{"id":122,"date":"2016-09-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/?p=122"},"modified":"2023-05-27T01:53:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-27T01:53:49","slug":"roostx1pajo-bruich-of-tacolicious-lounge-on20-bourbon-steak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/roostx1pajo-bruich-of-tacolicious-lounge-on20-bourbon-steak\/","title":{"rendered":"Pajo Bruich"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chef Pajo (pronounced Pie-Oh) Bruich<\/a>\u00a0has been expressing his food personalities in many forms, from modernist-cuisine to high-quality, high-priced steaks for about a dozen years or so. Having spent a number of years leveling-up the foodie I.Q. at Lounge ON20 in Sacramento with his beautifully\u2013 and very intentionally-plated displays of California\u2019s bounty, he moved his kitchen knack to the San Francisco restaurant scene with a stint at Mina Group\u2019s Bourbon Steak where diners regularly savored $1000 cuts. Now he heads-up the Bay Area\u2019s Tacolicious chain with a menu that riffs Mexican dishes and often features a philanthropic slant. Here Pajo references grandma\u2019s\u00a0Pala\u010dinka and takes a trip down memory lane with chicken stock.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What is your idea of a perfect meal?<\/strong>
\nA perfectly rounded social experience, which is all encompassing of the things that make us happy. Friends, family, great food, excellent wine, music, setting, story telling, and lots of laughs!\u00a0\"pajo\"<\/p>\n

What recipe still gives you goosebumps?<\/strong>
\nMaking chicken stock\u2026 there is something very nostalgic about the process, the smell that takes me back to my earliest days of cooking seriously. It\u2019s a foundation piece that all other items are built on, much like my own path!<\/p>\n

What cooking personality, living or dead do you most admire?<\/strong>
\nThose that take great risks in what they do. There are no rules in cooking from your heart.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a style of cooking foreign to you that you wish you had down pat?<\/strong>
\nNot necessarily cooking, per se, but the craft of mixology. I find it appealing and at it\u2019s highest level similar to cooking at a high level.<\/p>\n

Which ingredients do you find yourself using the most?<\/strong>
\nPotatoes, onions, meat\u2026 it\u2019s the base of my childhood I suppose!<\/p>\n

What was your biggest culinary disaster?<\/strong>
\nThat shall be divulged in another time, in another place, in a parallel universe!<\/p>\n

Jiro Dreams of Sushi. What food do you dream of?<\/strong>
\nHard to explain but really, I dream of food that connects me to all of my previous experiences and that creates something unique and personal. Something that I am connected to on a subconscious level I suppose.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your most treasured kitchen tool?<\/strong>
\nMy notebook. I keep all my secrets in there. I document everything related to service, food, personnel.<\/p>\n

If you weren\u2019t a chef, what other occupation could you see yourself excelling in?<\/strong>
\nI wish I would have gone to medical school. I love science and would love to be helping people through researching solutions to medical issues.<\/p>\n

Mario Batali has clogs. What\u2019s your most marked characteristic?<\/strong>
\nWhen I am in the kitchen, it\u2019s a pressed white jacket. Always have to be pressed for service.<\/p>\n

What food do you hold in the lowest of regards?<\/strong>
\nI think everything has its place\u2026 for the most part.<\/p>\n

What is the quality you most like in a chef?<\/strong>
\nThe ability to think larger than those around them, and to teach the people around them directly and indirectly.<\/p>\n

What is the quality you most like in a diner?<\/strong>
\nWillingness to fully trust the places they dine at.<\/p>\n

Chef Boyardee or Colonel Sanders?<\/strong>
\nSanders no doubt.<\/p>\n

Who or what inspires you?<\/strong>
\nWhen I was younger I would answer with all these famous chefs, nowadays, its my family. I look internally for inspiration.<\/p>\n

How do you take your coffee?<\/strong>
\nTwice a day, iced, with tons of cream and sweet.<\/p>\n

What food trend drives you batty?<\/strong>
\nAll of them at this point.<\/p>\n

In-N-Out or Five Guys?<\/strong>
\nGood question, In-N-Out after 11pm. Five Guys before.<\/p>\n

Could you \u201cbeat\u201d Bobby Flay?<\/strong>
\nSeriously?<\/p>\n

Do you prescribe to any kitchen superstitions?<\/strong>
\nNo.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a childhood dish you loved that still sticks with you?<\/strong>
\nPala\u010dinka \u2013 they are Serbian crepes essentially that my grandmother used to make us as kids.<\/p>\n

Biggest cooking fear?<\/strong>
\nShowing up for an event and having forgot to order all of the items and prep everything days in advance. It\u2019s a recurring dream. I am a huge planner.<\/p>\n

What do you cook on your off days?<\/strong>
\nLots of Mexican, pasta, roasted meats and vegetables, and a lot of salads. Oh, and desserts too. Anything sweet.<\/p>\n

Go-to guilty pleasure food?<\/strong>
\nCheesecake.<\/p>\n

If you ate some poorly prepared blowfish sashimi and passed, what person or thing would you like to come back as?<\/strong>
\nSomething that flies. I want to see the world from above.<\/p>\n

What is your catchphrase?<\/strong>
\nIt is what it is.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chef Pajo (pronounced Pie-Oh) Bruich\u00a0has been expressing his food personalities in many forms, from modernist-cuisine to high-quality, high-priced steaks for about a dozen years or so. Having spent a number of years leveling-up the foodie I.Q. at Lounge ON20 in Sacramento with his beautifully\u2013 and very intentionally-plated displays of California\u2019s bounty, he moved his kitchen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[156,143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-roosts","category-the-daily-tout"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":792,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foodiedaily.alipsmith.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}