San Francisco chefs | The Dish

We go on a culinary tour of the Bay Area, from an author and activist on a mission to teach people about better nutrition to a chef behind the first-ever Michelin star for a Moroccan restaurant. Watch these stories and more on The Dish.

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[Music] I’m Jeff gor from CBS Saturday morning welcome to the dish today a culinary tour of the Bay Area we meet an author and activist on a mission to teach people about better nutrition plus the chef behind the first ever Michelin star for Moroccan restaurant but we begin at an Italian restaurant that used to be an auto body shop Chef David neld never felt comfortable in a classroom growing up but when he entered a commercial kitchen for the first time he knew he was in the right place Dana Jacobson visited at his award-winning restaurant kico to taste his so-called rustic finesse Cuisine San Francisco’s kico is a feast For The Senses all of the senses it’s loud and vibrant and the food is unpretentious and Unapologetic and we are very very serious about the quality but we’re not very very serious about ourselves no talking just eating chef and co-owner David neld opened the Italian Taverna four years ago with business partner Matt Brewer in neeld’s words it was Kismet the second that I walked in this former auto body shop and the skylights were beaming through and I saw the voled ceilings and I saw the big sign with the arrow on it I got chills down my spine and I felt like for the first first time I said this is really where my restaurant needs to be I need to be here so pasta out as for the food I wanted to cook food that I wanted to eat daily I wanted a restaurant where I could see regulars and I wanted craveability neld calls the cuisine rustic finesse something you’d find in a small cabin in the Italian Countryside or a tusin villa dishes like chicken marcala and Margarita Pizza with a crust befitting San fr Isco or even the cusina Ia kico’s Jewish Cuisine which honors the chef’s Heritage we have our kind of Roman Jewish ghetto staple which is a suple risotto rice on the inside and then when you break it it’s melty cheese a street food it’s just one of the most delicious and kind of comforting things you could ever eat oh my God neld grew up in San Francisco his parents escaped religious persecution in the Soviet Union fleeing to Rome before settling in the US the great thing was that they looked at my brother and I and said you know we’ve made all these sacrifices and we had a dream for you guys to be able to live the lives you wanted to live so do the things that make you happy don’t do things only for money I’m good with the beag and I’m good with the mesaluna for neld it turned out to be a little of both finding happiness and money washing dishes at a local restaurant school was just never something that connected right for me I just missed everything that was said and it was just painful for me to sit in a classroom the second I walked into a kitchen I was pointed at a stack of pots and pans grease everywhere soap suds coming over the edge of the dish pit and I just felt it I felt like I was in my place I understood what what was going on and it just made sense from that moment he says ADHD was what made traditional school so difficult but when he got to culinary school everything changed I had never done well in math I had never done well in geography never done well in science the second that you applied any of those things with the filter of food wine and Hospitality all of a sudden my mind was able to pick it up from The Culinary Institute of America neld began to build a resume few can match working in world-renowned kitchens like noou 11 in Madison Park and the Mansion among the things he learned refinement an eye for excellence and an unwillingness to compromise on excellence and on Integrity the manifestation was kico where neld says he found his true voice as a chef creating Connection by using seasonal and Market driven foods like the sungold tomato and San Francisco Bay anchovy salad or a simple small melon plate with olive oil basil and mint they sing together it’s harmonious and I think that that’s the key to our Cuisine really is this idea of finding finesse the sweet corn troli another perfect example pureed sweet corn inside handmade pasta topped with corn Chantell mushrooms and chives I love this this to me this is summer flavors so once again Simplicity not over adorning it not trying to show Too Many techniques the technique is the quality of pasta the Perfection of the cook and the sourcing of the ingredients right very very simple and while neld clearly takes pride in each bite dark chocolate and hazelnuts it’s one of my favorite pairings he admits his priorities shifted when he became a father to now three and a half-year-old Elena my restaurant functions without me every single day the team that we’ve cultivated here is incredibly talented that’s why it works and and it works because they’re incredibly talented they buy into the ethos and the values we compensate incredibly well which is something that I cannot you know State enough which is fair compensation is tant amount to our industry moving forward it’s why kico raised its wages and its prices post pandemic we’ve been able to include a profit sharing model with our team we distributed $70,000 from one quarter of profits to our staff folks who have been here for a number of years managers dishwashers house back house everybody what we are doing is we are really creating a space for people to come to learn and to have Security in themselves and in their lives and not feel like they have to sacrifice every shred of human dignity in order to just be here what do you hope somebody who comes in here just to die walks away with simply put I just want people to enjoy the moment right and I want you to order something that makes you happy I don’t necessarily need people to be batted over the head with the fact that we roll every sheet of pasta by hand and we make Ragu over 12 hours and that we put 36-month paragano regano on it you know those are all things that we know for our own satisfaction of our craft of our meter the guests should just know that they love it and that they’re enjoying it and that’s all up next to James Beard award-winning Chef who says he’s on