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Food + Drinks / by Lindsay Woods
Videographer / Jason Noto
Videographer / Leslie Woods
Producer / Lindsay Woods
Video Editor / Leslie Woods
Photographer / Sam Carter-Shamai

Chef Series

Antonio Park

Antonio Park
(Park Restaurant, Montreal)
Website
Facebook
Twitter

On this particular Sunday morning, as we walk into the unoccupied restaurant, Park, it’s high ceilings and perfectly balanced rustic industrial decor are brightly light by the warm spring sun shining through the large front window; a perfect backdrop for an afternoon of filming with the Westmount sushi master and head chef, Antonio Park.

While we are busy setting up our 3 cameras and numerous set lights, Chef Park puts a bottle of sake on ice and lines up a couple of shot glasses. It’s 12:48 pm on Mother’s Day Sunday. Our little crew takes a moment from moving the tables around, testing sound meters and synchronizing our camera settings, to gather around the now filled shot glasses on the granite bar. Taking our lead from Chef Park, our japanese trained Korean/Argentinian host, we raise our glasses to initiate the day of filming ahead. A resounding “kanpai” fills the dining room and we get back to fiddling with lights and microphones, while Chef Park unpac to the tools of his trade.

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-02

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-04

Where did he learn his knife skills, we ask as he deftly runs his blades over the Chef’s steel. His answer: “practice.” Every tool in his kitchen has a purpose; everything has been organized and deliberately set in its place. As he wipes the edges of his containers and polishes his bottles before each shot, you can’t help but admire the attention to detail.

“It’s a beautiful fish,” he says, half asking half telling us, as he prepped the Snapper. For the fish’s on camera debut, you can see the excitement in Antonio’s face, he draws our attention to the freshness of the creature in his hands. He attends to the fish with such care while he runs his fingers over the scales as if trying to present the fish in it’s best light. His strokes are tender, his movement seamless; there is nothing but reverence in the way he handles what is about to become our lunch.

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-06

So it comes as no surprise when we find out what is Chef Park’s food philosophy? Respect your ingredients.

Transcription

I always thought that people could make great food with great ingredients, but that’s not true. It depends on how you manage to work with it. I believe great ingredients need great chefs.
My last name is Park, so obviously I’m Korean. I did my training in Japan. I grew up in South America – Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. My whole concept about my food and cooking, it’s all about sharing and trying to make things better for the future.

I’m Latino background, so it’s like “mi casa, tu casa” – you’re coming here to have fun, you know. You’re coming here to enjoy food, you’re coming here to feel comfortable.

I don’t do very common things. We do very wild things and we experiment a lot. I can guarantee you that at least one thing they’re eating on that day – it’s the first time that they’re eating that.

My inspiration in the kitchen is very simple: number one, respect your ingredients. That’s basically the most important thing – respect your ingredients. By respecting your ingredients you’re going to waste less. It’s as simple as when you’re peeling a potato – you can peel a potato and try to make it nice and overpeel it and overpeel it and at the end, this potato that was big like this became small like that. It’s not really efficient, it’s not really sustainable, you know what I’m saying? You have to take out layers, you have to be very thoughtful of what you’re using. It’s very important. It’s a give and take relationship, even with the ingredients. The more respect you give them, they’ll respect you back at the end of the day, on the plate.

My most memorable experience in the kitchen is making rice, man, making rice. Making the right rice. Let’s say two years in a half just doing rice. That was back in the days – nowadays, maybe in Japan it’s still like that, but everywhere around the world is not as consistent on the rice. They should focus more. Before going to mix flavours and going, “oh, let’s do fusions today” – before going there, make your roots right, make your basics go beyond normal. Do number one first before jumping to number five, before jumping to number three. How would you know multiplication if you don’t know subtraction or addition?

I think it’s the same thing in the kitchen. Somebody working in the kitchen using their knife; it’s about practicing. There’s no secret in the kitchen, there’s absolutely no secret in the kitchen. It’s about practicing. It’s about repetition. It’s repetition that will make you become comfortable with your knife and know exactly what you’re doing.

I like to work directly with farmers, I like to work directly with fishermen, especially local if it’s possible. One of the only reasons why I go overseas is because of the sustainability problems. The future chefs, the young chefs that are coming up, I want them to be able to use the same type of fish, the same type of quality ingredients that we’re using right now. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re focusing on the future.

Wild fish will always be the best. There’s no doubt about that, but it has to be caught in a certain way. It has to be caught only when it’s in season. It has to be used only when it’s in season. It has to be eaten only when it’s in season.

When it comes to fish, a lot of people have the wrong idea on using them. “Oh, it’s such a fresh fish… we’re gonna grill it.” You don’t have to grill it. If you’re that proud of that fish, you can just it raw.

These are the three basic ways that I buy fish. The first technique is called Ike Jime, which means live slaughtered. You slaughter it while it’s alive. When it’s alive you take a long metal stick, like a screwdriver, and you hit the brain. The second one is called Shinkei nuki. It uses a long metal stick that is put through the spine of the fish from the tail. It’s a very difficult technique.

Movement of the fish that is dying equals the sweetness of the fish. The more they move, the more the sweetness of the fish and the texture of the fish go away. So you get to understand less about that fish.

The third technique is called Kaimin. Kaimin means sleeping. So, it’s a sleeping technique. What they do is take the fish, they do the acupuncture and the fish goes to sleep. By doing that the fish is sleeping so it’s like a sleeping death.

Today for What’s Really Good Magazine I’m cooking Kaimin Thai. Kaimin is the third technique I was talking I was talking about. What I’m going to do is cook the fish halfway and then make a dish out of it, like a ceviche style halfway cooked Kaimin Thai. That’s more like me.

