12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Coast Weekend’s local
restaurant review
Celebrity Saudi chef shares cultural, culinary traditions at Baked Alaska
Review and photos by
THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA
MOUTH@COASTWEEKEND.COM
hrough the lenses of
food and culture, Badr
Zuhair Fayez — a
world-renowned chef
who put on a cook-
ing demonstration
at Baked Alaska Restaurant last
month — compared the United
States to Saudi Arabia, his home
country.
“There’s not a lot of difference
between us,” Fayez said. “We all
eat and grieve and bleed the same
way. We’re all human.”
Fayez’s presentation — held in
the restaurant’s glistening, industri-
ally chic Annex, which is equipped
with an open kitchen — was part
of the Astoria restaurant’s ongoing
Chef Outta Water series.
“Saudi (Arabia) is a huge
melting pot of different cultures,
from traders to merchants to immi-
grants,” he continued, speaking to
a standing audience and Facebook
Live broadcast.
“We have a lot of influences
from a lot of places, especial-
ly from India and Pakistan and
Indonesia, and the eastern parts of
Russia. The eastern parts of Russia
are Muslim and come (to Saudi
Arabia) for pilgrimage ... Lebanon,
Syria, Egypt are neighbors. All of
these countries brought their food
with them, and it became part of
ours.”
Sound familiar?
Such exploration and exchange
of culinary traditions between the
North Coast and the larger world is
Chef Outta Water’s goal.
“The point of these events is to
do outside-the-box things that we
can’t generally get away with in
our regular restaurant,” said Chris
Holen, Baked Alaska’s executive
chef and co-owner. “We want you
to go on these adventures with us,
get out of your comfort zone.”
The series will continue inter-
mittently throughout the year, with
each installment bringing a special
Celebrity Chef Badr Zuhair Fayez, left, and Chef Chris Holen, co-owner of
Baked Alaska Restaurant.
focus. On the docket are programs
revolving around cider, foraging, a
pair of Australian chefs and more.
Tickets to those events run
$150 per person, or $125 for
members of the Dining Club. Chef
Fayez’s event, however, was free,
sponsored by the King Abdulaziz
Center for World Culture.
As a celebrity chef — he was
a featured judge on “MasterChef
Arabia” — Fayez is a bit of rarity
in his native land.
While he found ease and
interest in the kitchen at an young
age, Fayez said the culinary arts
are viewed as something of a
“second class” profession in Saudi
Arabia, one usually reserved for
immigrants. As such, chef Fayez
— who attended culinary school
in America before apprenticing in
France, Austria and Asia — was
anxious to prove to his parents his
chosen career path was noble and
worthwhile.
“My first mission: Don’t fail,”
Fayez said. “Second mission:
Raise the standards of Saudi cui-
sine.”
“Saudi (Arabia) is a very young
country,” he explained. “We get
married pretty young. Both parents
work and families eat out a lot,
always in a rush, eating fast food
… We’re up there with the U.S. in
obesity and diabetes and all these
illnesses that can easily be avoided
if you just eat properly.”
“If you want change, you have
to address the masses,” he added,
“not the elite.”
Besides his restaurants, Fayez
is doing that by baking bread, a
staple of the country’s diet that has
been an afterthought of relatively
poor quality.
“We are having really strong
movements (in Saudi Arabia)
for organic and locally grown
produce,” Fayez continued. “Is it
enough? Not even close. But it’s
nice to see this. It’s nice to see that
people are being health-conscious,
and that people are trying to find a
good-quality tomato.”
Fayez shared these stories
rather nonchalantly while prepar-
ing the meal that would feed the
thirty-plus audience members. The
dishes were loosely based on Saudi
cuisine, many incorporating the
spices Fayez said constitute Saudi
Arabia’s “major five”: cardamom,
cloves, cinnamon, cumin and
coriander. As much as his home
country, though, chef Fayez’s meal
reflected his polyglot influence.
Clockwise from top: lavender couscous, vanilla butternut squash ravioli,
lingcod and rice.
Seasoning by eye and to taste
rather than with measuring cups,
Fayez created four components:
white basmati rice, imbued with
tangy fish stock, that turned brown;
a couscous with lavender; a savory
butternut squash ravioli boasting
vanilla; and a lingcod with an acid-
ic, tahini-based sauce.
Fayez shared the inspiration
behind each component and gave
a basic outline of preparation. As
smells emerged from the open
kitchen, he took questions.
At one point, Fayez was asked
what trends he sees emerging
around the world, and the future of
food.
“Going back to basics is big,”
he said. “The Italians have always
done it. They love their food.
Don’t touch their food! I don’t
blame them. So is it for the French
and a lot of Europe.”
The finished plates, with the
rice, couscous, ravioli and fish
were passed out to the audience.
While complex — thanks to the
“major five” spices and many
more — the meal was humble and
elemental, elevated by the wisdom
of subtle, expert seasoning. These
were hearty, healthful, whole foods
— save perhaps for the buttery
ravioli, whose curry and vanilla
perfume was vexingly intriguing.
Speaking on global trends,
Fayez said, “What I’ve seen is a
whole slowing down.”
“And you need to slow down,
because work will never end … I
got to this realization a year-and-
a-half ago. I got in an accident
and I was out of service for two
months, and the world still turned
and people worked and nothing
exploded…
“And then I realized: I’m going
to stop this 20-hours-a-day work
thing and really slow down and
cook more for my family, spend
more time with my kids. And
people can wait. Because, before
you know it, your kids are getting
married and having grandkids,
and life will just pass you by. And
that’s not what we’re here for.”
It was just the kind of meal he
made us that evening. And while
the flavors all had histories and sto-
ries to tell, they were but an entry, a
reason for us all to gather, to share,
to learn, to be nourished, and to
recognize our common ground.