Interview with Chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza - San Francisco

Antoinette Bruno:When and why did you start cooking? What inspired you to pursue cooking professionally?
Mourad Lahlou:I never cooked when I lived in Morocco. I came to the United States at age 17 and went to college. I was very homesick so I started cooking to feel more connected to home. It was cheap and a way for me to survive. I also cooked gifts for friends. I graduated San Francisco University with a BA in economics, and I decided to open a restaurant.

AB: Where have you worked professionally as a chef?
ML: I had never worked in a professional kitchen before I opened Kasbah in 1997. I opened Aziza in November 2001 with $300,000. Michael Bauer, the critic from The San Francisco Chronicle, reviewed us and gave the restaurant three stars. So I just jumped in and started cooking with no professional experience.

TR: Would you recommend culinary school to aspiring cooks? Do you hire chefs without a culinary school background?
ML: I never went to culinary school. It could work for certain people, but everyone I know that is really talented didn’t go. Nothing replaces experience and repetition. But sometimes I think I’m reinventing the wheel because I haven’t been to school.

AB: Who are some of your mentors? What have you learned from them?
ML: Paula Wolfert – I’ve known her for twelve years. She comes into my restaurant and gives me advice. She gets me, she gets my food, and she has been a great supporter.

AB: What question gives you the most insight to a cook when you’re interviewing them for a position in your kitchen?
ML: I ask them what their interests are outside of food. I want someone that has lots of interests. It lets me know they are well rounded and honest.

AB: What advice would you offer young chefs just getting started?
ML: Go work in as many kitchens as possible. Develop your own style. Hopefully they have a trust fund, because they probably won’t make a whole lot of money in this industry.

AB: Is there any ingredient that you feel is particularly under appreciated or under utilized?
ML: Argan oil – it’s extracted from nuts in southern Morocco. It’s nutty, smoky, and really delicious.

AB: What are a few of your favorite flavor combinations?
ML: I like mushrooms and squab together. I also like peanut butter and green olives.

AB: What’s your most indispensable kitchen tool?
ML: A notepad and pen because I try to write all my ideas down.

AB: At StarChefs we publish technique features for chefs to learn. Is there a technique that you have either created of borrowed and used in an unusual way?
ML: I make my own cous cous every day.

AB: What are your favorite cookbooks?
ML: Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers is really good. I like all of Paula Wolfert’s books on Mediterranean cooking as well.

AB: Where to you like to go for culinary travel? Why?
ML: I’d like to go to China. I think what they are doing is great. I’m always intrigued by their flavors. Spain comes in a close second.

AB: What are your favorite restaurants off-the-beaten-path in your city?
ML: For Thai I go to Thai Express on Clement. It serves until 2 am and has great pad thai and a nice, light vegetable and noodle soup.

AB: What languages do you speak?
ML: Moroccan, Arabic, French, and a little Spanish.

AB: Which person would you most like to have dinner with?
ML: I’d love to eat with Bono [of U2]. I think he might be a vegetarian so I would cook homey vegetarian food.

AB: What is your philosophy on food and dining?
ML: I think a chef should make people experience something they haven’t experienced before. I want people who eat my food to taste the familiar and the foreign all at once. Dining isn’t just about the food, it’s about the entire experience.

AB: What trends do you see emerging in the restaurant industry now?
ML: In San Francisco people feel that they need to go to the farmer’s market on a weekly basis. A chefs relationship with the market and its farmers is really important. The sous vide technique has become really popular too.

AB: What does success mean for you? What will it look like for you?
ML: I wouldn’t mind opening a restaurant in New York City. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.

AB: How are you involved in your local culinary community?
ML: I really try to follow the slow food movement, which Alice Waters has been supporting in since its inception. I support Center for Urban Education About Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA), our local farmer’s market organization.