French Cuisine at Jean-Georges Beverly Hills in the Waldorf Astoria

What's up, guys? We're hanging out at the Jean George Beverly Hills inside Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and we're about to meet the executive chef, Steve Benjamin, who's a rock star at French cuisine. Let's go inside and see what he's doing. Here we are at Jean George Beverly Hills and I'm with executive chef Steve Benjamin. Welcome, welcome. Thank you for having us.

No problem. You're very welcome.

Didn't you start at 14 as an apprentice a restaurant?

I was starting at 14, correct. And born and raised in Paris.

Born and raised in Paris. So this is the place to get sort of a French style cuisine?

It's actually a French style cuisine. Yeah. What I really like here, one of the dish for the Dine LA menu, is a caviar creation from Jean George.

So you're part of Dine LA and they're celebrating their 10th anniversary.

Yes, correct.

Why are you guys a part of this?

Is our first year. So we just open in uh, in June last year. To uh, represent Jean George coming here in California. It's one of his first restaurants here in California. I have some in Vegas but on the west coast, it's actually here in California. We wanted to promote as well the Waldorf Astoria, a beautiful hotel. It's a nice kind of both together working on the same time so it's it's what we want to promote.

And so what are you gonna make for us today?

Today, I will do some scallops. Scallops with cauliflower.

Oh, yum. Let's get cooking. Now, is this gonna be on the menu for the Winter Dine LA series?

Yes.

Okay. So people can have this.

So yeah, people actually have it that. So what I like is I always to put a little oil before to put the butter and after we put it a little butter on it and on the pan. Always seasoning a little bit in first.

So lots of seasoning and oil.

Yes, gonna have a nice mix and nice coloration on the scallops. We're seasoning with some pepper and salt. The same for the cauliflower. She's she's gonna make a nice coloration on the cauliflower. We're gonna do the same with the scallops. We like to cook the scallops just on both sides. Okay. Nice coloration. We're gonna just flash it under the salamander for making uh, finishing the cooking on the on the bottom.

Now, what made you choose cauliflower to put on top of the scallop?

I mean, this is actually a traditional uh, traditional recipe from Jean George. What we like is actually the flavor of the cauliflower and the texture of the cauliflower is going very well with the scallop.

And how do you guys stay competitive? Are you constantly changing up your menu to kind of compete with other

Always actually we uh, we trying to respect all the seasons. So, to depend what is the seasons we're working with it. So you see you just put in the cauliflower on top. We did some chiffonade of parsley. We actually taking the leaves one by one and with a knife we're actually making like a chiffonade.

Oh, so delicate and light.

Need to be with a tweezer.

And so this sauce is

It's uh, paper raisin emulsion.

What is that? Nutmeg. Nutmeg. Yeah. Okay. Et voilà. So we should definitely try this. We should actually try it. So let's go to the dining room and we're gonna try that. Oh, you're gonna carry my plate for me. The chef is serving me today. So, just cut right in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Kind of nice to have the executive chef serve you the scallops. Mmm. So buttery and light and healthy. It is healthy. Right? Except the butter. But you gotta have butter. How do you say delicious in French?

Délicieux.

Oh, come on. Délicieux. Délicieux.

Délicieux. Très, très bon.

Would you like some or are you totally just

I will try, I will try one piece. I will try one piece. Yeah. Just to see if we prepare it good.

Now do you come out in the dining room a lot when people are here eating to see if

Yeah. Why not?

Are there any celebs that come in here and dine? I know that Pharrell Williams came and tried your burger. Yeah. He said it tasted like elevation. Another story I heard is Celine Dion dined at one of your restaurants.

So I used to cook for Celine Dion back in Vegas and she used to come all the time at the restaurant as well.

And she loves your food, right?

She loved it. Yeah, because you know we we cooking healthy and in French. So yeah.

Thank you so much for having us.

You're very, very welcome.

This is so much fun. This is so delicious.