John Sedlar Worries About the Future of Mexican Food

By Barbara Hansen Wed., Oct. 26 2011 at 9:00 AM

Barbara Hansen

Chef John Sedlar (left), his corn flan with fish in curry sauce (right).

John Sedlar, chef/owner of Rivera and Playa, once thought that Mexican food would take over the world. Now, the world is taking over Mexican food, he says. And this is not a good thing.

Today's hot young Mexican chefs want to show that they can compete on an international level. In their eagerness to shine, they are drawing away from their Mexican-ness, he laments. "Where is the epazote? Where are the calabacitas?" he wants to know.

Named Esquire's chef of the year for 2011, Rivera was mulling over what he saw at the recent Baja California Culinary Fest 2011, which brought chefs from all over Mexico to collaborate on showcase dinners.

Barbara Hansen

Chef John Sedlar's corn flan with fish in curry sauce.

"They are super talented," he says. "They have great composition on the plate. Their flavors are vibrant." But their cooking is modernist, almost sanitized of its Mexican character.

This is not all bad. "In Mexico, the cuisine is in evolution. It's a very natural step that the chefs want to explore the cuisines of the world," Sedlar says. Eventually, he thinks, they'll look at their own cuisine with fresh eyes and come back to it.

Although innovative, his own restaurants are solidly grounded in Mexican tradition. During the festival, he prepared a salmon mousse tamal with fines herbes sauce for a lunch in the Guadalupe Valley. Then he contributed two courses to a four-chef dinner at Mision 19 in Tijuana. Both were original, yet classically Mexican.

One was his signature corn flan topped with black quinoa and served tamal style in rose-tinted cornhusks. This he paired with Mexican white bass in a delicate curry sauce with cumin, coriander and orange puree. The fish came from the restaurant and seafood market Erizo Cebichería, owned by Tijuana chef and restaurateur Javier Plascencia.

The other was grilled Guadalupe Valley quail accompanied by an Anaheim chile stuffed with mushroom duxelles. Plascencia, who owns Mision 19 and also cooked at the dinner, provided the quail, which Sedlar marinated with tarragon, basil, cilantro, red chile, honey and orange zest.

Sedlar says he falls back on safely mild Anaheim chiles when he doesn't know what wines will be paired with his dishes. The wine for both his courses was Pao Pijoan's Doménica 2009, a Grenache blend from the Guadalupe Valley. The Anaheims came from Los Angeles.

"I do believe all eyes are on Mexico right now for its cuisine, its historic cuisine," he says. "People are opening up to everything Mexican -- the fashions, the music, the food. The food is very colorful. It's very nourishing. It's very fresh, and it has great story and history."

Read more from Barbara Hansen at www.EatMx.com, www.TableConversation.com and @foodandwinegal.

Tags:

Baja California Culinary Fest 2011, Barbara Hansen, Erizo Cebicheria, Javier Plasencia, John Sedlar, Mision 19, Playa, Rivera

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Aglay Salum

Chef Sedlar is so right on his analysis, being born and raisedin Baja California I can totally understand his belief, with the revolution ofnew kitchen techniques and the obsession of plate presentation, Chefs havetotally missed flavor importance, and specifically pointing out Chef Sedlar’sopinion, Mexican Chefs have been getting as far away of the Mexican in them, asthey can . it’s true,, where is the epazote, where are the tomatillos, the hojasanta,the cilantro and the well used chipotles? the flavors that all of us Mexicanfood foodies grew up with? I admire Chef Sedlar as well as Chef Bayless forthey have more knowledge and sadlysaid more interest on our beautiful authentic cuisine than most new MexicanChefs.Viva Mexico Always and its Irreplaceable Flavors.

Bsquared2

Hey, I went to Playa and had a "Thai Tamale" topped with Green Papaya Salad. It wasn't very Mexican, but it was delicious. I'm Mexican and my wife is Vietnamese. Our daughter is Vietnamex.

I say bring on the fusion. Vietnamese food was influenced by the French. The Vietnamese were smart. They took the best elements of the French food (Banh Mi, Coffee, etc.) and then kicked them out.

Playa is a great restaurant by the way. Went there for our Anniversary and had amazing food and superb service. They gave us Champagne and Dessert. Can't wait to go back.

Stephanie Schneiderman

Interesting reflections & comments. Tradition and evolution enjoy an inherent and sometimes positive tension. I'd like to invite people to learn about and join us on a Culinary Travel Program called: The Culture & Cuisine of Mexico: Traditional to Contemporary, where we begin with Mesoamerica's earliest foods in Oaxaca, travel to Puebla and end in Mexico City to learn about today's Farm to Table relationships and Contemporary Mexican Cuisine, interpreted by chefs such as Enrique Olvera of Pujol. http://tiastephanietours.com/m...

Derek

I am just starting to learn how to cook Mexican cuisine. I have had the wonderful opportunity to cook with my girlfriend's mother and grandmother (who is full Mexican with family from Jalisco and Chihuahua) and learn some special recipes for dishes.

My favorite dished learned so far is Frijoles Puercos (SP?). The olives really bring a nice flavor to the beans (so does the lard! haha)

Great article, thanks for the awesome read!

Crossborder Group

While I understand what Mr. Rivera was getting at, and while I don't speak for the event organizers, I do think he misunderstood the point of the Baja Culinary Fest: it wasn't a "Mexican culinary fest", it was focused on the very different natural resources and history of Baja California. Tamales, corn, calabazas, and epazote are traditions from CENTRAL Mexico - that's where they come from and are used... Baja's agricultural and seafood traditions (not to mention the strong physical, historic and cultural separation from Central Mexico, and a focus toward the Pacific Rim) make its cuisine (and culture) very different. Perhaps Mr. Rivera should reassess what "Mexican" cuisine means?