Featured Chef Govind Armstrong, Interviewed by La Brea Bakery’s very own artisan food correspondent, The Cheese Impresario (TCI).

TCI: Govind, you have so much action going on now, I’m lucky to have been able to share some pizza with you at Pizzeria Mozza and catch up. I know your restaurants, Table 8 in Los Angeles and Miami are quite busy and your new book, Small Bites, Big Nights has been very well received. In addition, you’ve recently created the Premier Class and Business Class menus for New Zealand Airlines and you yourself are in the air quite a bit. First question…how do you stay so calm and focused?

GA: I really don’t see myself that way. I have always been high energy since I was a little kid, but I believe that the quality of communication…and of life are very important. Perhaps that’s what you are seeing? Also, Nancy Silverton is a very special person to me and I jumped at the opportunity to speak with you about La Brea Bakery bread.

TCI: When you were thirteen years old you worked summers in the kitchen of Spago with Wolfgang Puck and Nancy. Where did this love of preparing and serving high quality food come from? Most boys your age were playing sports or at the beach.

GA: My Mother was the key. She loved to entertain and she had a monthly food-centered gathering of friends and family, and I loved helping her doing prep work. Then I started doing some of the cooking…and then all of the cooking. That’s what inspired my passion…seeing the happy faces at my Mom’s parties after they had eaten delicious food that was lovingly prepared. We also had a home garden and would serve fresh vegetables. I understood the connection with how natural products and produce, fresh from the earth, do taste better. That philosophy is now executed at Table 8.

TCI: What was it like behind the scenes at Spago as a thirteen year old?

GA: From the very first day, I felt the buzz of the teamwork and creativity going on. There were kitchen mixers bigger than I was…and whole fish. I was in heaven.

TCI: La Brea Bakery’s breads are served at Table 8, what breads do you use?

GA: We’re proud to serve our grilled cheese on La Brea Bakery’s Sourdough Loaf. We also serve their Pumpernickel with smoked salmon and their Walnut Loaf with our artisanal cheese plates. Recently, I’ve been fascinated with the flavors from the artisan cheesemakers of Wisconsin and have included their cheeses on my cheese plate. I’m currently serving Uplands Cheese Company’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve that’s made by Mike Gingrich. My customers are raving about it.

TCI: I’ve just had one of the best pizzas of my life and I am totally full…but yet dying for this cheese and bread that you just described. Speaking again of cheese, isn’t the recipe for your grilled cheese in your new book, “Small Bites, Big Nights”?

GA: Yes, it’s a favorite recipe of mine and people have told me they love the positive reactions they get when they make it.

TCI: I heard through the grape vine you are opening a new Table 8 in New York City.

GA: That’s right, I can’t wait to share my particular cuisine along side the best of the best. I appreciate everything that’s happened to me in my life and this next step is one I am really looking forward to.

La Brea Bakery Grilled Cheese Burrata with Japanese Tomatoes