Antonio Park
(Park Restaurant, Montreal)
Website
Facebook
Twitter

On this particular Sunday morning, as we walk into the unoccupied restaurant, Park, it’s high ceilings and perfectly balanced rustic industrial decor are brightly light by the warm spring sun shining through the large front window; a perfect backdrop for an afternoon of filming with the Westmount sushi master and head chef, Antonio Park.

While we are busy setting up our 3 cameras and numerous set lights, Chef Park puts a bottle of sake on ice and lines up a couple of shot glasses. It’s 12:48 pm on Mother’s Day Sunday. Our little crew takes a moment from moving the tables around, testing sound meters and synchronizing our camera settings, to gather around the now filled shot glasses on the granite bar. Taking our lead from Chef Park, our japanese trained Korean/Argentinian host, we raise our glasses to initiate the day of filming ahead. A resounding “kanpai” fills the dining room and we get back to fiddling with lights and microphones, while Chef Park unpac to the tools of his trade.

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-02

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-04

Where did he learn his knife skills, we ask as he deftly runs his blades over the Chef’s steel. His answer: “practice.” Every tool in his kitchen has a purpose; everything has been organized and deliberately set in its place. As he wipes the edges of his containers and polishes his bottles before each shot, you can’t help but admire the attention to detail.

“It’s a beautiful fish,” he says, half asking half telling us, as he prepped the Snapper. For the fish’s on camera debut, you can see the excitement in Antonio’s face, he draws our attention to the freshness of the creature in his hands. He attends to the fish with such care while he runs his fingers over the scales as if trying to present the fish in it’s best light. His strokes are tender, his movement seamless; there is nothing but reverence in the way he handles what is about to become our lunch.

chef-series-antonio-park-photos-by-sam-carter-06

So it comes as no surprise when we find out what is Chef Park’s food philosophy? Respect your ingredients.

Transcription

I always thought that people could make great food with great ingredients, but that’s not true. It depends on how you manage to work with it. I believe great ingredients need great chefs.
My last name is Park, so obviously I’m Korean. I did my training in Japan. I grew up in South America – Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. My whole concept about my food and cooking, it’s all about sharing and trying to make things better for the future.

I’m Latino background, so it’s like “mi casa, tu casa” – you’re coming here to have fun, you know. You’re coming here to enjoy food, you’re coming here to feel comfortable.

I don’t do very common things. We do very wild things and we experiment a lot. I can guarantee you that at least one thing they’re eating on that day – it’s the first time that they’re eating that.

My inspiration in the kitchen is very simple: number one, respect your ingredients. That’s basically the most important thing – respect your ingredients. By respecting your ingredients you’re going to waste less. It’s as simple as when you’re peeling a potato – you can peel a potato and try to make it nice and overpeel it and overpeel it and at the end, this potato that was big like this became small like that. It’s not really efficient, it’s not really sustainable, you know what I’m saying? You have to take out layers, you have to be very thoughtful of what you’re using. It’s very important. It’s a give and take relationship, even with the ingredients. The more respect you give them, they’ll respect you back at the end of the day, on the plate.

My most memorable experience in the kitchen is making rice, man, making rice. Making the right rice. Let’s say two years in a half just doing rice. That was back in the days – nowadays, maybe in Japan it’s still like that, but everywhere around the world is not as consistent on the rice. They should focus more. Before going to mix flavours and going, “oh, let’s do fusions today” – before going there, make your roots right, make your basics go beyond normal. Do number one first before jumping to number five, before jumping to number three. How would you know multiplication if you don’t know subtraction or addition?

I think it’s the same thing in the kitchen. Somebody working in the kitchen using their knife; it’s about practicing. There’s no secret in the kitchen, there’s absolutely no secret in the kitchen. It’s about practicing. It’s about repetition. It’s repetition that will make you become comfortable with your knife and know exactly what you’re doing.

I like to work directly with farmers, I like to work directly with fishermen, especially local if it’s possible. One of the only reasons why I go overseas is because of the sustainability problems. The future chefs, the young chefs that are coming up, I want them to be able to use the same type of fish, the same type of quality ingredients that we’re using right now. And that’s what we’re doing, we’re focusing on the future.

Wild fish will always be the best. There’s no doubt about that, but it has to be caught in a certain way. It has to be caught only when it’s in season. It has to be used only when it’s in season. It has to be eaten only when it’s in season.

When it comes to fish, a lot of people have the wrong idea on using them. “Oh, it’s such a fresh fish… we’re gonna grill it.” You don’t have to grill it. If you’re that proud of that fish, you can just it raw.

These are the three basic ways that I buy fish. The first technique is called Ike Jime, which means live slaughtered. You slaughter it while it’s alive. When it’s alive you take a long metal stick, like a screwdriver, and you hit the brain. The second one is called Shinkei nuki. It uses a long metal stick that is put through the spine of the fish from the tail. It’s a very difficult technique.

Movement of the fish that is dying equals the sweetness of the fish. The more they move, the more the sweetness of the fish and the texture of the fish go away. So you get to understand less about that fish.

The third technique is called Kaimin. Kaimin means sleeping. So, it’s a sleeping technique. What they do is take the fish, they do the acupuncture and the fish goes to sleep. By doing that the fish is sleeping so it’s like a sleeping death.

Today for What’s Really Good Magazine I’m cooking Kaimin Thai. Kaimin is the third technique I was talking I was talking about. What I’m going to do is cook the fish halfway and then make a dish out of it, like a ceviche style halfway cooked Kaimin Thai. That’s more like me.

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