November 11, 2019

LATIMES.COM

Charred cruSts and supple meat on a skewer, courtesy of the ‘octopus whisperer’

Konstantinos “Kostas” Katsaros remembers vividly the way his father would prepare fresh-caught octopus during summer vacations along the Aegean coast. Pulling his harpoon from the Aegean Sea, he’d promptly gut the wriggling cephalopod and slap it against the rocky shoreline 50 times, kneading the tentacles with handfuls of seawater to soften the flesh before hanging it on a clothesline to dry. Sometimes they’d grill the tenderized meat over coals; sometimes they’d let it stew in a big pot. It was always delicious.

At the Altadena Farmers Market on Wednesday evenings, wedged between a pupusa stand and a taco vendor, Katsaros can be found upholding the family tradition. In July, the 45-year-old chef launched Calamaki, a stand that specializes in charcoal-grilled skewers threaded with seafood, meat and vegetables.

Calamaki translates to “skewer” in Greek, though Katsaros says he was enticed by the prefix “Cal” too, a nod to the prominence of local ingredients in his cooking. And despite its name sounding similar to calamari, the stand’s top seller is not squid (which Katsaros occasionally offers as a special) but artfully charred skewers of grilled octopus. Among market regulars, he’s known simply as “the Octopus Guy” or “the Octopus Whisperer.”

“It’s kind of amazing to see people excited to eat octopus on a stick,” he said.

Katsaros grew up in Athens. At 25, he moved to Amsterdam to work as a chef, spending the next 18 years in some of the city’s best fine-dining establishments. Four years ago, he and his wife, an L.A. native, relocated to El Sereno.

Searching for kitchen work, Katsaros found himself skimming Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list for places to apply; eventually he landed at Michael Cimarusti’s Providence, the top honoree on that year’s list and one of the most acclaimed seafood restaurants in the country. After his time at Providence, Katsaros went on to open Cape Seafood & Provisions, Cimarusti’s now-shuttered seafood shop and takeout counter on Fairfax Avenue (octopus tacos were a house specialty).

After Cape Seafood closed, Katsaros decided to launch his own business. He was enticed by the idea of grilling outdoors at local farmers markets, where he could enjoy the fresh air and interact with customers.

“If I had just had a food truck or something, I would be one dot in the ocean,” he said. “This way, I could show people I was doing something unique.”

Using a mesquite-powered, 4-by-3-foot steel yakitori grill that his father-in-law built, Katsaros, on a given evening, might cook Japanese sweet potatoes or leeks or radicchio, finishing the smoky, charred produce with a squiggle of arugula-pistachio pesto. There’s grilled pork neck marinated in garlic and fennel seed paired with tzatziki sauce and salted lemon, or sticks of local snapper dotted with olive oil, pickled sea fennel and Kalamata olives. You might even catch his take on a traditional Greek salad (called a “village salad” in Greece, he says) made crisp with bits of purslane and adorned with a fat slab of Dodoni feta.

But among Calamaki’s many Grecian specialties, it’s still the unfussy $8 octopus skewers that manage to steal the spotlight. Katsaros mainly uses wild octopus caught off the Spanish coast, though lately he’s been enamored with giant Pacific octopus from Alaska, which are a bycatch of cod fishing and have a sweeter taste compared with their saltier Atlantic counterparts.

A majority of the octopus on the market these days is sold frozen — and Katsaros says that’s preferable: The freezing process actually softens the meat (no rock-pounding necessary). After a gentle 90-minute simmer in saltwater that turns the tentacles a familiar shade of violet, Katsaros finishes the sliced octopus on the grill, yielding a charred crust that contrasts with the supple meat underneath. “There should be a little crunch,” he said. “You don’t want it too soft.”

Katsaros hopes to expand to more farmers markets soon and eventually open a full restaurant that melds Greek flavors with California ingredients, though he admits that he’ll need to sell a lot more octopus skewers before that happens.

“Greek food is about using very high-quality ingredients, and to me there’s so much overlap with what you find here,” he said. “It’s a no-brainer that they go together.”

Calamaki, Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m., 587 W. Palm St., Altadena, calamaki.com

November 12, 2019

FOODZOOKA.COM

Calamaki PUTS A GREEK SPIN ON ROTISSERIE AND SKEWERS

At the Altadena Farmers Market, the alluring smell of charcoal and mesquite reaches a crescendo at the Calamaki booth, where an orchestra of flavorfully grilled meats, seafoods, and veggies greets your appetite with a smoky embrace.

Just over a year ago, Chef Kostas Katsaros started Calamaki with a small kebab grill that he covered with rows of skewers, called “kalamaki” in his native Greece. Now he busily hovers over a large custom charcoal grill and rotisserie spit, alternately searing chicken, pork, fish, octopus, sweet potatoes, and farm-fresh vegetables, though not all are necessarily cooked on skewers.

“I love charcoal grilling, so I said skewers might be a great idea for the market,” Kostas explained. “I wanted to do Mediterreanean Greek with local ingredients. Sometimes I just do whatever I feel like.”

After moving to Los Angeles four years ago, working alongside renowned chefs at notable seafood restaurants gave Kostas quick insight into the local food landscape. To source ingredients, he frequently visited farmers markets and connected with local fisheries and trustworthy suppliers. The similarity of ingredients available in California and Greece were part of what inspired him to revisit his culinary roots.

