S4 Ep34: Designing the Perfect Plate with Executive Chef Sieger Bayer, Etta Restaurant
“This isn’t just me on the menu…There’s a bunch of beautiful minds that go into it.” — Sieger Bayer
Most people want to eat the healthiest foods available, but it can be difficult to do when we don’t know where our food comes from. Buying directly from local farmers gives us the ability to shop at places that care about our health as much as we do. In addition, when we buy locally sourced food, we know that we’re getting quality foods year-round rather than eating something grown elsewhere, which might have been sitting in storage for weeks, in conditions that aren’t ideal for taste or nutrition. Buying local produce allows us to savor crisp, fresh flavor and foods’ nutrients at their peak.
However, freshness isn’t everything when it comes to food. A lot of products have been sprayed with chemicals that can be harmful to our health, so it makes sense to buy locally wherever possible. This gives us the opportunity to advocate for our well-being and support farmers who practice sustainable farming. Not only that, buying directly from local farmers means getting access to more varieties of produce than what might be available in stores. We can also find vendors who are happy to explain how they grow their food and answer any questions we might have about their products. It’s also a great place to get inspiration for cooking as many vendors are thrilled to share recipes and cooking tips.
Etta Culver City is a celebrated neighborhood restaurant that serves delicious, wood-fired food in a fun, relaxed dining environment. Led by two-time Michelin Chef/Partner Danny Grant and the What If Syndicate restaurant group, Etta and its sister companies Monarch, Maple&Ash, Celestina, and Kessaku aim to serve nutritious, savory, and high-quality food. To do this, they make sure they only buy fresh ingredients directly from local farmers.
In this episode of EI’s Dine & Design, Justine and Bridget interview Etta’s Executive Chef, Sieger Bayer. Listen to their fun exchange as Chef Sieger talks about the beginning of his journey with food, building relationships with local farmers, capturing the eyes and palates of diners through the art of plating, and how he helps chefs in training to be better at their craft. Chef Sieger also reveals his passion project for the first time and tells the audience how they can get involved!
Connect with Sieger:
Sieger Bayer is the Executive Chef of Etta Culver City, a neighborhood restaurant that serves delicious, wood-fired food in a fun, relaxed dining environment. True to its namesake, “Keeper of the Hearth”, Etta is known for its perfectly baked wood-fired pizza and other familiar dishes that are perfect for the whole family. Sieger understands the impact of buying directly from local farmers on the quality of food served, the well-being of their customers, and its benefit to the farmers themselves and the environment. Sieger has also partnered up with Erika Chan and other artists on an art-driven cookbook, re.c.o.o.k.e.d You can connect with Sieger and the fellow cookbook authors and artists via instagram using the links below.
Connect with Etta:
Connect with re.c.o.o.k.e.d
Connect with Erika Chan:
Connect with Alec Battistoni:
Connect with Ryan Roxy Kinsley:
Connect with Bridget (Dine & Design Co-Host):
A native from NZ, Bridget Cooper moved to NY when she was 18 to pursue a career in Interior Design. This journey started a life of the International jet set for Cooper, as travel became the source of inspiration and resource for herself and so many of her clients.
Her innate ability to seek out the extraordinary is the foundation for curating layered interiors and unforgettable experiences. This has built her a reputation in the design world as the “one in the know” and “to know”.
Bridget’s interior work ranges from chic high-rise apartments in Chicago and NY to modern farmhouses in Northern California. In recent years, Bridget Cooper has expanded her creative talents working on many commercial projects and events creating unforgettable experiences on both big and small scales. Bridget delights in over-thinking every detail and loves pushing the boundaries to keep things fresh and unexpected.
Currently, Bridget and her husband Rob have moved from SF to Ojai, Ca (a small town north of Los Angeles) where they are building Iverson house.
Episode Highlights:
02:09 You Need to Join!
05:02 Plating and Design
07:53 When Food Critics Arrive
09:42 More Than a Cookbook
11:14 Expand Your Network
Resources:
Book
Get updates on re.c.o.o.k.e.d, the cookbook by Sieger Bayer.
Tweets:
Visiting your local farmer’s market can be an eye-opening experience. Listen as @_NextGenChef, Bridget Cooper, and Sieger Bayer, @ ettarestaurant’s Executive Chef, discuss the benefits of buying directly from local farmers and how to build a deeper relationship with them. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #EttaRestaurant #KeeperoftheHearth #restaurant #chef #goodfood #qualityingredients #localfarmers #freshproduce
Inspirational Quotes:
04:00 “People eat with their eyes.” -Bridget Cooper
07:09 “One thing I want to push to people is Fun, Food, Fast. We want to have fun making food, we want to do it fast, and we want our guests not to wait.” -Sieger Bayer
08:50 “This isn't just me on the menu, but everyone's value… There's a bunch of beautiful minds that go into it.” -Sieger Bayer
10:09 “We're trying to build not just a cookbook, but more of a lifestyle.” -Sieger Bayer
11:28 “We want to use our connections so that we can get more people out there and expand our networks.” -Sieger Bayer
11:35 “People can use this platform to expand their networks. That’s what we do.” -Justine Reichman
Transcriptions:
Justine Reichman: Hi, I'm Justine Reichman. Welcome to Dine & Design. With me today is my co-host, Bridget Cooper. And here, we're welcoming Sieger Bayer. Thank you so much for joining us. We should kick this off with a shot of – should we do the lime before or after?
