![\"Jose](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781469731_660_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nJos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s, now a Marvel Comics hero, on how Spain\u2019s egg obsession goes beyond tapas bar tortillas … Plus, a party bus with purpose, the messiness of paying influencers, Jenn Harris\u2019 restaurant of the summer and big James Beard wins. I\u2019m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with Tasting Notes.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve got to break some eggs <\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s, egg lover. <\/p>\n
(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s was in a pensive mood when he arrived at the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen late last month for our \u201cChef That!\u201d video series<\/a>. His friend Aglaia Kremezi, the \u201cGreek grandmother\u201d behind his cookbook \u201cZaytinya\u201d<\/a> and his seven Mediterranean restaurants also called Zaytinya (including one here in Culver City<\/a>), had died the week before and he was feeling the loss.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need an anchor in unfamiliar seas,\u201d he said in the lovely remembrance he published the next day on his \u201cLonger Tables\u201d newsletter<\/a>, \u201cand Aglaia was my anchor.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone who has paid attention to Andr\u00e9s over the years \u2014 through his frequent appearances on morning news shows and late-night TV, his nearly 40 restaurants<\/a> and bars, and, of course, through his high-risk humanitarian work through World Central Kitchen<\/a> \u2014 intuits that this is a man of many emotions. He feels the weight of the world in a profound way that propels him, unlike the majority of us, to take real action, pushing through government bureaucracies to get basic food to people in times of crisis. <\/p>\n Yet he also exudes the joy, generosity and humor of a carefree man. Consider the viral video<\/a> of him and and the Foo Fighters\u2019 Dave Grohl at the recent BottleRock Napa Valley festival when Andr\u00e9s gives the crowd advice about what to do if the \u201cbeautiful police [in] Napa, doing their job, stops you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell them you\u2019ve been drinking,\u201d he said, holding the tapered neck of a long-spouted porr\u00f3n pitcher filled with cava, or Spanish sparkling wine. \u201cTell them you\u2019ve been supporting the local economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Variant cover of the Spider-Man comic book series \u201cMeals to Astonish,\u201d guest starring chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s.<\/p>\n (Laurie Ochoa \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Some of these seeming incongruities within Andr\u00e9s may be part of the motivation for Marvel Comics turning the chef into a superhero<\/a> in for its \u201cSpider-Man: Meals to Astonish\u201d series. They also come through in his newest cookbook, \u201cSpain My Way: Eat, Drink and Cook Like a Spaniard.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n Simply for the range of its recipes it\u2019s a fascinating collection. <\/p>\n For young, aspiring chefs or anyone who wants a little restaurant magic in their home kitchens, he slides in a few fancy chef techniques \u2014 including the spherification process used to form the liquid olive made famous at Ferran Adri\u00e0\u2018s elBulli \u2014 among his more accessible recipes. Because in addition to being the home of elemental wood-fire-cooked paellas, Spain is also known for creating some of the world\u2019s most technically challenging, cutting-edge cuisine. The vanguardia, as Andr\u00e9s describes it in the book.<\/p>\n A similar push-pull is seen in the cluster of egg dishes he shares in the book. The flipping technique for his classic, beautifully molten-on-the-inside Spanish tortilla takes a good amount of practice to master. But the very next recipe is a so-called \u201clazy tortilla,\u201d served at Madrid chef Sacha Hormaechea\u2018s restaurant Sacha, in which packaged potato chips replace the cubed and cooked potatoes and the eggs are presented<\/a> like an open-faced omelet \u2014 no need for flipping.<\/p>\n He demonstrated this recipe a couple of days before he came to the paper on \u201cJimmy Kimmel Live,\u201d<\/a> with one \u201cmy way\u201d high-low modification that he also includes in the book \u2014 several dollops of caviar.