Resy Questionnaire Los Angeles
Gilberto Cetina of Holbox on Cooking, Childhood Meals, and So Much More
Published:
As part of Resy’s partnership with the This is Taste podcast, we’re chatting with some of our favorite chefs for an in-depth look at what inspires them. In this episode, we sat down with Gilberto Cetina, chef-owner of Holbox, the seafood destination in Los Angeles that is also one of the most decorated and beloved restaurants in the city.
Listen to the whole episode here, and read on for snippet of the conversation.
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Matt Rodbard: Gilberto Cetina, welcome to This is Taste. This is the Resy Questionnaire. Are you ready to take it?
Gilberto Cetina: No, but let’s go anyway.
Matt Rodbard: What is the favorite thing you’ve ever cooked?
Gilberto Cetina: I would have to say it’s a Yucatan-style pan Frances. I’m not a baker, so I was very proud. After working a few months on a bread recipe, it came together, and we’ve been using it for the last 17 years to make our sandwiches at Chichen Itza.
Matt Rodbard: What was your favorite meal from childhood?
Gilberto Cetina: Okay, so this, I hope I don’t upset my mom. It’s gonna be my grandmother’s puchero de tres carnes. And it’s not necessarily because it was the best thing I ever ate, but it was a moment when aunts and uncles and cousins would all get together at my grandma’s house, Tiny house, tiny kitchen. She would have this beautiful stew made with all sorts of vegetables, meats. It had pasta in it, it had rice in it, it had saffron. And then we would go to the backyard. She would send us to the backyard, on a ladder to pick avocados off her avocado tree. And that’s the final touch of the puchero. We cut that avocado open and dice it up. Just great food memories of family times.
Matt Rodbard: Amazing. A kitchen tool or piece of cooking equipment that you can’t live without?
Gilberto Cetina: Deba Japanese butchering knife. Yeah, [it’s] pretty much a single use tool. And I’m not that fond of single use tools, because they just end up being clutter in your kitchen drawers. But a Deba, that knife that I just can’t live without right now.
Matt Rodbard: What are five culinary items that you would bring to a desert island if you knew you had to live there forever?
Gilberto Cetina: First one, right off the bat, fishing net. Yeah, I’m on an island — I need to get some fish. I would say salt, but I’m going to run out eventually. So it’d bring a large metal pan shallow that I can take out to sea, fill it up with sea water, and then put it out in the sun to evaporate the H2O and just leave the salt behind. So that way I always have salt. So obviously I’m gonna need a kitchen knife, or a knife in general, for cooking. So this would not be the Deba; this would be like an all-purpose chef knife. Habanero peppers. It’s just such a great way to spice up, make anything interesting. You’d have the powder, bring some peppers, and then I would take the seeds out, put them out to dry, and then plant them. And that way I can always have a new crop of habanero peppers. And I’m going to say a lighter, or some kind of fire starter, because I can’t do that start-your-own-fire camping. I would get tired of sashimi and ceviche eventually. So, yeah, I need a fire.
