CleverRoot

2 4 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t DECONSTRUCTING DISHES IF YOU'VE TRAVELED THROUGH SPAIN, you've encountered paella seemingly every- where: It's as ubiquitous there as the ham- burger is in the U.S. You may have also tried fideos, the short pasta strands that seem more like food made for persnickety preteens than grown-up diners. But what, exactly, is fideuà? Loosely translated as a "large amount of noodles," fideuà—a cousin of paella—is rarely found beyond the coast of Valencia. The dish was supposedly created by a cook on a fishing boat: He didn't have enough rice to make arròs a banda for the crew, so he substituted short noodles. It became a hyper-regional favor- ite—unless, of course, you happen to be in the Southern Californian coastal town of Redondo Beach, where Chef Chris Feldmeier serves it at the newly opened modern Spanish restaurant Gabi James. We met to discuss his own intro- duction to fideuà and how his staff puts their localized spin on the dish. MERRILL SHINDLER: Where did you first encounter fideuà? CHRIS FELDMEIER: I had worked with David Rosoff, then the General Manager at Nancy Silverton's Mozza restaurants. When he left to open his own place, I went with him. That restaurant was a Spanish restaurant named Moruno, and to do some research, we went to Valencia. And you found fideuà everywhere? We found paella everywhere, but we also en- countered fideuà, which was new to us. When I left to open Gabi James, I realized it could be the centerpiece of the menu. We have no paella, but we use noodles in the fideos with clams and chorizo as well as the fideuà with clams, mussels, squid, and black aioli. I wanted a dish that would get a good crust on the bottom of the pan, and I found it's easier with macaroni than with rice. You even cook it in what looks like a paella pan. We do, but for paella, mostly what's used is a giant pan. We make individual portions in smaller pans, which I found at a Spanish food distributor in Harbor City called La Española. It supplies a lot of the authentic Spanish ingredients we use—even the elbow macaroni is from Spain. It feels very labor-intensive. It takes about 20 minutes. You've got to soften garlic in hot olive oil, add cherry tomato confit we make in-house, then add thyme, the pasta, fish stock, white wine, and the seafood. You cover and reduce until it's crispy on the bot- tom, then add a squeeze of lemon. You make it sound so easy. Is there a pre- scribed assortment of seafood? Not really, but I always try to make sure the seafood is local. It's local in Valencia, so it should be local here. That's one of Nancy Sil- verton's top rules: Always use local if you can. We don't have the cold waters of the Atlantic, but the Pacific is a giant fish tank. So, the pasta may be from Spain, but the fish is from South- ern California. PHOTOS COURTESY OF GABI JAMES Chris Feldmeier is the Head Chef at Gabi James in Redondo Beach, CA. DECONSTRUCTING THE SPANISH DISH WITH CHEF CHRIS FELDMEIER OF GABI JAMES IN REDONDO BEACH, CA by Merrill Shindler Finding Fideuà ■cr

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