Chef Dan Moody Pops Up in Encinitas

You studied at CIA in NY. What was the most important think you learned in cooking school?

The importance of executing the fundamentals flawlessly. All the frills of cooking are meaningless if you don't understand the fundamentals, and at a very deep level. Understanding the scientific reasons why food behaves the way it does allows you master cooking.

Your website The RelationChef talks about dating and food. Please share your top three tips with LAist.

1. When you cook for a date, especially when you've known someone for an extended period of time, the quality of what you make is far less important than making something that shows you've listened to your date's likes and dislikes, and that you are making something special by their standards - not some generic "romantic meal." A "romantic meal" means so many things to so many different people; it's showing that you know what makes it "romantic" to your date that makes you lovable.

2. Nostalgia is your friend. Recreate a memorable meal with your date for a special occasion: birthday, anniversary, etc. Depending on your relationship, you may even cook something as a joke just to laugh about a bad food experience the two of you had. For example, if you cooked for your date once and burned a meal to the point that it was inedible, you may re-create that exact dish, burnt as it was, but have a correctly cooked version waiting as well. After you've served the burnt dish and had a good laugh remembering that moment and how insignificant it seems now, you can bring out the correctly cooked meal. Using food to re-create times you've had with your date can be a powerful tool to evoke nostalgic feelings that will ultimately play to your advantage.

3. Make a day of cooking: Go to the grocery store. Pick out ingredients together (with or without a menu in mind). Go home and cook together. It's great quality time to spend with each other, and it doesn't cost you any extra.

We hear The RelationChef TV show is on the works. Where are you at in the process?

Honestly, it's on the back burner. I'd like to report more, but we've tabled the TV show process in favor of the restaurant. I love to teach. As a child when I'd watch videos by Jacques Pepin or Wolfgang Puck that I checked out from the local library (or whenever I'd see a cooking show on TV), I'd always imagine myself in their place doing the talking as I cooked. In fact, I'll often have a dialogue with myself as I cook alone, imagining myself explaining to an imaginary audience. I would love the opportunity to teach people on a scale as broad as national TV. However, I am giving live cooking demonstrations at Relate as part of the entertainment. So at least I get to teach a small group of people each night. For now, that will fulfill my desire to teach.

We met you in the kitchen with Chef Ludo Lefebvre at Ludobites. How did you meet Ludo and start to work with him?

I first worked with Ludo at L'Orangerie in 1999. I applied to work at L'Orangerie as an extern from the Culinary Institute of America, and then I stayed on as a full time employee.
I lost contact with Ludo when he left L'Orangerie, and tried contacting him as I saw articles about him over the years. I found Krissy on Twitter and volunteered in his kitchen at LudoBites 3.0.

You are opening Relate the first pop- up restaurant in the San Diego area. What did you learn from your LudoBites experience that will help you with this new project?

First and foremost, LudoBites showed me how to run a pop-up restaurant: how to logistically move from one place to the next, and how to work in a kitchen that transforms from one restaurant to another. Ludo and Krissy are pioneers, and I can't say enough about how lucky I was to have worked with them. Watching both of them constantly adapt to a changing environment taught me so much about what it takes to run a pop-up. With any restaurant, you've got to be flexible. With a pop-up, you've got to be flexible, even to things that would typically be within your control if you were the restaurant owner. There are unique challenges to running a pop-up, and I'm blessed to have been able to see some of those challenges and watched Ludo and Krissy navigate those challenges first.

How did you choose the location?

It wasn't really an exact science. I approached a few places. Some flat out told me "no", while others simply ignored my inquiry and never got back to me. St. Germain's did get back to me, and I really got a good feeling talking to Roy Salameh (the owner) in our first meeting. Roy was looking to re-brand St. Germain's Cafe as "Bistro St. Germain's" and was in the process of investing in re-vamping the decor. There was a synergy there, because my doing Relate at St. Germain's would bring acute attention to St. Germain's, and it would create a good time to focus on all the changes Roy wanted to focus on anyway. Besides that, I just trusted Roy and felt that he was a genuinely decent human being: someone I'd want to do business with. It just all sort of "clicked" and the kitchen seemed to be good enough to work out of.

Can you tell us about some dishes that will be on the Relate menu?

The Relate menu will be a prix fixe menu, changing daily. I can't tell you for sure what's going to be on it, but I will share with you the menu I did recently at a private party in LA.
("French Onion Soup”, Roasted Baby Beet Salad with Rainier cherry & yam puree, fennel, citrus, cinnamon, lavender, Pan-Seared Seabass with Mediterranean quinoa salad, baby artichoke, oregano lemon confit, Butter Poached Lobster with candied fennel, leeks, tarragon lobster oil, onion froth, beets, Spiced Beef with spinach, avocado puree, crispy truffle spaetzle, Guinness gastrique, and Signature Cheesecake with fruit puree.)

All of these dishes will, in all likelihood, make it on the menu. In addition, I'll be doing something with rabbit on February 3rd, because that's Chinese New Year, and it's the year of the rabbit. You'll notice my signature cheesecake appears on this menu, and it also made an appearance at Test Kitchen LA. Everyone loves the cheesecake, so I might have to serve it more often than not. We'll see. You'll notice that French Onion Soup is in quotes. I won't divulge why it's in quotes: you'll have to come in to see why it's in quotes. It's very special.

We tasted your foie gras donut at Test Kitchen, will that little beauty be making an appearance as Relate?

Ha. Well, thanks for calling it a "beauty". You know, that seemed to be a hit-or-miss dish. I read some reviews that held it up as amazing, while others were quite scathing and went so far as to call naming it "Foie Gras Powdered Donut" false advertising. It was an interesting concept that I'm glad I played with. Will I bring it to Relate? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maybe I'll make a smaller one as an amuse bouche so customers don't feel like I've cheated them on a course. I honestly haven't decided yet.

You spent a lot of time in LA with Chef Lefebvre at LudoBites. Do you have a favorite LA restaurant? Bar? Place to hang out?

When Test Kitchen was open, I loved going there to hang out. Around LA, I definitely enjoyed going to La Descarga and Cana Rum Bar.

When asked his thought about Relate, Chef Ludo Lefebvre had this to say, "I am only as strong the team around me and Dan was an integral part of the LudoBites 4.0, 5.0 & 6.0 team. I hope to inspire all of the upcoming chefs in my kitchen to express their individuality, but most importantly to always focus on the fundamentals of great cooking. Dan has shined at each iteration of LudoBites and I am sure he will be a great addition to the San Diego dining scene. I am honored that I have inspired Dan and that he has chosen to follow in my footsteps."

To meet Chef Dan Moody and experience Relate, head South to Encinitas. It will be worth the drive. Relate will be open from February 3-26 at St Germain's. Reservations available here.