Los Angeles Times

NOTHING GOES TO WASTE

- By Jenn Harris jenn.harris@latimes.com Instagram: @Jenn_Harris_

Sustainabi­lity and eliminatin­g food waste are commitment­s that have provided the through-line for much of the cuisine at Providence, chef Michael Cimarusti’s seafoodfoc­used restaurant, since it opened more than a decade ago on Melrose Avenue. But lead bartender Kim Stodel is attempting to take those concepts even further behind the bar. In the fall, the restaurant launched a zerowaste cocktail program that turns kitchen scraps and fruit and vegetable peels into liquor infusions and cocktail garnishes.

“I forage in the kitchen,” said Stodel. “I’m always bugging the kitchen, saying: ‘Hey, what are you using and what are you throwing away?’ ”

This past summer, Stodel took the pulp of a cocktail sauce consommé served with oysters to make a Bloody Mary, mixing it with tequila he infused with roasted corn. In another cocktail, he took leftover orange peels and soaked them in water for 24 hours to make something he calls “astronaut juice.” He uses that juice in a vodka drink called the Clever Hippie, made with passion fruit, velvet falernum (a spiced, sweet syrup) and sparkling wine.

Stodel shared his recipe for a drink he calls the Mano de Chango, a tequila cocktail that incorporat­es housemade guava syrup, Pierre Ferrand dry curaçao, lime and grapefruit. Stodel repurposes the guava pulp from the syrup, turning it into a fruit leather garnish for the drink.

It tastes like a torqued up combinatio­n of a Paloma and a Sunrise, with a hit of fresh citrus juice and sweet guava. You can feel good about the no-waste element, but it’s also one of the best tequila cocktails in the city right now.

The name translates to “monkey hand” in Spanish, which is the nickname a former coworker gave Stodel during his time working at Bar Chloe in Santa Monica. “I was tall and he was short,” said Stodel. “I’d reach for things for him. And the first time I ever made fruit leather from scrap was with him.”

The Mano de Chango is on the current cocktail menu at Providence, but it might not be for long. Since the aim is to create zero waste, Stodel changes the menu often to reflect what’s in season, and what’s leftover in the kitchen.

“I basically figured out a way to hack the kitchen,” he said.

If you’re looking for a way to hack your own kitchen, maybe start with the Mano de Chango. Or Stodel suggests using pasta water to make a starchy simple syrup or parsnip peels to infuse vodka. At this rate, you’ll be a world-saving imbiber in no time.

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 ?? Kyle Deven Providence ?? FRUIT leather garnishes the Mano de Chango.
Kyle Deven Providence FRUIT leather garnishes the Mano de Chango.

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