Flavors Unknown

Johnny Spero – A Global Culinary Database

Johnny Spero

I use ingredients and techniques that I have learned from elsewhere and just, as long as it's cohesive, and that it doesn't seem to recreate some classic dish with a spin on it. We don't need to do our take on something. I think we want to be as authentic as we can or to who we are and just try to use those influences to create a dish rather than trying to just showcase I guess this is the dish from a specific country.

What we covered in this episode

Chef Johnny Spero talks about this experience in the Netflix show “Final Table”.
Anthony Bourdain show “No Reservations” was at the origin of Chef Johnny Spero's desire to travel and discover other cuisines.
Everything on his mind just keeps looking back to modern Spanish cooking.
But the first time he traveled to Europe was for a stage in NOMA in Copenhagen.
His mentors were Chef John Shields, Chef Jose Andres,
He remembers his Asia tour in Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Japan.
Going to culinary school versus first hand experience while traveling.
For him the places to go today to find a stage in Copenhagen (Chef Christian Puglisi – Restaurant Relae), Barcelona (Chef Albert Adria – Enigma), and Honk Kong.
Chef Johnny Spero describes how his experiences in Denmark and Japan influences the decor and food at his restaurant Réverie in Washington DC.
He talks about his creative process. Very much inspired by nature. Focusing on the ingredient first.
For him cooking is more about artistic interpretation versus being craft.
Instagram plays an important role as when people take pictures and put it on Instagram, it represents what the restaurant stands for.
Chef Johnny Spero explains the meaning of the name of his restaurant Réverie.
He mentioned some of the latest ingredients he is experimenting with: Birch bark, and Kohlrabi.
5 rapid-fire questions.

Links to other episodes in Washington DC

Chef Drew Adams

Chef Johnny Spero's recipe for burgers

Our burger has some inspiration from from America. Like classic America but also with a little bit of Japanese influence as well. So one of the things that we do is smash Patty burgers. I don't like to grill burgers. I like to do them in a pan because I love the crust which is very American style. You know Middle America smash in the pan. It gets a crispy and then we put soft cheese on it. What I like to do is to add stewed onions. The thing that really makes our burger pop is that we add Japanese style pickled cucumbers. It's actually delicious but a little more rich.
So we our Burger looks very much like inspired by Big Mac. It's very simple but we use all ribeye. So we actually use the ribeye cap which is one of the most prized pieces of meat and we grind into a burger. We seasoned ours with salt and pepper inside the grind. And that's I think a lot of people try to over complicated. You end up covering it but if you have really high quality beef, seizing it appropriately and make sure you don't bury it sauces we try to keep our is very very clean and simple. We serve our special sauce that starts with smoked eggs.

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Clearly I did not do well in school so books don't teach me. First hand experience does.

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Inspiration definitely starts with ingredient. Let's focus on highlighting the ingredients, not masking them and let them stand out Technique should be used to elevate the dish not be a showpiece.

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First hand experience in the kitchen is probably the most important. Taste the world and build a culinary database of flavors and textures and different temperatures.

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