Consider the beet, a jewel-toned root vegetable that thirstily absorbs minerals from the soil to give it its sweet and earthy flavor. Famed Los Angeles chef Ray Garcia first encountered beets in a can. Suffice it to say, he didn’t savor the root until he began cooking at fine-dining restaurants.
“When I had a real beet and started having access to these ingredients that I didn’t have growing up, they stuck with me,” Garcia says. “I connected with them in a formative time in my cooking career.”
And it wasn’t just beets. Having access to California’s rich bounty of produce has led him to his latest venture, Asterid, a restaurant that debuted at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in March. Garcia’s mission at Asterid is two fold: make even more Angelenos fall in love with eating vegetables every day—the restaurant is named after the largest group of edible flowering plants, which includes nightshades, chiles, and herbs—and making the Music Center area of Downtown a bonafide culinary destination.
Los Angeles is no stranger to vegetable-focused restaurants. Meteora, Le Comptoir, and Manzke are just some of the spots showcasing vegetables in exciting ways. What sets Asterid apart is Garcia’s unusual use of California vegetables.
The chef’s beloved beets make their way into a risotto. The roots are cooked with Carnaroli rice, a medium-grain Italian variant that maintains a firmer texture in risottos, and crème fraîche. Garcia tops the dish with diced persimmons, a dulcet and warming contrast with the bright and tangy flavors of the risotto.
Garcia recommends ordering the risotto alongside the fried maitake mushrooms, another seasonal ingredient Garcia didn’t really have access to growing up, but learned to love as a fine-dining chef. A dollop of turmeric aioli as bright as the sun is served on the side and enhances the peppery notes of the mushrooms—it’s clear that Asterid is a joyful expression of the full range of possibilities for the Golden State’s vegetables.
Don’t let Garcia’s love for vegetables fool you though; Asterid isn’t a vegetarian restaurant. The joy with which he prepares vegetables translates to the meat and seafood dishes. Take, for instance, the octopus roll. It comes to the table like a painting palette: grilled octopus tentacles sit atop a brioche roll, accompanied by a generous spread of Aleppo pepper-spiced yogurt and pickled red cabbage.
Asterid is a reflection of the early years of Garcia’s career, he says. The chef is best known for pioneering the Alta California movement in Mexican cooking, creating dishes inspired by the ingredients of California while rooted in the artistry of Mexican cooking. Nowhere was this cuisine more prominent than at his restaurants Broken Spanish and B.S. Taqueria. There, he wowed diners with his chicharron marinated with toasted chile de arbol and elephant garlic confit, and lightly charred bologna tacos, made in-house and dressed with Kewpie mayonnaise and a relish of carrots, jalapeños, and onions. Prior to that, Garcia developed his culinary chops at popular Los Angeles restaurants such as the Peninsula Beverly Hills and FIG in Santa Monica.
“Asterid, while also personal, is a connection to my professional [life],” Garcia says. “It’s going through a classically trained culinary background and focusing on the first 15 years of being in a kitchen.”
Less than a mile west and south from Asterid lie major dining fixtures Little Tokyo and Grand Central Market, but the Music Center has struggled to draw casual diners to the area, especially since the closing of the 31-year-old Patina restaurant in 2020. Asterid now occupies that space, and Garcia is excited to treat Angelenos and tourists alike to a sensory experience beyond the sights and sounds at the Music Center.
He hopes this highpoint in his career will translate to a transformation of the culinary scene around the Music Center. Garcia remembers his dad working Downtown when he was a child, not too far from where Asterid is today, and the neighborhood being somewhat of a restaurant desert even then.
“I’ve been here long enough to see this city go through many transitions,” Garcia says. “Growing up, Downtown was not a destination outside of people going to work, so I’m excited to be a part of creating [the neighborhood] as a destination for more than just working.”
Lisa Kwon is a reporter and writer focused on arts and food culture in Los Angeles, CA. Find Lisa on Instagram and Twitter.