a mission to feed the Mind Body and Soul of all people Bryant Terry was the chef and Residence at San Francisco’s Museum of the African diaspora from 2015 to 2022 where he shared his passion for teaching people about healthier food choices Michelle Miller visited Terry’s Kitchen for a taste of of his unapologetically vegan recipes I would argue that this is the recipe that’s the foundation of my new book so it’s a citrus and garlic herb braced fennel not many people get excited about fennel not like Chef Bryant Terry have you had cooked finnel I’m sure I’ve had it you know I’m culture you know that right I do know that in his cookbook vegetable Kingdom the James Beard award winner presents recipes focused on some 30 vegetables can you smell the Anis likee yes flavor oh yes hoping to once again lure readers to the Bounty of a plant-based diet my personal transformation when I was in high school it was a hip-hop song Boogie Down Productions rap beef by krs1 you mind if I kick the lyrics yeah go for it okay so it goes like this beef what a relief when will this poisonous product see let us begin now with the the way it gets to your and 21 different drugs are pumped into the cow and one big lump it gets much more graphic so I’m going to stop there Chef Terry is unapologetically vegan what about those folks out there who are daunted by the idea of veganism I tell people just ease into it meatless Mondays vegan before 6 try maybe going one or two meals without meat you know I think this idea that that you’re going to be missing something can be counterbalanced by really exploring all the interesting diverse vegetables like finnel finnel iside his day job my name is Briant I’m the chef and residence here in Moab is as the inaugural chef and residence with the Museum of African diaspora I think that this museum is a symbol it’s a beacon it’s it’s it’s a place where I think our people can find Refuge I’m so blessed that they let me curate this in 2015 he was charged with expanding the conversation on African-American food in a city with a rapidly declining black population that’s what is so special about this Museum to me is that it connects all the people of African descent throughout the globe it’s an idea close to home for a father of two who says he wrote his book for his daughters when people think about plant-based eating so often we imagine it as these practices of upper middle class white suburbanites right and I think it’s important for me to recognize that my my introduction to these ideas came from black people recipes inspired by traditional soul food where greens and lagom were the stars so this is a roasted potato and cabbage dish with the carrot puree at the bottom and we um drizzle a little ginger habanero sauce on top what do you think shut your mouth the Genesis of his professional culinary education came while earning his graduate degree in his history at NYU I was taking the subway and I see this group of young people children at 7:00 in the morning eating chips candy bars drinking sodas and it just hit me that you know these young people were eating but they were eating empty calories you know this wasn’t real food it was then he started be healthy which helped kids make smarter choices about food that led him to the chef’s training program at the natural gourmet in Institute his inspiration behind it all so I’m also going to introduce Erica Huggins the woman he invited to speak at the museum that I join the Black Panther Party I would say Erica Huggins is one of my primary influences for wanting to start an organization that taught children about food Erica Huggins organized Community programs as a member of the Black Panther Party that revolutionary political organization founded in 1966 by Bobby seal and Huey P Newton they were responding to police violence against black citizens right across the bridge in Oakland California the most important work that they were doing which was largely done by women they were doing everything like having um ambulance services to take people to the hospital they had free clinics they had grocery giveaways where they were giving away thousands of pounds of groceries to low-income residents of the Bay Area and they had a program called the free breakfast for children program whose aim was feeding young people a hot nourishing breakfast every single morning real food like the kind from his grandfather’s backyard in Mississippi which closely resembles today’s farmers markets and csas communities really shared neighbors shared with one another my grandfather would be like I’m going to give you a bag of walnuts you give me some of those paars he had so much that he would give it away to all his children he would take the Surplus to church it was a thriving local food system and what saddens me is when I go back there and it’s just a shell of itself it’s a nationwide problem according to the USDA for 1 million households in America don’t have access to Affordable and nutritious food which can add to Dangerously High rates of hypertension heart disease type 2 diabetes and certain cancers there was a study about this neighborhood West Oakland California in 2008 and they found that there were 53 corner stores and liquor stores in this community and not one single Supermarket not one single supermarket and so I wonder you know what if we shifted that what if we went back to that thriving local food system how would that impact the public health in their Community the Memphis native has partnered with allies like his mentor Alice Waters the Berkeley food activist and owner of the legendary Sha panise but ultimately he is motivating communities to lead the charge themselves this food movement has just exploded a lot of people are thinking about creative ways of kind of regaining our food system taking it back from the multinational corporations having local seasonal sustainable Food Systems and youve become a food Justice Advocate Advocate activist it depends on who you ask we have a history and Legacy of eating you know healthful foods but because of our fast food culture so many of us have forgotten about that it’s almost like this cultural amnesia for Terry it’s really about feeding the Mind Body and Soul of all people I want people to understand the diversity and complexity of our Cuisine and not just pigeon hole it I’m helping