Tag Archives: Charleston

5 Questions for Jet Tila

by Betty Hallock
Los Angeles Times
April 23, 2012

tila latimes daily dish 042312 5 Questions for Jet TilaJet Tila’s Charleston just opened in Santa Monica, where he’s serving his take on American comfort food, through the lens of a chef specializing in all styles of Asian cuisine. Tila grew up in his family’s restaurants and Thai grocery store Bangkok Market in Hollywood, attended Le Cordon Bleu and was chef of pan-Asian restaurant Wazuzu at the Encore in Las Vegas and creator of the L.A. pop-up series Bistronomics. He also holds the Guinness World Record for the “World’s Largest Stir-Fry” at 4,010 pounds.

What’s coming up next on your menu? Asian pork belly bao. Pork belly braised for four hours in five-spice and sweet soy sauce. I stuff that into steamed gwah bao buns — fried brown and crispy — and finish with carrot pickle and hoisin. Panzarotti! For the unfamiliar, my version of pizza hot pockets.

Latest ingredient obsession? Crispy fried gwah bao. This is the dough that makes dim sum bao white, pillowy, semi-sweet and yielding. I deep-fry them so they are crunchy and pillowy at the same time; it’s insane!

The one piece of kitchen equipment you can’t live without, other than your knives? Wow, other than? Is there anything more important than my beloved knives? Then I’d have to say my Vitamix blender right now. It makes oils, acids and ingredients into aioli. It also makes garlic and ginger submit and give up their essential oils into marinades.

What’s your favorite breakfast? Machaca con huevos, without a doubt. I braise my own brisket for up to six hours and then make machaca. Slam it into a fresh tortilla with spicy salsa and ripe avocados and I’m happy.

The last cookbook you read –- and what inspired you to pick it up? I’ve been reading a lot of mixology lately. So the latest book was Tony Abou-Ganim’s “The Modern Mixologist.” I want some fun cocktails!

Happy hour savings in L.A.

Tasty food and drink specials for happy hour can be found at the Charleston, Drago Centro, the Prince and Urbano Pizza Bar.

by Jessica Gelt
Los Angeles Times
April 6, 2012

Chef Jet Tila, who has battled it out on “Iron Chef America” and opened the buzzy pan-Asian restaurant Wazuzu at the Wynn in Las Vegas, has brought his tasty brand of Asian-fusion comfort food to Santa Monica. Called the Charleston and decked out in snazzy 1930s-era decor, Tila’s new boîte features classic cocktails, live music — including jazz — and short rib tacos. Happy hour, which takes place Mondays through Fridays from 5 to 7 p.m., offers a chance to taste Tila’s food without residual wallet pain. Choose a $7 bacon, egg and cheese flatbread; $2 Korean tacos or $5 Thai sweet and sour hot wings with Sriracha — and more — and wash it all down with $7 craft cocktails or $5 well drinks.

What to Eat at The Charleston, Grand-Open Tomorrow in Santa Monica

by Hadley Tomicki
Grub Street Los Angeles
March 28, 2012

20120328 charleston 560x375 What to Eat at The Charleston, Grand Open Tomorrow in Santa Monica
Already soft-open and serving over the last few weeks, Jet Tila grand-debuts The Charleston tomorrow night. This is the former Wazuzu chef and big-time bistronomics pumper’s reworking of the Angels space in Santa Monica into another nightlife venue that, like Angel’s before it, plans to have nightly live entertainment by bands. This includes that jerky eighties cover band that must have played everywhere else by now, as well as karaoke, comedy, and get this, dueling pianos (apparently, you can take the guy out of Vegas, but…well, you know). Anyway, what we’re really here for is the food and drink, and here Tila plans a selection of unique comfort eats and spruced-up cocktails, along with a series of pop-ups (an event with chef Evan Kleiman is already in the works we’re told). Come check the menu and bar.

The interior exhales the same vintage supper club cool as its predecessor, with a bar wrapped in kinky white leather (we’re imagining this, but like, at a bar), red booths, and a central portrait of Josephine Baker (please be this one).

20120328 charlestonint 560x375 What to Eat at The Charleston, Grand Open Tomorrow in Santa Monica

The menu features Tila’s take on comfort eats and will include tacos with slow-roasted short ribs and shaved brussels sprouts, fried chicken wings in a sweet chili sriracha, flatbreads of various designs, Welsh rarebit, and five-spice pork belly bao.

Tila will not, as far as we can tell, take Kaya toast back from Susan Feniger. Nor will he introduce a bar program called Tila’s Tequila. Instead, the spot offers beer, wine, and craft cocktails like a vodka-soaked “Kaffir Lime Pie” and a “Jet 75.”

See The Charleston’s full drinking and dining menus.