<\/p>\n Given that Andr\u00e9s had just cooked a tortilla on TV, we asked if the chef would show us a recipe from a lesser-known family of Spanish egg dishes \u2014 huevos estrellados, which is basically olive-oil fried eggs, or huevos rotos, broken eggs.<\/p>\n \u201cTo really understand how Spaniards eat,\u201d he writes in the book, \u201cyou need to understand our obsession with eggs.\u201d He points to Diego Vel\u00e1zquez\u2018s 1618 painting \u201cVieja Friendo Huevos\u201d<\/a> or \u201cAn Old Woman Cooking Eggs.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cA shallow pool of olive oil, a hot cazuela, an open flame, a long spoon and a careful eye \u2014 this is all the vieja needed to fry her eggs,\u201d he writes, \u201c and it\u2019s all you\u2019ll need too.\u201d<\/p>\n To demonstrate this style, he shared his recipe for Huevos Venta El Toro<\/a>, based on a dish served at the small family-run restaurant Venta El Toro<\/a> at the southern tip of Spain outside of C\u00e1diz, with further inspiration from the historic Casa Lucio in Madrid<\/a> (they break the eggs so the yolks spill picturesquely).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s eggs, which are fried with potatoes and different beautiful things that come out of a pig,\u201d said Andr\u00e9s once the cameras were rolling, his melancholy temporarily subsided. <\/p>\n Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s\u2019 Huevos Venta El Toro or olive-oil-fried eggs and potatoes from his cookbook \u201cSpain My Way,\u201d made in the L.A. Times Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cThe potatoes are like my mom would cut them \u2014 this beautiful imperfection,\u201d he said, holding up a few of the irregularly cut batons. \u201cThere\u2019s no two pieces of potato alike.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, as he frequently does, he went on a tangent: \u201cI don\u2019t know why they call them French fries,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause we have better olive oil than France does. Yeah, potatoes fried in olive oil are the real thing. Nowhere in the world fries potatoes like Spain, period. Controversy! Bring it on!\u201d<\/p>\n Chef Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s during a recipe demonstration in the L.A. Times Test Kitchen. (Mark E. Potts \/ Los Angeles Times) <\/p>\n The potatoes are fried twice \u2014 first at about 200 degrees. At this stage, he says, \u201cYou can make the best mashed potatoes with these potatoes.\u201d<\/p>\n Sauteed onions come next and then Andr\u00e9s says, \u201cMy friends, you need pork.\u201d<\/p>\n We brought him a selection of Spanish dry-cured meats from La Espa\u00f1ola Meats in Harbor City<\/a>, not far from our El Segundo offices: Jam\u00f3n Ib\u00e9rico, morcilla (blood sausage) and chorizo. These were briefly sauteed and set aside while Andr\u00e9s performed the cook\u2019s juggling act of frying the potatoes a section time as he also cooked the eggs.<\/p>\n \u201cC\u2019mon, Jos\u00e9!\u201d he said to himself as he managed the multiple pots on the stove. \u201cYou can do this!\u201d<\/p>\n To fry the eggs in the proper Spanish way, he put about a half inch of olive oil in the saute pan \u2014 we didn\u2019t have a Vel\u00e1zquez-worthy clay cazuela handy \u2014 and tried to keep the oil from getting too hot. Because you are essentially poaching the eggs in the oil. Instead of achieving crisp edges, the idea is to keep the whites soft and luscious. \u201cIf you have the oil higher, you\u2019re going to lose control.\u201d<\/p>\n He put the freshly fried potatoes into a serving pan and gently added the eggs on top followed by the sauteed onions and a scattering of the three meats. <\/p>\n \u201cThese are my favorite eggs in the whole world,\u201d he said as everyone in the room came closer to try a taste of Spain for lunch. Then, even though he was late for another media appearance, he spotted a bowl of uncooked eggs and was at the stove again, giving us a quick off-camera tutorial for yet another way Spanish cooks fry eggs. This time he wanted the oil hotter than what he\u2019d just used for Huevos Venta El Toro. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing now is getting a big shoe,\u201d he said of the egg white, letting it spread in the oil around the yolk. \u201cYou want the sole to be as crispy, crispy, crispy as you can get it.