JWM Magazine - Spring 2015

World View
Life's busy when you're a celebrity chef,
entrepreneur, culinary ambassador—and
father. Jet Tila manages to find time to
indulge in good books, music and culture.

[culturE lIst]

ESSENTIALS
Celebrity chef Jet Tila lives up to his first name. The culinary wiz spends much of his time travel- ing from one project to another.

There’s Kuma Snow Cream, a shaved-ice spot in Las Vegas, and Stir Market, a fresh version of a classic European food hall in Los Angeles. He also hits the road as the Royal Thai Consulate’s first Thai Culinary Ambassador. A recent phone interview catches him en route from Denver to Minneapolis in support of Modern Asian Kitchen. It’s a concept in Pan-Asian cuisine that he launched in partnership with the Compass Group, the world’s largest catering service. But even boarding calls can’t keep him from sharing some cultural favorites.

And they’re not even (all) about food.

READING, ON AND OFF THE MENU

I just finished The Education of Millionaires: Everything You Won't Learn in College About How to Be Successful, by Michael Ellsberg. Although I’ve accomplished a decent amount in my life, I’ve always felt that Asian guilt about not finishing college. this book basically says that for some professions—like mine—college might be a waste of time.

Hot off the presses, I’ve got Dana cowin’s book, Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen: Learning to Cook with 65 Great Chefs and Over 100 Delicious Recipes. It’s a super great book, and very practical.

MUSIC TO COOK BY
You know the band Mariachi El Bronx?

the Bronx was this thrash metal band for
years, and they became wildly obsessed
with mariachi music, so these long-haired,
hard-core metal guys decided to take up
mariachi. I find myself always falling back
to their first album, Mariachi El Bronx,
especially when cooking. It’s up-tempo,
not too heavy and a fun story.

MUSIC TO CLEAN BY

these days, I clean my home kitchen to the soundtrack of Frozen, because my two-year-old daughter is, like most young girls, completely obsessed. I know every single lyric to every single song.

MUSIC TO THINK ABOUT FOOD BY
this is nerdy, but [Food Network stalwart]
Alton Brown is now doing a stage show.
that’s on my must-see list. He sings and
dances; it’s called The Edible Inevitable Tour.
HERITAGE SITE

We go to the Wat Thai Temple L.A. in North Hollywood on sundays. It’s the only temple in America that has a thai-style sunday school, so you see a bunch of kids dressed up in uniforms learning thai instruments, dance, language and calligraphy. It’s open to everybody to hang out. they also have food stalls to raise money, where you can get phenomenally delicious thai food.