Sieger Bayer: Of course.
Justine Reichman: Welcome. Super excited to learn about you and what you've been up to, and how you went here.
Sieger Bayer: Yeah. I'm originally from Chicago, and went to school, college. I was one of those people that when I started school, I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I kind of fell into cooking. It wasn't like a crazy, awesome upbringing, and like kitchens and all that, and my mom cooked. We moved to Chicago and I started culinary school, did that whole role,and kind of worked from prep cook to line cook and all that.
Bridget Cooper: What was your first job?
Sieger Bayer: My first job, I've worked in a little bakery in Chicago and I was hired on. So it may sound strange, but that never happened. And it kind of cash register. I've kind of started working at a small place, it's called sullage (inaudible). But yeah, same thing like a Garmo cook. Not really knowing what I was doing, like running into the cooler scared-- what was going on.
Justine Reichman: So, what brought you to Etta?
Sieger Bayer: LA, I always knew about Etta and the group, it was great. Seeing them grow in Chicago. And fortunately for me, when I came out to LA, my really good friends in the group was like, you need to join.
Justine Reichman: What about it was that made you need to join?
Sieger Bayer: I think I just had a really good conversation with Danny Grant. He was just, we wanted to do super fun food and like an awesome environment to push the food and the experience, and like using farmers and stuff like that. So I was just like yeah 100%. He was super competent, cool, but also very approachable.
Bridget Cooper: The culture seems really fantastic from all the Etta’s and Maple & Ash and Celestina, and Monarch. And here we are, might not be -- everyone that I've seen just loves working for the company seems really nice--
Sieger Bayer: Yeah. They like the experience and the ambiance, not just a party for the desk. But also, you can feel the energy in the dining room, we feel it in the kitchen. So I've eaten in Chicago, I’ve eaten here, anywhere you go, you kind of feel like you're in the same spot even though you're on the opposite side of the country. They do that really well. Everyone, the servers, the cooks, the dishwashers, like the management, everyone kind of owns that mentality, but they're also super professional, and really great to work with.
Justine Reichman: So how does that tie into what you want to do in the kitchen?
Sieger Bayer: I think for me, my big focus in the kitchen was always food, obviously. But also, we're getting it from in Chicago of 15 to 20 years of relationships with farmers and purveyors, which is great. And then when I jumped over to LA, I just wanted to carry that with me. And then here, it's like we work with the same style of people here. So I can go to the market -- and get like pork or whatever we need. So it's cool to be able to do all that.
“People eat with their eyes.” -Bridget Cooper
Bridget Cooper: What do you say, when we were talking about this today that people eat with their eyes, we were saying that when you go to a restaurant, you see someone next to you, what are they eating? We have to have that! What would you say in this particular right there is sort of the wow dish that people want to ask for?
Sieger Bayer: I think a lot of it is, or the one major thing is the lobster pignigs that we do. We get king crabs, lobsters, and the bubbling shrimp and there’s like tower of all these –. So we get that a lot. And then also, you just see that created in the dining room, and they’re like “we want to order that.” It's kind of one of those experiences.
Justine Reichman: My question for you, you designed so many things, right? I would wonder how you design that dish? Like that would be what's in my head because that's what you thoughtfully put together. How are you doing that?
Sieger Bayer: I think being in LA is one thing. You just walk to the Farmers Market -- so it's kind of easy in that sense. But then you think like, how would I want to share this experience to people? You just think like, yeah, I want to have hard bread and like the blades and herbs, and like all these little accouterments, and they're just a big, beautiful plate of shrimp. And so it kind of all just kind of falls in line. You're kind of just like, oh, yeah, this all makes sense. And it's all delicious. And it was beautiful in this.
Bridget Cooper: (inaudible)Do you find that through Etta, you found great connections, or did you have those already?
Sieger Bayer: Like a combination of both. I think, being close to Farmers Market and being able to go on Wednesdays, and that's what we get any and everyone kind of pushes up, go see those things, those connections. And then when you see something you have to work with before seeing something that you want to see closer, you start talking to somebody for that relationship, it's great. A little bit of relationships that I had, (inaudible).
Justine Reichman: What are you hoping to bring to this kitchen here?
Sieger Bayer: I really just want to push the fact that we're in a beautiful space like LA, we're able to use these awesome ingredients and have those relationships. And for me, just seeing the cooks underneath me grows to be Sou Chefs. Because it's the chefs within our group or on their own thing. So I like the teaching aspect of it, I think I'd like to--
Justine Reichman: What are some of the values that you're hoping to impart to these chefs that we're working with?
