For this entry into my Panamanian Cooking Series I want to feature Wolfgang Puck and Spago. You can’t really talk about iconic Hollywood restaurants without including Spago. But Spago is not all that it used to be. The new Spago in Beverly Hills represents a certain kind of dining in Los Angeles. Solid, dependable and perfectly delicious. It’s not where you would go exclusively to see stars. The food is too good for that, and while the occasional star certainly dines there, the new Spago seems to have the attention of the serious Los Angeles foodie.

But you know what? I preferred the old Spago, even though I rarely went during it’s hey days of the 1980s and early 1990s. In my mind there is something so elusive about the old Spago in West Hollywood, I can’t quite describe the vibe of the place. Though in my photos here I did try to capture the extravagant starkness mixed with a neon glow that seemed to pulse through the restuarant's windows. It sat on a cliff above Sunset Blvd in old wood frame building with windows all around. In a city that puts a premiuim on views it had one of the best. Not that I ever got a window table there.

Sometimes I wanna make silly food videos. There is just no other way to share some jokes or visual references that I find funny. So, occasionally I build whole cooking videos from the seed of a silly idea. Sometimes a particular recipe is called for to make the joke work (like my Brussels sprouts video) so I do that recipe. Other times, most any recipe will support the theme and I just pick something I want to cook. Click here or on screen grab below to watch today's video.

This video recipe started with a serious editorial I read in the L.A. Times by Gregory Rodriguez. He usually writes about cultural issues like race relations, ethnicity, and other complex human qualities detailing what it is to be part of the “New” America.

Well in this particular editorial Mr. Rodriguez stretched his parameters and talked about kimchi, and the Korean national identity. Now, I am not Korean…I’m not even Asian. But, it touched a chord in me. If you’ve read this site before then you know I can be a bit nostalgic about food, tradition, and culture. Mr. Rodriguez hit me in the belly with all three!

If there is one thing that is universally true, it’s this: Sons are always trying to be half the man their old man was. Sometimes that formula gets tragically warped and a son spends his life trying to be twice the man his father was.

But this is really two sides of the same coin.

In my case I will have to settle for half the man.

Because my father is a doctor, and not just a doctor, but a children’s heart doctor. And as if that is not enough he also volunteers his time at his local Free Clinic caring for the many of us who have fallen between life’s ever widening cracks. He has even traveled to 3rd world countries where he meets and diagnoses kids with heart defects. Heart defects that would have otherwise gone on undetected and untreated.

People like my father with outsized talents (and undersized egos) are a rare breed. Sometimes being the son of a man like this is a little like climbing a ladder with uneven rungs. It’s hard to know how much progress you are making, and if it’s even worth the effort. But I guess that is part of being a son; to always wonder.

I know you know you know this. But there is more than one kind of basil in this world.

So it makes sense that certain varieties might suit themselves better in certain situations or flavor combinations.

Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) is by far the most common variety. It is widely recognized as the standard, especially in Italian cooking. It’s big, bold and flavorful. Well deserving of all the attention it receives.

But genius sometime lies in the details. And I know you want to be a genius, right? I mean "always aim for the left field bleachers" I always say. Actually I never say that. I hate baseball metaphors. But I am being editorially lazy and relying on standard catch-phrases. Shame on me!

Anyway, lose the lazy and familiarize yourself with other varieties of basil as well. We may be talking nuance here, and subtlety is not an attribute commonly attached to basil. But nonetheless there are subtle differences between the varieties. Some of these Ocimum cousins have gotten themselves entrenched in cuisines the entire world over. So we may need to take a vitual world tour to learn all we need to know.