Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up on Art Palace, this food's beautiful because it also brings people together. That's beauty of art. Welcome to Art Palace, produced by Cincinnati Art Museum. This is your host, Russell eig. Here at the Art Palace, we meet cool people and then talk to them about art. Today's cool person is Junya executive chef here at the museum. I just had this thought of like, oh, this episode comes out the same week of Thanksgiving, so it could be a good food episode to talk about. What was that about? What was that face about? No, go ahead. No, tell me. I want to know what that was about. No, well, I didn't let you finish, so, okay, so anyway, so I root on my part. Sorry. So then I just thought like, well, this would be a good excuse to talk with you. You talk about the cafe a little bit and then I can make you look at a painting with me. 

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Sure. That involves painting. That involves food, but I mean, honestly, it'll be a good chance for, I don't really know you very well, so I can just interview you about you and then, because I don't know anything really. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Okay. My name's ya, Padia, everyone calls me Ya. That's what I go by, and I'm the executive chef here at the Cincinnati Art Museum. I've been in food for about 30 years. Prior to getting into food, I did architecture. Okay, okay. Okay. Now I'm already stopping you because I'm like, well, hold on. Food is also also another form of architecture. Right. Okay, sure. Tell me more. I'm just fascinated by that. How do you go from architecture to food? How did that happen? Still art always enjoyed it and ended end of eighties and late 90 when architecture was at its down point. 

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I was in Boston at this time, just started to start paying bills, paying tuition. I'm like, okay, I'm not doing anything here, so let's get into food industry. Let's do something. Started working on a project and got into it. I'm like, I kind of like this to you. They seem like a really obvious connection, but why is there? I've always enjoyed food. Food's always been a passion. My mom's always been an inspiration for me, so it's like I'd be like that little grease monkey in the kitchen helping my mother out and I'm like, I actually do like this. Why did I do this? But, well, it's another form of art, so I'll try to pursue it considering I'm not getting far ahead as much as I'd like to. Do you think that, does the idea of structure affect your cooking in the way that, did you bring anything over from architecture, do you think, into food or are they just two totally separate things? 

Speaker 1 (03:21):
It's two separate things. I'll leave it at that. I am passionate about it. My mom was always my dad an architect, so that led me into architecture. But I've always been, we've traveled a lot and I'd always liked to try different cuisines. No matter where I'd be going and get you name it, I'd try it. And I love the way my mom would cook, so she inspired me and I'm like, okay, maybe I'll switch into this. So what kind of art did she make? She was an art teacher. I mean, she graduated in Mumbai from JJ School of Arts. Then she started teaching basically, and your dad was an architect as well, so that was kind of following that plan, that footstep and then it just worked out that it went towards the mother's way than my dad's way. Yeah. It seems like you went into food because it was more practical in some ways it sounds like. 

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Is that true or? It just made me more happier. Okay, alright. I was going to say there, I mean, I had opportunity of doing lots of other things and I'm like, yeah, I kind of like this. I think I'm going to stick to my guns on this one. As much as my parents didn't like me going into it and I said, don't worry. Prove myself. I'm going to prove you wrong. And you watch. So they wanted you to stay in architecture or, yeah, they wanted me to do medicine, engineering, architecture, but not get into serving food or cooking food or that. I'm like, relax. I go, you told me at the end of the day, you want to see me be happy to let me do this. They're like, all right, fine. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, I mean, it seems like it doesn't seem almost as a fanciful career choice as something else. 

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Well, I think it's food's beautiful because it also brings people together. That's beauty of art. It speaks, there's so many different languages, but also so much cross utilization between herbs and spices from all over the world, which people are realizing it more now here than they did before. I mean, I think the diversity here in Cincinnati's blown within the last 10 years, 10 to 12 years. Initially when I first moved to Cincinnati, which was in early 2000, 2002, it's like I initially came here to help a friend open up a restaurant and I said, buddy, this isn't for you. But then I saw this little spot in Hyde Park. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to try a concept here, which I hadn't seen. I'm being from East Coast. It's like being here in Midwest was totally different. The pace was different, much more conservative as well. Not a bad thing, but it was just like, whoa. 

Speaker 1 (05:59):
So I said, I'm going to try something different. So I did a restaurant called Cumin in East Hyde Park. So I did that in 2002 and it was very well received, and from there just grew. And I think during that time I saw more steakhouse than anything else, and I didn't see as many diverse cuisines as you see right now. And the flavor profile is phenomenal. You feel like the most interesting food has been happening in the last few years in Cincinnati within the last 10 years? Absolutely. I mean, when I first came here, I mean, you could probably count as to how many different cuisines were available. Now you're like, you see a lot of fusion, you see all types of foods here. There's not a cuisine that I don't know that's here. There's been a positive change. There's also a lot of local support as well, and a lot of the farm to table stuff going on, and the camaraderie is more, I feel like when I initially opened up and the people that I was working with and people who were working for me, now they actually have their own establishments and it's great to see them succeed and seeing what their thoughts and profiles are like. 

