Graham Bartlett - Chef of Zengo

Mexican inspiration led chef to France

Chefs might consider culinary training at Ecole Ritz Escoffier in Paris a natural move for anyone lucky enough to get into its advanced program.

But for Graham Bartlett, it seems an odd choice. He caught the “food bug” traveling not in Europe, but on regular trips with his parents through Mexico, as far south as Oaxaca. They were both professors who could take weeks off during summer vacation to explore. Then, when Bartlett was studying for his bachelor’s degree in literature and foreign languages at Mississippi State University, he spent a summer surrounded by Latin American food, this time on his own in Costa Rica.

“I felt at the time I wanted to get a better grip on the basics of the culture,” he says. At no point was French cuisine in the picture.

Nor is it now. Bartlett is the executive chef at Zengo, where the cooking is an adventurous fusion of Asian and Latin American flavors. He agrees that, given his training, it was a “a strange turn of events.”

Zengo means “give and take” in Japanese. The menu runs a wide gamut from ceviche, sushi, tacos and more appetizers made to be shared to grilled foie gras and charbroiled black cod, everything created with a huge taste twist.

Bartlett acknowledges that, despite his training, he doesn’t use “100 percent French technique.” Nor does his cooking result in a style the French would recognize as traditional. For one thing, there’s not much red wine involved, and no stocks. When we think of French food, he says, we think of stocks and sauces, pastries and such. He suspects that overall, French chefs might even be offended by his food. “It’s not as delicate, more raw. We encourage flames into the saucepan.”

The food he loves to cook and eat is “all about flavor,” he says. “A lot of modern American cuisine I have a lot of respect for. But some of it gets blurred. There’s not the balance of flavor.”

The food Bartlett works with comes from regions where hot, sour, sweet and salty provide that balance. “It needs a little bit of all these things,” he says. His seared snapper comes with plantain purée, chayote and a Thai basil/green apple curry. The Peking rolls in the dim sum are made with duck confit, shiitake mushrooms, cabbage, snow peas and carrots. Tandoori chicken breast has been given a masalaachiote spice rub and comes with black bean dal, cilantro and mango salsas, as well as the more traditional naan bread.

The Washington branch of a series of restaurants that Mexican-born Richard Sandoval owns, Zengo opened in 2005. Yet diners still fall into two camps. “Some people are, ‘Wow! I’ve never had anything like this!’” says Bartlett. “Other people find it so foreign, they say, ‘I can’t understand it.’Two years now, and a lot of people are coming here without understanding what is it they’re doing here!”

But he does not think it should be the goal of a chef to sway people to his viewpoint. “Everybody has their own palate. I might show them new things, enlighten sometimes.”

What he has found is a strong following among people either from India or who love Indian food. “I think it’s because we have nice, strong flavors.” The food may pack a flavor punch, but Bartlett’s not about to make it too hot, even though he likes a good belt of chili himself. “Sometimes I do break a sweat,” he confesses. “They’re very addictive, I can testify.”

Nevertheless, he thinks Zengo’s cooking has changed regular diners’ expectations and even affected some of his suppliers. “When we opened here, [sourcing] was a royal pain in the butt. I didn’t really know where to look for ingredients. I’m not from here, and you have to know some people. We may have had an impact on some of that.”

Piloncillo — a Mexican dark brown sugar that comes in a hard cone shape and has a high molasses content — has become a lot easier to find, he says. “Over the last couple of years, one of our Latino purveyors has started growing the chilies for a Peruvian chili paste themselves. It makes it a lot easier on me.”

Bartlett began cooking at 15 at a Cajun restaurant in Starkville, his hometown in Mississippi. After his training in Paris, he stayed on to work at L’Espadon, a two- Michelin-star restaurant, before heading to California. He spent several years in Colorado, first in Aspen and Vail and then at the award-winning Hilltop Cafe in Golden. There he and another chef were struck by the similarities between Asian and Latin food. “They both use a lot of tamarind, for instance,” he says.

They began experimenting and, excited by their discoveries, started incorporating them into the restaurant’s modern American food. It attracted the interest of Sandoval, and when Hilltop changed ownership, Bartlett and the other chef joined Sandoval to open Zengo in Denver. Following its success, he dispatched Bartlett to open a second branch in Washington.

Bartlett’s too busy putting in the usual long chef hours to do more than fantasize about more travel now. He’s lucky to live close to the restaurant. When he has time off, it’s only a short stroll to spend it with his Airedale terrier. And eat cheese.

Zengo (202-393-2929; modernmexican.com/zengodc) is located at 781 7th St. NW. Main courses cost $17 to $29.

This article by Julia Watson first appeared in the Northwest, Dupont, Foggy Bottom and Georgetown Current Newspapers. Photo Bill Petros/The Current.