people remember that these are our legacies these are our histories and it’s really a matter of kind of looking back as we move forward after the break we meet the chef at the helm of two restaurants with Michelin stars this is the dish Chef Morad Lalo came to America at the age of 17 for college missing the flavors of his native Morocco Lalu taught himself to cook from memory here’s Dana Jacobson there’s a process in my head that is it always tries to find a seed in Morocco and then I wait and I wait and I wait it’s rare for me to come up with a dish just like that it needs to simmer Chef Morad lalu’s method for creating memorable dishes is rooted in his Moroccan upbringing can you put the fars in a bowl please seasoned with sensibilities of the Bay Area his home for more than 20 years now this are what we call snacks seriously decadent snacks we should start with the caviar for sure all right like caviar with Creme Fresh and a maple gel this is a breakfast dish in Morocco okay the menu is designed to be shared and don’t be shy this is really really good stuff the same way Morad ate growing up and we want to take dishes like something that is so pedestrian like these pancakes that you can find anywhere in the streets of mares or Casablanca very excited we go Cheers Cheers we want to elevate it to the next level oh that’s delicious yeah it’s pretty good so is a bio that’s been toasted with brown butter pomegranate molasses served with a chickpea puree and top with oie so this is a small oi it’s from Hoka Japan just has this clean taste and clean flavor before moving on to the next course this is one of the most iconic dishes of Morocco this beautiful bastilla and it’s basically it’s a pot pie it’s supposed to be coming out of the eloven piping hot and we just garnish it with flowers and and Blossoms and cherries are in season right now so we’re putting cherries on it so I’m just going to dig in okay and I’m going to serve you thank you it’s not an everyday dish but it’s typically served for holidays or occasions weddings anniversaries birthdays oh wow that’s delicious I lit serve it every day but I don’t eat it every day but now that I’m sharing it here with you it literally takes me back Murad grew up in maresh moving to the US in 1986 ostensibly for college four salads one with no cheese four salmon he spent his first year here learning how to speak English just 17 years old and craving the flavors of home he learned another life skill which would eventually lead to dishes like these I started cooking at home and I taught myself how to do it from memory I would tell myself okay well I’m going to make the Kea meat balls and then I would think about my mom used to be sitting down on the stool and she would chop the onions first then she would put them in the pot then she would add the garlic and then eventually she’ll add the spices but the dish is red so you must have paprika it was the hardest way to teach myself how to cook but in the long run it was extremely beneficial because I had to understand everything that I was doing rather than hearing it from somebody else and basically just reapplying it 3 months after graduating with a degree in economics Morad opened his first restaurant kasba 5 years later in 2001 Aiza named after his mother when I first opened my goal was to recreate everything that I had in Morocco to the smallest detail the way it looked the way it tasted the way they ate everything and that’s when I made the Revelation that it’s not going to taste the same it’s not going to mean the same it’s almost like saying I love you to somebody in a different language but they don’t understand it and that’s when I tried to build that bridge and say okay this is where I came from I’m going to bring that with me over this bridge to the other side and present it to the other side that approach earned Aiza a Michelin star a first for a Moroccan restaurant in the US in 2015 Morad opened his economus restaurant quickly earning another star for its elevated take on Moroccan Fair the menu includes three special dishes served lasa or family style a whole striped bass with Trula and you just dig in and Shred as much as you want and you make a wrap that’s basically all you do short rib cooked for 72 hours with aged butter preserving lemon and spices and it wouldn’t be a Moroccan meal without couscous but not the kind many of us are used to I will admit all I knew of couscous was what came out of a box yes that’s not how I should think of cuscus no no absolutely not couscous is a very special dish it’s mesmerizing if you thought about it it’s made out this little beads of semolina that you tirelessly work to mold and form and individually they don’t don’t mean anything you can take one of them put it in your mouth it doesn’t taste like anything right but collectively when you eat them it’s a beautiful thing in your mouth if I were to die my last meal would definitely be steamed couscous with brown butter that’s it that’s that’s it that’s all I want and while Morad enjoyed each bite with us he admitted like most chefs he doesn’t often take time to savor his own Creations but he does appreciate watching others do so there are times when I would get out of the kitchen go up the stairs and Overlook the room and watch people eat the food and watch the Expressions on their faces the level of trust that people put in you to actually make things without them knowing you in a remote area in the kitchen and you send it to them and they take it willingly and put it in their bodies you know think about it how much you know trust and and faith and love is in the transaction at the heart of it all is mad’s Moroccan Heritage near the restaurant’s entrance sits this 14t High art installation made from the roots of a tree an everpresent reminder of where both he and his food are rooted this dish has taken years for me to get to this point somebody can eat it and say well it’s roast chicken with some Moroccan flavors okay great brilliant but I feel like for me to be honest I need to project how who I am and what I’m feeling onto this dishes all I can tell you is where I am in my life this is a reflection of who I am for more stories like these and live coverage of breaking news stream us right here on CBS News 247 I’m Jeff glore we’ll see you next time for another helping of the dish