Amy Pressman at Test Kitchen | Photo by Ryan Tanaka
Julian Cox
The following interview was conducted before Amy Pressman’s untimely passing on September 30, 2011. She had been privately battling cancer the previous six months while continuing to work on the opening of Short Order and Short Cake, the culminating project of her career that she referred to as her “swan song and happy ending.”
Nancy Silverton, Pressman’s longtime friend and partner in Short Order/Short Cake, said “[Amy’s] beautiful spirit will be alive and well at Short Order and Short Cake and in my heart forever. My love goes out to Rob, her sons and her mother.” Bill Chait, Short Order/Short Cake’s Managing Partner: “She will be with me the rest of my life and there is no advocate I would rather have by my side. For me, there will never be a moment where I eat a piece of cake, or now, a burger, without thinking fondly of my dearest friend.”
The family welcomes friends and fans to share memories of Amy Pressman at her Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/FriendsofAmyPressman. A fund in Pressman’s name is currently being set up and information will be made available on the Facebook page. Donations may also be made in Amy Pressman’s name to Union Station Homeless Services in Pasadena by visiting www.unionstationhs.com, or by calling 626.240.5447.
Interview by Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
Nancy Silverton and Amy Pressman met nearly 30 years ago in the kitchen of the original Spago, where Silverton was pastry chef and Pressman was her assistant. The two remained friends ever since. Short Order, one of the most highly-anticipated burger joints in recent LA history, is scheduled to open at the Original Farmers Market in November. Silverton is helping with the menu, and Julian Cox (who creates the delicious drinks at Rivera, Playa, Sotto and Picca) is developing the cocktails. We spoke with Pressman and Silverton about what’s cooking, and then mixed it up with Cox to see what’s shaking.
Nancy Silverton (L) and Amy Pressman (R) at Mozza. | Photo via Friends of Amy Pressman
Is this the first project you’ve officially done together?
Nancy Silverton: Understand that this is Amy’s restaurant. We are collaborating together on the food. But she’s running the restaurant on a day-to-day basis. She’s doing the hard work and I’m doing the fun work.
Amy, is it getting old yet that people think this is Nancy’s baby?
Amy Pressman: I’m not focused on that on all. I’m excited that I’m getting this opportunity. Even if they thought that, it’s not a bad thing for anyone to think. They’ll see when it’s open that I’ll be there and Nancy won’t be.
NS: I’ll be eating there!
Why burgers?
AP: I don’t know, except it's the way people in the food business like to eat. After you work in a serious kitchen all day long, you crave simple, basic food. I know Nancy has brought tacos in for her guys. Burgers are classic and we all love them.
And to those who question whether we need another burger place?
NS: I think you always need another. Does the world need another Italian restaurant? I think the world needs anything that’s good.
Did you do a burger tour of LA?
AP: Both of us have done burger tours all over the world.
NS: More because we enjoy them, less research.
Where did you grow up eating burgers?
NS: Mine was Denny’s and I loved them.
AP: In Pennsylvania there was a place called Charlie's. All they served were burgers and milkshakes and we would go on weekends with my dad.
Are you two pretty much in harmony?
NS: I think both of us cook in the same way. We are never married to one idea or one recipe and we are our own toughest critics. I might say, “What do you think of a pork burger with tomatillo?” Amy would say, “That sounds good,” and we would both eat it, but the combination just doesn’t meld well on the burger. Amy was talking about broccoli rabe puree, or “shmear” as she likes to call it, and she thought that would be good with pork. I thought, “Hey I’d love to try that combination.” So she made it and that was a winning combination. That has been the case with every single salad or burger combination. We both know which one is the best.
How will the burgers be cooked?
AP: They’re all being cooked on a wood grill.
NS: And there will be a variety of different protein patties from tofu to lamb and pork. Some are open-faced, deliberately so.
In my experience, no burger is better than a really good beef burger. I’m curious about your take.
NS: I would have agreed with you a couple months ago. But after tasting a lot of the blends; that’s the secret. Amy has come up with this turkey blend that actually tastes like turkey. I always pooh-poohed anyone who ordered a turkey burger. This one is turkey-ish and the combination really tastes like Thanksgiving.
What do you mean by blends?
AP: The right kinds of fat and where the meat is actually cut from.
I read somewhere that the menu will change seasonally?
AP: Seasonal in that we’re not going to use stuff unless it tastes good. That may cause us to alter something. But we have to get open first.
You are both bakers. So I’m guessing there will be really good buns.
NS: We’re still working on them. People always say to me, “What is the secret to a good pizza?” I always say the reason is people don’t pay attention to the total pie. They always devote expertise to the topping or the crust but seldom both. I think that’s the shortcoming of hamburgers. That hand-held burger needs to meld together. We have some [buns] going in the back right now. We have it narrowed down to two buns.
Will you be doing all the baking in-house?
AP: We have a bakery that is adjacent, Short Cake. But we don’t have the capacity to make hamburger buns.
I understand you will be making all your own sauces. Will you still offer straight ketchup?
NS: We’re using Heinz ketchup that’s organic.
Will there be a burger for traditionalists?
NS: It’s called Ida’s Old School Burger. You know Suzanne Tracht at Jar? Her daughter is Ida and her son is Max. That sort of came about because I always try to have four different kinds of sauces and avocado and put everything out. For Ida’s birthday she wanted hamburgers. But she wanted them to be like In-N-Out. So we did grilled onions, pickles, iceberg lettuce and "secret sauce," which everyone knows is a mix of mayonnaise and ketchup.
