Chef Scooter Kanfer- Cartmill is pretty much a California cooking legend as much as the celebrated chefs she’s worked beside. She’s worked and trained with everyone from Fred Eric (Vida), the late Michael Roberts (Trumps), Wolfgang Puck (Spago), Thomas Keller (The French Laundry) and Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger (Border Grill). After stints at The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop and Nic’s Beverly Hills, Kanfer opened her much-lauded restaurant the house in LA’s Larchmont. Customers could find her cooking up American comfort food at its finest such as “Animal Cookies with a Shot of Milk”, “Grandpa’s Mac-and-Cheese”, varieties of spoonbread and other comfy delights in the early aughts. (The cookies — which came in forms of dragonflies, dragons and monkeys with a shot of milk — was a favorite of mine.) Now, she is coming up with salivating and fun dishes – such as Three Little Pigs (housemade sausage, grilled pork loin and BBQ pork ribs) — in Palm Springs at Tropicale Café. Beside the cool nights and warm days, eating Kanfer’s food truly makes the desert community a destination to relish.
“…this is one chef who delights in feeding people,” Irene S. Virbila, Los Angeles Times.
How long have you been cooking? Too long to remember, fire had just recently been invented. All the “cool” kids had to have it.
What is your favorite food? Don’t have one. It’s like picking your favorite child.
What do you always have in your fridge? Sriracha. Hot Sauce. Schmaltz. Pickles. Iced green tea. Champagne. At least three different kinds of mustard. Stinky Cheese. Roast chicken.
What do you cook at home? Roast Chicken with all the fixings (i.e.: Hungarian noodles, French green beans, or mashed potato with a garlic butter). Sunday Style Roast-Pork Prime Rib. Beef Bourgogne. Coq au vin or poached eggs with avocado on toast. Simple things that I can put on in the morning (slow-cooker) and that my wife can finish while I’m at restaurant… so we can eat together.
What marked characteristic do you despise in your customer? Wow. Let’s go deep here. Abusive arrogance displayed to my staff — being a celebrity or hipster douchebag.
What marked characteristic do you love in a customer? An adventurous eater with a sense of humor as well as desire for exploration and appropriate recognition of my staff.
Tupperware, Rubbermaid, or Pyrex? Tupperware and Pyrex.
Beer, wine or cocktail? Champagne, good wine, the occasional Negroni and 15-year old single malt scotch.
Your favorite cookbook author? Too many to list (but that won’t stop me). Julia Childs. James Beard. M.F.K. Fisher. Gabriella Hamilton. Mark Bittman. Harold McGee. Clementine Paddleford. Michael Roberts!
Your favorite kitchen tool? Iced tea spoon and my intuition.
Your favorite ingredient? Salt. Flavored salts. Chicken, duck and bacon schmaltz (Fat). Foie. Scooter says, “Salt and fat are where it’s at!”
Least favorite thing to do in a kitchen? Yell at a cook and paperwork.
Favorite types of cuisine to cook? Pretty much anything that strikes my fancy. (By fancy, I mean American regional, re-thinking and re-imagining old classics in a modern and accessible way.)
Chef you most admire?
- Michael Roberts: He taught me how to grow and trust my palette.
- Odessa Piper: She is the Alice Waters of the Mid-West.
- Fred Eric: He taught me to not just think outside the box — but to blow the box up.
- Mary Sue Milliken & Susan Feninger: They gave me my foundation. “Simple food is the most difficult to do. It’s either perfect and tells a story…or it just sucks”: Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feninger.
Food you dislike the most? Food that is pretentious, derivative or arrogant. Food that tries to be “hip” or trendy. Food that is disingenuous.
How many tattoos? And if so, how many are of food? None. I’m going to be buried next to the Goldbergs.
Recipe from Chef Scooter Kanfer – Cartmill. Chef, Tropicale Café (Palm Springs, CA.)
Sunday Style Roast: Prime Rib Of Pork With Dried Fruit Sauce
- 4-5 LB Pork Rib Roast (Have your butcher remove the chime bone so it’s 5-6 bones)
- Drizzle Roast w/Olive Oil
- Scooter Spice Rub: Kosher Salt, freshly crushed black pepper, crushed fennel seeds or pollen mustard seeds, garlic, celery Seeds and red pepper flakes.
Make a bed of sliced onions, celery, fennel, and dried fruit (apricots, prunes, raisins, sour cherries) in a heavy bottom roasting pan, Dutch oven or cast iron pan. Place the roast. Add a cup or so of Marsala, little water or chicken stock. Cook in a pre-heated oven of 350 degrees. Internal temperature needs to reach 140 degrees inside thickest part of roast (push the meat thermometer until half way inside the meat). Juices should just run clear. Let roast rest for 20 minutes before carving. Serve with the dried fruit and veggies.
– The End. Go Eat. –
Reblogged this on i8tonite and commented:
SInce I’m still traveling here is a re-dux in case you missed it of Chef Scooter Kanfer-Cartmill. Next week, Chef Christopher Hill, Bachelor Kitchen.