\u201d He removed the egg from the oil, let it cool slightly, then set it in a paper towel and draped a piece of the Spanish ham on top. <\/p>\n \u201cIt becomes an egg taco,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can add foie gras, caviar, anything. It\u2019s good for a party. An amazing big bite.\u201d<\/p>\n Now it was really time for him to go, though he was reluctant to leave.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can keep going,\u201d he said, as he was escorted out the door. \u201cI can do five more techniques.\u201d <\/p>\n If only there weren\u2019t others wanting their own Jos\u00e9 Andr\u00e9s moment.<\/p>\n Also … Daisy Miles owner of Daisy\u2019s Black L.A. Food Tour, takes guests on a party bus tour of the city\u2019s little-known Black-owned restaurants.<\/p>\n (Jason Armond \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n And we have winners …<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re bringing it home!\u201d Stephanie Breijo said to me over the phone on Saturday night as the newly named winner of this year\u2019s Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award at the James Beard Media Awards for her L.A. Times stories \u201cThese street vendors used their aguas frescas to fight tear gas at anti-ICE protests<\/a>,\u201d \u201cFollow the red sauce to Burbank\u2019s best Italian deli<\/a>\u201d and \u201cAfter the Eaton fire, Bernee restaurant closed for good. This weekend it\u2019s reborn as Betsy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Robert Lopez also checked in from the Chicago ceremony with one word \u2014 \u201ccrazy!\u201d \u2014 after he won the James Beard investigative reporting award for his two-part series: \u201cCalifornia\u2019s Child Farmworkers: Exhausted, Underpaid and Toiling in Toxic Fields<\/a>\u201d and \u201cLax Oversight, Few Inspections Leave Child Farmworkers Exposed to Toxic Pesticides.<\/a>\u201d The project, for which Lopez spoke with 61 farmworkers as young as 12, was published in The Times in collaboration with the nonprofit news site Capital & Main<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the dining and travel category, Francis Lam, writing for Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler, won for his personal look at Hong Kong\u2019s constant reinvention<\/a>. Of course, he had some strong competition from his fellow nominees: restaurant critic Bill Addison for his extensive \u201c101 best restaurants in California\u201d<\/a> project, and food editor Daniel Hernandez for his feature story \u201cThe myths and realities of gentrification in Mexico City. Should you still visit?\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n In addition, the paper\u2019s branded-content arm at L.A. Times Studios won the commercial media award for \u201cThe Theory of Spice.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n Many more awards were given out to cookbook authors, video producers, podcasters and other journalists. (See the full list here<\/a>.) And on Monday night, we\u2019ll learn the winners of the Beard Foundation\u2019s Restaurant and Chef Awards, which includes nine great L.A. restaurant and beverage establishments<\/a>. Also, L.A.\u2019s Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights<\/a> will receive the foundation\u2019s impact award; Oth\u00f3n Nolasko and Dami\u00e1n Diaz will collect the humanitarian of the year award for founding No Us Without You LA<\/a>; Inglewood\u2019s Serving Spoon diner will get the America\u2019s Classics award<\/a>, and chef Nancy Silverton will receive the foundation\u2019s lifetime achievement award<\/a>. Oh, and for good measure, Silverton was also named one of Time magazine\u2019s 100 Most Influential People of 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n You\u2019re reading Tasting Notes <\/p>\n Our L.A. Times restaurant experts share insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they\u2019re eating right now.<\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n Eat your way across L.A. <\/p>\n Like what you’re reading? Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.<\/p>\n By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n ![\"Variant](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781469732_753_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jose](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781469732_326_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"MAY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781469732_615_.jpeg\")
![\"MAY](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781469733_985_.jpeg\")
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