“One thing I want to push to people is Fun, Food, Fast. We want to have fun making food, we want to do it fast, and we want our guests not to wait.” -Sieger Bayer
Sieger Bayer: I mean, a lot of it is just like, we all make mistakes. So one thing I like to push with people is like Fun Food Fast. Like we want to have fun making food, we want to do it fast, we want our guests not to wait, not to feel like we're being rushed. Like systematic or like always thinking of things and recovering fast, working fast, and then also cleaning up. Yes, it's the scramble beforehand and everything's used to calm and cool. But in your head, you're just very focused.
Bridget Cooper: What do you do? I've always wanted those, do you know ahead of time if you've got a critic coming? Food critic, or when they do these best of LA and stuff, are you aware of that ahead of time, or is that just, they come in and you don’t know?
Sieger Bayer: It's like a mixture of both. Sometimes it's like a several run up to get them involved. There's actually this person, oh. And then sometimes, you have a little bit of warning. It's also nice to open up the magazines. Oh, this is where I work. Like we're front and center. This is amazing. So this surprise is really nice.
Justine Reichman: Wow, that's amazing. So now, as you grow in the kitchen and you develop all these other chefs, are there any core values that you're hoping to add to add up in the kitchen that are signature to you?
Sieger Bayer: I feel like a TV or something? Like a really, really good job of building that like core values that they do. Just like your touches on all things like--
Justine Reichman: Can you share a couple with us maybe?
“This isn't just me on the menu, but everyone's value… There's a bunch of beautiful minds that go into it.” -Sieger Bayer
Sieger Bayer: Like on the spot? I mean for me, I always like making sure that the cooks and everyone knows what it's like, this isn't just me on the menu. Might be on there, but everyone's value and like everyone's approach to food, and how maybe they're like grandmother, dad or anyone, like vegan add those to the play. I just like to use the kitchen, kind of like all of us working together. Because a lot of the time, it's just sitting there over a venue with a pencil, what it's like there's a bunch of beautiful minds that go into it.
Justine Reichman: And on a personal level, is there anything you want to do with food outside of Etta? Whether it's regarding waste or with farmers? Or are you working on a cookbook?
Sieger Bayer: Yes.
Justine Reichman: Tell us about that.
“We're trying to build not just a cookbook, but more of a lifestyle.” -Sieger Bayer
Sieger Bayer: Okay so one of my good friends and I, we worked in Chicago, she works here now. We're like kind of designing or writing and pitching. It's more of like -- pastry cookbook like 80-20 pastry to savory, and it's kind of like we want to build a pastry cookbook that it's the at-home cook like the mom and dad cook, the person who's like maybe semi pro that like does like small catering stuff. But then also people that are in restaurants can open it up and be like, oh, this is gonna like, I see this in a different way on my menu this way. So we're trying to build that, and then also kind of not just like a cookbook but more of a lifestyle.
Justine Reichman: What kind of artists would you look at?
Sieger Bayer: I'm just gonna ask for all of it, right? I think for me, I know a handful, like really cool not just graffiti but like mural artists somebody that’s from Chicago, and like LA's got an awesome want to take these people that are like creative in their own ways, it's spray bottle, or stencils, play, or whatever, and like kind of figure out how we can get food, music and everything all.
Justine Reichman: We want to connect dining and designing?
“We want to use our connections so that we can get more people out there and expand our networks.” -Sieger Bayer
Sieger Bayer: In a very like, slewed is the word that I want to use a lot. How we can get everyone together and just be like I'm not using you to make money, like want to use our connections so that maybe we can get more people out there and then expand our networks.
Justine Reichman: Create a platform. People can use this platform to expand their networks.
“People can use this platform to expand their networks. That’s what we do.” -Justine Reichman
Sieger Bayer: Exactly. So it's like everything from just like, that's like a main thing for me. It's something I want to push forward and just enjoy outside of (inaudible).
Bridget Cooper: I want a copy of the book..
Justine Reichman: It is going to be called Re-Cooked? (inaudible). When can we expect this book?
Sieger Bayer: I don't know.
Justine Reichman: Publishing, or do you have a publisher?
Sieger Bayer: Literary agent we're talking to, we're gonna push all this to, I don't know.
Justine Reichman: Okay, keep us posted.
Sieger Bayer: We're looking for like Dickies, and Sharpie. We had no sponsors last time.
Justine Reichman: Are you looking for any kind of artists, or other kinds of chefs, or musicians? What are you looking for?
Sieger Bayer: Really, for everyone. Anyone that wants to have a bunch of fun and have a party while we're doing it, and doesn't care about what little bullshit that--
Justine Reichman: How would they get a hold of you?
Sieger Bayer: Instagram, siegerbayer.
Justine Reichman: We'll put that in shownotes.
Sieger Bayer: Yeah, that's it. Come to Culver City or all the other ones that are popping up all over the United States.
Justine Reichman: Thank you so much for joining us.
Sieger Bayer: Thank you.