Speaker 1 (07:04):
So you said, did you come to Cincinnati from Boston or I did. So it was straight from there. What brought you here? A wonderful challenge was to help a friend open up a restaurant. I really had no interest in doing it at that time. I was actually trying to get out of the industry. I had restaurants on the east coast in Massachusetts, and then I was in West, had a place in Westport, Connecticut, and Greenwich and in Manhattan. So with me, between me, with me and five, four other friends, we had half a dozen restaurants and I'm like, it was great for me. I'm like, is this for real? Sometimes I pinch myself, I'm like, I'm young, what am I doing? I'm working all these hours, loving it, but I think I'd like to slow down a bit. I'd like to have just a life for ya instead of just doing this. 

Speaker 1 (07:58):
What are the sort of challenges of running a restaurant in a museum? I just came on board pretty much end of April, may, I believe. I think for me it's been a positive challenge because first of all, getting to know the museum has been half the battle because I didn't realize as to how big this museum is, and then I'm saying, well, being museum and seeing all the different events that are going on here, it's like you can actually do something really great with food here and focus on the different themes and create that type of a menu. I mean, it's art, so why not make menu like an art? Let it work together. I mean, create that wonderful milage of flavors and colors. One of the reasons I wanted to have you here today was because I'm also, we're going to be releasing this next week during Thanksgiving. So I'm actually hosting Thanksgiving this year at the house, and I'm going to have to cook a Turkey for the first time. So I've never done this before. So do you have any pointers for me? 

Speaker 1 (09:07):
He's looking at me like, no is the pointer. Don't just don't be scared. Just have fun with it. Be yourself. What does that mean? Don't let that big bird intimidate you. It is just food. It has to be happy. Yeah, yeah. Have it in a brine, marinate it. Do do any type of rubs on it. See, that's good. It is intimidating, like a giant burden. It's like, oh, it's going to take forever. So yeah, I've never done it, so I'm a little nervous. Don't lose sleep over it. Just go with the flow. Alright. There's no wrong recipe as long as it tastes great, right? Yeah. And doesn't poison anybody. How many people are you cooking for? The list keeps growing. I feel like we're up to about 10 right now. That's not bad. It's not. No, frankly, there's no more room for any more people. So if any more were to come, there wouldn't be any place to sit down anyway. You got a lot of helpers now. 

Speaker 1 (10:14):
Maybe not. I feel like they're coming after all the work is done mostly. Gotcha. We're going to make them bring stuff too though. They have to at least bring some sort of side or something too, so there's no freeloaders in this meal. Alright, well since you don't get cooking brings and cooking one, I think the best way is just common sense is your best friend. Hopefully, if you have good sense about things like that. I mean, I could see how somebody could be led very astray by there. Sorry, you're saying if it was common everyone would have it? Yeah, maybe. 

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Well, since you don't get a lot of time out in the galleries, I thought we could go look at a painting right now if you're game. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. Alright. So we are in Gallery 2 0 5 and we're looking at a Still Life by Peter Klas. I never know how to say that name, place. I'm on your side. You don't know either. I mean, Dutch is not my strong suit. I can get by on your French pronunciations, but this one is always a little over my head and I just thought we'd look at this because it's like a nice spread of food. I mean, honestly, I would not mind eating any of this stuff on Thanksgiving. Probably. I would like to eat some of this more than I would like the traditional Thanksgiving. Fair. Fair. This looks like some good comfort food, doesn't it? 

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. That pie is so good. So we've got this on a cool snowy day. Yeah. Yeah. So you got this big pie in the middle, which according to the label is a mint meat pie. Then there's this plate of very crusty bread, which you can see all these little crumbs from along with your wine. Yeah, you've got these beautifully rendered glasses. I guess that pew, what is that? The pewter pot or the jug, and I'm guessing it's full of something hot. That's why they keep the little glass on top of it to keep from cooling down as fast. And then you have this lemon in the front that has this peel that's sort of think it could be some good mead in there. It could be mead, yeah. It's maybe a little early maybe, but I dunno, maybe people are still drinking mead in the 16 hundreds. 

Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, you never know. Mean if you go to the Renaissance, some of the best things that were created then, right? Yeah. If you go to the Renaissance fair, you can still drink mead. So maybe it was still around in the 1640s and then you got this lemon with this rind kind of the peel sort of spiraling off of it really beautifully. It's a nice little showpiece. Yeah, it's a nice little piece here in the collection. Is there anything you notice about the food right away? If you were making comfort food? You just think about the comfort? Yeah, relaxing. It does feel very familiar. Don't want to go anywhere after having that meal. You just want to sit in front of a fire or something. Yeah, I mean it definitely looks like heavy. You also have in this one too, I don't know how much you know about kind of still lifes, but they tend to on one level be like, oh, it's a nice spread of food. 

