By Request: Chef’s background varies from small screen to big

Santos Loo comes to Hawaii by way of Los Angeles, by way of the Food Network’s studios in New York, by way of Brooklyn, by way of Peru.

I met him in Mililani, at the Consolidated Theatres location where he’s been working on the newly expanded menu, flying in when needed from his home base in L.A. His background is an interesting side note in the larger story of the changing nature of movie theater food.

Loo’s grandfather, Eulogio Loo, emigrated to Peru from China in the early 1900s, settling in Barranca, a coastal town north of Lima, and opening the restaurant Gran Chifa Comercio. “Chifa is a unique Peruvian cuisine fusing Chinese cooking techniques with local Peruvian ingredients,” Loo said.

When he was 8, his family moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he attended a school for the fine arts, followed by culinary school in New York City.

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In 2002 Loo began a 10-year stint on Food Network shows, helping celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri make the food seen on camera.

It was a position that evolved as how-to shows became more like reality TV. “On-camera talent with little to no culinary experience became the norm,” he said. “I provided a range of culinary training, such as recipe development, cooking techniques and basic directions, like how to properly hold a knife.”

As senior food stylist and a culinary producer, Loo was also responsible for setting up the kitchen, from drawers to refrigerator, so that the “talent” could easily grab any utensil or ingredient — say, a bottle of milk — without looking away from the camera.

There’s probably a connection to be made between a TV chef being able to grab a tool without looking and movie patrons being able to eat their food in the dark. OK, so that’s a stretch, but it allows me to draw a line between then and now.

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Seven years ago, Loo signed on with Reading International, which owns Consolidated. He also works as a food consultant, freelances on Food Network projects and creates online cooking videos. Most recently he styled the food for “Pull Up a Chair,” by his friend, the actress Tiffani Thiessen.

He said he’s been lucky that his career in the food industry has merged with his early training in art. Food, he said, can be approached in the same way as painting or sculpture, “to create final works that incorporate all the components of art — color, texture, composition, emotion.”

THIS SAUCE is served at the theaters with a chicken sandwich, but also could be a glaze on roasted chicken or thinned out as a salad dressing, Loo said.

Making sauces from scratch is significant to a quick-food operation, he said. “If you make a sauce versus buying one, you can taste the difference.”

CONSOLIDATED DIJONNAISE

By Consolidated Theatres

• 8 ounces mayonnaise (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
• 1 ounce Dijon mustard (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 ounce honey (about 1-1/2 tablespoons)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon EACH ground turmeric, kosher salt and pepper

Whisk ingredients together. Will keep refrigerated for a week. Makes about 1-1/4 cups.

Approximate nutritional information, per 2 tablespoon serving: 170 calories, 17 g total fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 300 mg sodium, 3 g carbohydrate, 3 g sugar, no fiber or protein.

Write By Request, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or email requests to bshimabukuro@staradvertiser.com.