Are there nods on the menu to other Angelenos?
NS: There's Amy’s Turkey Burger. And my namesake [beef] burger with artisan bacon, comté cheese, avocado, tomato, onion, iceberg and spicy mayo.
Can we talk about the price point?
AP: We’re still finalizing that. We’re trying to be as reasonable as we can, considering the quality of the ingredients.
NS: Grass-fed beef is much more expensive.
It sounds like you don’t need to be a burger eater to eat at Short Order.
AP: You really don’t. There are a lot of sides, grilled cheese, a tuna melt, macaroni and cheese.
NS: Amy came up with a chopped condiment salad. It has everything that goes on a burger. It has blue cheese dressing, bacon, tomato, avocado, pickles. It tastes like a burger.
I hear you’ll be making custard shakes.
AP: I’m from back east. It's the style I had growing up. It’s certainly more popular in the Midwest. We were inspired by Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack [in New York]. We’re making custard ice cream and hand-spinning shakes into four flavors. This is the first custard [machine purchase] Taylor received on the West Coast.
Let’s talk about the beverage program.
AP: Julian Cox is doing the mixology. We’ll have full alcohol. Early on when I got the liquor license, I thought it would be fun to have whimsical drinks to go along with the menu. Julian said he would do that. Julian works for Bill [Chait] right now, so he’s in the family. David [Rosoff] is helping us with wine. He got a lot of local vintners to bottle wine for us. They have a lot of wines they thought were burger-friendly.
Will there be pairing suggestions on the menu?
AP: Not on the menu.
NS: But all the wines are designed to go with burgers; the cocktails, too. And there will be adult milkshakes.
What about beer?
NS: We’re so busy, David is helping us with that too.
AP: We’ll have a bunch of small, local breweries. Beer has to change seasonally because that’s the nature of beer.
Amy, tell me three LA restaurants you return to.
NS: You better say Mozza is one of them.
AP: Mozza, Jar and Angelini.
And Nancy?
NS: Angelini, Jar, AOC off the top of my head. But if you ask me tomorrow I’d probably say Tasting Kitchen, MB Post…
Amy, I read a quote from you about Umami Burger, which is also opening soon at Farmer’s Market. Not exactly fighting words, but it seemed kind of dismissive.
AP: That quote was taken out of context. What I said was that I don’t even know Adam [Fleischman, Umami owner], but I’ve been to Umami. I think he has a great burger and I wish him all the success in the world. That morning Adam had been on the cover of the [LA Times] Food section. He said he felt that Johnny Rockets and Fuddruckers needed a new face. I have never been to a Fuddruckers. The only reason I used it was because he used it. All of a sudden they said I was dissing them and it’s far from the truth. I do not have an adversarial bone in my body.
Anything else you want to tell me about Short Order? Will you take reservations?
AP: No reservations. I just hired a chef, Christian Page [formerly chef de cuisine at Eva].
Julian Cox | Photo by @dine_la via Instagram
Julian, had you worked with Nancy or Amy before?
Julian Cox: During Test Kitchen.
Did you know at that time this was coming?
JC: I knew there was another project out there. Amy and I always had talks at Rivera. She's come into Rivera a lot.
And the connection is Bill Chait.
JC: Basically I’m partnered with Bill. A big part of it was through Test Kitchen and the success of Rivera. He’s continued to find great chefs and is working with them on developing programs. I come in and try to create a fantastic bar program. Bill is the Managing Partner of all the restaurants and oversees everything. He does the business perspective and that stuff, lets the chef do what they need to do, and lets me take over the bar and do what I need to do.
Cocktails and burgers aren’t necessarily a pairing people are used to.
JC: People get conditioned to feel a certain way. It’s been funny. At Sotto, people said, “You’re not going to sell any cocktails at an Italian restaurant.” But we’ve been able to sell a lot of drinks. It’s all about the environment. It’s about what is available. At [the Original] Farmers Market, you don’t have the ability to get a proper cocktail. There are a lot of beer and wine places. That in itself is a distinguishing factor and makes us something different. People inherently like burgers and like cocktails in general. To have a fun program that gets people excited about drinking will help. We’re doing some adult milkshakes with the frozen custard Amy and Nancy are doing. This is a whole other realm of delicious.
What was your approach in designing cocktails to go with burgers?
JC: In general we’re sticking to a really whimsical, American burger kind of aura around what we’re doing. Everything is supposed to be sustainable, market fresh. You’re going to see that coming out in the cocktails. There will be a lot of American spirits, sustainable produce, farm-to-table cocktails; that kind of style more so than any other program I’m doing.
You won’t be there day-to-day, correct?
JC: That’s always the conundrum. When we do an opening, I’m typically there all day, every day. As they get open and on their feet after a month or so, I go back to doing rounds. We usually go through this period where everyone’s pissed at me.
Will we recognize any of the drinks on the cocktail menu?
JC: I try to use my own creations, my own signature drinks. I’ll also pepper some drinks in the menu you might recognize, like an Old Fashioned. I’ll have them in there not only for credibility but also for people who say, "I don’t know what all this crazy stuff is. But I know that." And the milkshakes are going to be a really different experience.
Short Order
6333 W 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.933.9211
www.shortorderla.com
facebook.com/ShortOrderLA
@shortorderla
