L.A. Chefs Can't Get Any Respect From New York Publishers. Could Comme Ca's David Myers Break the Curse?

Also, very few young people want to sit down these days to a several-course dinner — the closest they come to that kind of eating is to devour a bunch of small plates in quick succession. Myers' dishes are mix-and-match: You can sit down to a larger portion of one or serve a bunch; they all seem to go together. One of my favorites is a tuna that gets cooked just enough when you pour hot water over it. You then blot it and marinate it, the way the Japanese do. Myers pairs this fish with a tofu puree made with onion, ginger, garlic and white soy sauce (more delicate than the dark, very popular in Japan and little known here). I adore this puree warm and have been known to eat it by itself — again, it's so simple and inevitable you can't believe you've lived without it.

The Japanese are great at making rich foods seem healthy. To this end, Myers created a dipping sauce for steak that combines ponzu — citrus and soy sauce — and grated daikon radish. (Check out this recipe, as well as one for Myers' tuna with tofu puree, on our food blog, Squid Ink.) The sauce seems to magically cut any fatty aftertaste from the meat and adds a clean, delicate flavor without any calories. I ask you, how do they do it?

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

David Myers, of Comme Ca fame, merges the cuisines of Los Angeles and Tokyo.

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Comme Ca

8479 Melrose Ave.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Restaurant > French

Region: West Hollywood

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More About

• David Myers
• Las Vegas
• Publishing
• Food and Cooking
• Eating Out

I obviously love cooking these dishes, and I'm determined to overcome the L.A. curse and share them with the world. Of course I'll take every precaution in the proposal to underline the unique quality of what Myers has to offer the home cook; I'll stress his TV-ready looks probably as much as the dishes themselves. I will suggest that there just might be room, in the industry's conception of a launchable author, for someone who is famous in L.A., Tokyo and Las Vegas, even if he hasn't served publishers lunch in midtown Manhattan.

Wish me luck.

Laurie Winer writes about food and culture. She is a founding editor at theLos Angeles Review of Books.