MasterChef: The Young Hollywood Edition

Veggies, stuffed peppers. Yeah, bit of parmesan cheese on the top. Got one in half, take a look inside. As as we always do because we want to look at the food before we taste it, right? Well, you need to look inside like in the dating world. It's not just what's on the outside, you need to open it up and look on the inside. on the inside, right? See? Welcome to Young Hollywood. Hey Christian. Why don't you have the same respect for these people that they do for you. Put the silverware down and behave like you belong in this kitchen and show these people the same respect they show you. I'm Olly here at Mostra with the man himself behind it. Joe Bastinic. How are you?

I'm good. How are you? Welcome.

Pleasure to meet you, sir.

Pleasure to meet you.

I've been to this establishment before and I'm not just saying it because the owner's sitting here, but it's actually gorgeous and it's lovely. How did this all start for you this? Because you've got many restaurants.

A friend Nancy Silverton, who's a chef and quite a a food personality here in Los Angeles, wanted to open a restaurant and she'd been friends with with Mario for years and when we heard that she wanted to do something, we were immediately interested.

And Becco was your first, right?

That's right. Theater District in Manhattan. Then I met Mario and we opened Babbo and uh now we're 25 restaurants into it and going strong. Aside from the restaurants, you know, I get involved in other things. I make some wine and uh we opened this market and do a little bit of uh judging of uh food as well. So, different aspects.

MasterChef. Tell us more about that. That is really disappointing. You were on a great trajectory and I don't know where that leaves you quite frankly.

MasterChef is the search for culinary talent in America. You know, who's cooking great food at home? So, these cooks who come in and compete are home cooks. They're not professional. They haven't been to cooking school. They bring a super high level of talent. They come from all over the country and then through a series of challenges and cook cook offs, we decide who the next MasterChef in America will be. And and that person uh wins a quarter million dollars and becomes the MasterChef and becomes their own cookbook. It's a life changing deal.

It's a life-changing deal. Yeah. What do you look for when you're tasting a dish?

When I'm tasting a dish in in the competition of MasterChef, I'm not only tasting a dish to find good food, but I'm looking for the contestant to be able to communicate through their food. So, so because the viewers are watching this at home, they need to be able to taste with their eyes. And these cooks need to tell us a little bit about who they are and what their passion is through the dishes they create.

Look at that, inside a tip now. You've got a good shot at this 250 grand. Don't mess it up. Joe has given you a nice little tip. Take it. This is raw. Raw. Do you see this? Raw. What are you what are you thinking what are you thinking about trying to serve us raw food? We're watching you cook. We're not idiots. And you feel bad when you have to tell someone that their food sucks?

No, because quite frankly, there's a lot of bad food out there and it's my job to identify it.

Do you find yourself doing that when you eat out at other restaurants?

Yeah, it's it's a disaster. It's like an ongoing thing. For me, if I'm going out to eat, like I won't go to an Italian restaurant because I'm like too familiar with it. So I'll go eat like Malaysian food or something that I'm not familiar with, therefore I can just kind of sit back and take it in and enjoy it more. You know, stick to foods that like you don't know.

Your family's involved in food.

My family is been in the food and wine business for many generations. My parents are Italian, they came here after the war and started opening up restaurants and that's all we do.

An Iron Man. You just mentioned, I'll just like for her. Right.

So yeah, I'll do a little endurance sports. Marathon runner and I'm doing my first uh full Iron Man, Kona World Championship on October 8th. So, get ready to do that.

Love that. What would be your last dish? If you obviously if you were dying tomorrow, which I'm not going to put out there. Right.

I would probably have to be like maybe linguini with vongole. Linguini with clams.

Maybe I'll try linguini with clams and I'll let you know how it is. But unfortunately, I I actually cooked a dish for you today.

All right, I'll try it. What did you make?

I made stuffed peppers. Ah, family recipe. My actual great great grandmother um had a pepper farm. Ah. And on that farm cooked peppers and became famous for our stuffed peppers. So, this is my dish to you. As I said, passed down through generations. Stuffed peppers. They're beautiful. Veggie stuffed peppers. Yeah. Bit of parmesan cheese on the top. Got one in half, take a look inside. As as we always do because we want to look at the food before we taste it, right? Well, you need to look inside like in the dating world. It's not just what's on the outside, you need to open it up and look on the inside.

Yeah. Did you cook the vegetables separately before you stuffed them in the peppers?

Yes.

Ah. It has some nice kind of a veggie flavor to it. You know, you it definitely tastes the Good use of herbs, I have to say. Is it the basil?

That's it. That's it. The basil. Yeah. You see, you know your stuff, don't you? Not just a pretty face.

And the uh the onions, all the vegetables are cooked cooked well. It's a little bit um still learning. A little bit bland maybe. Not not terrible. Lovely. Yeah. Good? Very very good.

How would I do on MasterChef with that? Well, Just thinking about next season.

healthful food hasn't been that successful. I think that you might need to dirty this dish up a little bit and give it a little bit more fat. Maybe some ground pork mixed in with the ozo, a little bit of meat. I know that's not granny's recipe, but um something to give it a little bit more body and fill it up a little bit. And um definitely uh a tomato sauce. In fact, I might even take the whole pepper and then put it in the oven in a tomato sauce and have it braise kind of in a tomato sauce. So you get like a lot of flavor and that city. I'm turning it from a from an English dish to an Italian dish. I know it's

That's that's the desti. You're taking me and trying to change me.

I'm trying to change it, but quite good. I'm quite impressed.

Out of ten.

Out of ten. Six and a half.

I'll take that. Very happy with that. Six and a half, I'll go I'm a happy boy. Joe. Italy, MasterChef, Iron Man, entrepreneur, vineyards, restaurants. Thanks.