NEAL FRASER BEING CLOSE TO HOME AND THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Chef Neal Fraser

Neal Fraser was California’s first chef to win on the Iron Chef TV series, but this native Angeleno was surprisingly self-deprecating as he chatted with us in his restaurant on Beverly Boulevard’s Restaurant Row. Fittingly named Grace, its hues of sage, ebony and terracotta let the cooking shine: Thai lobster soup, Maine lobster cavatelli with English peas and chanterelles, braised pork shank with garlic rapini, grilled wild boar tenderloin with violet mustard sauce, all with a heaping side of style (your tap water comes served in a laboratory flask). Down the street is BLD, Fraser’s all-day restaurant, serving comfort food grown up.

Tell us about your “Close to Home” menu.

The whole idea was to reduce my carbon footprint and source more local ingredients. I came up with a 400-mile radius. I can reach the Sonoma and Napa Valleys and northern Mexico.

The winter growing season doesn’t exist in much of the United States — there isn’t a whole lot of citrus being grown in Montana — but we live in one of the most fertile areas of the planet, and most of the vegetables come locally 365 days a year.

What was the biggest highlight of your stint on the Iron Chef?

Winning. The fact that I got pork as an ingredient was a bonus. A watermelon radish would have been a little different, or an octopus.

What did you make?

Pork belly with forbidden black rice, pork chop with polenta, pork loin with spaetzle and violet mustard.

Sounds pretty creative.

Well, people sometimes get creative to their detriment.

How so?

Although I’m fascinated by certain aspects of cuisine, you have to be in tune with what your customers want. If you can provide the basics, they’ll be willing to grow with you. Make them a really great fillet of beef with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and the next time they’ll be willing to try wild boar.

What do you think of the celebrity chef trend?

I like that people are being recognized for their hard work and creativity, and being paid a more than fair wage. They’re being treated like celebrities because they’re very good tradesmen. Take Thomas Keller, for example. He’s not very eloquent, he’s not particularly good looking, but he’s admired because he’s a great chef.

It kind of elevates everyone. If there was only one great restaurant in the world and no close second, it’d be boring. It’s like Michael Schumacher with auto racing or Lance Armstrong and the Tour de France. The same guy wins year after year, everybody else just stops trying, and it’s boring until he retires. When they’re all jockeying for position, it makes it more exciting.

What do you think of LA as a restaurant town?

Many of my favorite restaurants are ethnic. It’s not that I don’t like going to restaurants like my own, but it’s kind of like work. I try to tear apart dishes to figure them out. It’s not always relaxing.

What’s one of your favorites?

Park’s [Korean] Barbecue on Vermont Avenue. Their vegetable bibimbap is spectacular, their beef is great, and I feel like I’m in another land, full of people who speak a different language. It’s refreshing.