unfortunately, he can’t enjoy his mama’s cooking on the best coast, so we wanted to know where Chef Aitor satisfies his authentic Spanish food cravings in LA. We asked and he told:
Saam at The Bazaar by José Andrés
Image courtesy of @aithor_zabala
The Bazaar by José Andrés
Image courtesy of @morunola
Manchego
Image courtesy of @manchegosm
BCN
Image courtesy of @eatdrinkbcn
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Featured image courtesy of SAAM dish by Jill Paider
