CleverRoot

3 2 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t "My mother created a little army in the house," Zarate says. "Everybody had to do their duties, like in the restaurant business. All my brothers and sisters, at some point we all had to cook, to learn how to chop onions and garlic." Many dishes Zarate had growing up reflected Lima's large community of Chinese immigrants, who arrived from the Guangdong province in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact, a quintessential Peruvian dish, lomo saltado–– beef, onions, chilis and soy sauce stir-fried in a wok, served with French fries and rice––puts the Cantonese influence on full display. "When you go to Lima, you're going to find one Chinese restaurant every three blocks," Zarate says, not- ing that the mashup of Peruvian and Cantonese cuisines is referred to as "Chifa," a colloquialism for the Cantonese word for eating rice. These days, when cooking at home in L.A. for his family (he has three kids, ages seven, 11 and 18), Zarate turns to Maggi Seasoning for a taste of home, getting the kick of umami that deepened those Chifa dishes in Lima. "It's the flavor profile," he says. "It has this acidity. When I use soy sauce, I have to add a little bit of vinegar, other ingredients to put it together. With Maggi Seasoning, it's already done. For cooking something really quick, this will be the best way to go." He adds, "I can sauté anything, put Maggi on top––boom, done." Another L.A. chef whose dishes are in- formed by his roots is Timothy Hollingsworth, who oversees Otium, the chic, contemporary restaurant adjacent to the Broad museum downtown. While Hollingsworth was raised in Northern California, his parents spent their for- mative years in Texas and Arkansas. "At least once a week we'd have chili," he recalls. "Sun- day pot roast, Frito pie, tacos ... Tex-Mex, somewhat Californian and very Southern." It's a far cry from the vaunted cuisine Hol- lingsworth produced in his 13 years at The French Laundry in the Napa Valley, or the sophisticated dishes he now serves at Otium. But there's a parallel in spirit. "The way I cook is similar to the way I grew up," he says. "It's extremely approachable. If you're going to have raw fish here at Otium, it's going to be prepared in a way that I can serve to my mom, who doesn't like raw fish, and she would like it." Take his grilled ribeye with heirloom tomato salad. The inspiration for its accompanying sal- sa came from a restaurant in Cabo San Lucas, where he was served grilled Mexican onions as a condiment for tacos. "Little onions, just cooked over a wood fire, charred, served, and then on the table is a bottle of Maggi Season- ing," Hollingsworth remembers. "You season the onions with lime and douse it with Maggi Seasoning, and it has this incredible flavor." To make a salsa for his steak dish, Holling- sworth roasts whole garlic cloves in olive oil and Chef Tim Hollingsworth in Otium's rooftop garden. Many of the herbs grown there find their way into the restaurant's dishes. PHOTO: DUSTIN DOWNING PHOTO: DUSTIN DOWNING Hollingsworth's grilled ribeye with an heirloom tomato salad is simple, yet full of flavor.

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