Speaker 1 (13:29):
But then there's always something that's meant to also kind of remind you of death. So they always throw in this watch or something like that. And even the fact that the food is kind of half eaten is sort of a kind of darker No, that watch is there. So you know how long you've been sitting at that table. Oh, okay. That's what it's about. It's like it is bedtime now you've been at it too long. Makes your mouth water, doesn't it? This pie is very appetizing. I think part of it too, he's really good at capturing the different textures of things. If you look at all the different surfaces in this painting, you've got this wonderfully reflective Meyer, is that what it's called? Yeah. This picture that's really reflecting all of the objects on the table. But then you have the sort of bread, which just looks, you can kind of feel that texture of the crustiness of the bread, the softness of the bread, and then the wetness of the filling of the pie too. 

Speaker 1 (14:36):
All the little reflections on it. Russell, let's go to the kitchen and start cooking. Come on. You're just too inspiring. Let's do it. You'd rather do that than look at a painting. I'll help you with your Thanksgiving Day menu. Oh my gosh. That sounds like good plan. That's what this should have been is me just recruiting you and just paying you under the table to low-key. Cook everything for me. You don't have to pay me. We'll just have fun cooking. All right. Well, okay. I feel like that's very unfair. That's what you do. You shouldn't give that away for free as long as you clean up. 

Speaker 1 (15:16):
I can do that. I can make that happen. I think that's a fair deal. When we came in here, we can actually flip around because I was telling you, I always talk about both of these things, but so we have right next to this painting, kind of across from it is this contemporary piece. And since you haven't probably, you said this is your first time in this gallery. I'm already lost. You thought the kitchen was in the opposite direction. I know. So this is a contemporary piece kind of inspired by these classic still life paintings and it's by an artist named Beth Lipman, and she's made this still life completely out of glass. It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. It's a really cool piece. And one of the things I like about it is that you have pieces that make sense to be made out of glass. 

Speaker 1 (16:09):
If you came across this in all of these vases and things, is that a bowl of fruit? Yeah, there's a bowl of fruit with, you can see the grapes on top of apples and everything, but you see this bowl in the other corner here closest to us. Sure. Do you know what's inside of that? More glass. So this is kind of cool. Those are all the fragments of the pieces that were broken. Oh, wow. While making the piece. So the artist uses everything in making the work, so even all of their mess ups go into the piece. So that's what all of those little shards are and how I mentioned, so is that vase like a little fermenting tank for the fruit where it comes out from bottom over there? I don't know what that little, it must have been a form or something. I mean, it looks It was a decanter first. 

Speaker 1 (17:06):
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what that little shape is down there. I love this that even the table cloth or this sort of fabric is made out of glass too. That's draped over the edge of the table. Saw that. Yeah. Yeah. So you have all these things. Is that a feather made out of glass? Yes. Yes. So there's a feather on there. You can see this little butterfly or some kind of insect in the corner here that's made out of glass. Just notice that. Which again would be like I was saying, how a lot of the still lifes always have something to remind you of death. So a lot of times when you're looking at Dutch still life, they'll have some sort of spiders or insects that are crawling around on fruit and things that kind of hint at decay or something. So I don't know if that's their kind of nod to that, or they just thought like, okay, here's a little insect. 

Speaker 1 (17:59):
But it's pretty inspiring though, isn't it? Yeah, I think so. I love this piece. I mean, this is one of my favorite pieces and I love that it's positioned in the museum where you can see its sort of historical influences. You can see where this comes from, but you can also see where artists are still taking these ideas and doing new things with them. Any other thoughts about this piece can go on and on and on? Let's go back and cook. Okay. All right. Well I'll let you off the hook. You're kind man. Sir, I'll let you off the hook and let you go do what you're more comfortable doing, which is, come on, I'll give you some recipes. You can work on those. Okay. Alright. Sounds good. Thanks. 

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Thank you for listening to Art Palace. We hope you'll be inspired to come visit the Cincinnati Art Museum and have conversations about the art yourself. General admission to the museum is always free, and we also offer free parking. Special exhibitions include the levy, a photographer in the American South, women breaking boundaries and treasures of the Spanish world. Just a reminder, the museum will be closed for Thanksgiving, but open on Friday. For program reservations and more information, visit cincinnati art museum.org. You can follow the museum on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and also join our Art Palace Facebook group. Our theme song is Music by Becca Lao. And as always, please rate and review us to help others find the show. I'm Russell, and this has been Art Palace, produced by the Cincinnati Art Museum.