“A lot of produce that we have in Greece, we have here too,” he said, specifically mentioning figs, olives, and grapes. Fresh local seafood also reminds Kostas of fishing with his father, who taught him to dive for sea urchins, crabs, and octopus. “Sometimes I feel like I’m home.”

In addition to learning from his mother’s traditional Greek cooking, Kostas spent 18 years in Holland, where his tenure at fine restaurants added French and Northern European influences to his culinary resume. With Calamaki, he brings these skills and flavors together to showcase meticulously seasoned grilled dishes, along with lively traditional sauces, salads, and handcrafted beverages.

On the grill, the skewers are the signature dish, featuring octopus, fish, or vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and summer squash. “Definitely try my octopus. That’s my specialty,” Kostas recommended.

Having caught and prepared octopus since he was a kid, his techniques to tenderize and precook the delicate meat are like second nature. Grilling is the tricky part, since undercooking octopus can leave it rubbery, while overcooking can make it mushy. But Kostas consistently achieves a tender meatiness similar to crab with an expertly charred surface.

The fish skewer options depend on what’s available from fresh fishery catches, which must be sustainably wild caught. So far, Kostas has served rockfish, halibut, and snapper. “I’m trying to get local seafood as much as I can. It helps the local fisheries, and it tastes good,” he said. Grilling the fish over mesquite brings a complementary smokiness to its natural flavor.

Suspended on a long spit above the heat of the grill, plump whole chickens and pork roasts are regularly turned and slow-roasted for an hour or more. These rotisserie meats are among Calamaki’s latest offerings. Adding a rotisserie spit to the grill allowed Kostas to meet the growing demand for chicken and pork more readily than he could when he was cutting the meats and prepping individual skewers.

Kostas uses Mary’s free range air-chilled chickens, taking the same approach he took to prepare duck at other restaurants. First he brines the chicken, and then blanches it in hot water, and puts it in ice water. “That way you seal it. You can see juices inside under the skin,” Kostas described while pointing out the drumsticks.

Each whole chicken is also stuffed with herbs and rubbed with roast garlic and preserved kumquat to add flavor inside and out. At the market, you can enjoy individual drumsticks, wings, and thighs for a quick meal, or you can pre-order a whole or half chicken to take home. Kostas has also started offering flatbreads that can be topped with either rotisserie chicken or pork, accompanied by sweet tomatoes, pickled red onions, salsa verde, and tzatziki.

“And I have my sweet potatoes and seasonal salads,” Kostas noted. “I mostly try to buy organic from the farmers markets. I want to support the local communities.”

He shops selectively for produce at the markets and samples them for freshness with an intuitive sense of when they’ll reach peak ripeness. Once he has his goods, he chops them up and lets the natural flavors take over. Ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, and fresh purslane bring brightness to his seasonal Greek salad, along with the boldness of olives, capers, oregano, and a chunky rectangular slice of feta cheese placed on top in true Greek fashion.

The sweet potatoes roast patiently on the grill, absorbing the smoke and earning a few stripes of char. Once the potatoes soften, the vibrant colors of Calamaki’s arugula pistachio pesto and pickled red onions enliven both the look and flavor of the dish. “I like color. Color means taste,” said Kostas.

It wouldn’t be overkill to accompany those sweet potatoes with a side of Calamaki’s version of potato salad. To create these tantalizing scoops of crushed potatoes, Kostas makes his own parsley aioli, roasts the garlic, and adds lemon zest and a few other spices for a balance of striking flavors and smooth textures. It’s another demonstration of Kostas’ ability to draw complex gourmet flavors out of simple farm-fresh ingredients.

“It’s a lot of work to be here. But I love it,” Kostas said. “I like it because people like the food, and I appreciate that. It’s been an amazing experience.”

To preorder a rotisserie chicken for pickup at the Altadena Farmers Market, or to get seasonal menu updates or catering information, visit Calamaki.com and follow Calamaki on Facebook and Instagram.

JUNE 4, 2019

VOYAGELA.COM

Meet Konstantinos (Kostas) Katsaros of Calamaki in East LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Konstantinos (Kostas) Katsaros.

Kostas was born and raised in Athens, Greece, where he learned the techniques of the Greek traditional kitchen. He then moved to Amsterdam, where he spent 18 years working in the city’s best restaurants. For the last three years, he has called Los Angeles home. Since being in Los Angeles, he has worked for Chef Michael Cimarusti at restaurant Providence and Cape Sea Food and Provisions in West Hollywood. Chef Kostas’s passion for seafood, the healthy Mediterranean diet and many years of experience on the charcoal grill are the seeds of inspiration for his own CALAMAKI.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After having lived in the Netherlands for 18 years, navigating the permit and licensing procedure and finding vendors in a new county was somewhat challenging. But I was lucky enough to find helpful peopled and advice along the way. I first began sharing my food at farmer’s markets and there was definitely a learning curve. There is a seasonality to farmer’s markets and learning how to maximize summers so that slower winters are manageable was an important lesson. I will be doing my first major festival this summer (at the 626 Night Market) and am sure there will plenty to learn there too!

Calamaki – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
– Calamaki established in 2018. Calamaki was inspired by a strong belief in the local farmers market movement, seasonal ingredients and a commitment to sharing healthy food with the community. The southern California landscape is reminiscent of mine native Greece, which was the inspiration for Calamaki. Proud to share my passion and creativity on the charcoal grill with the local community.
– Calamaki, meaning Skewer in the Greek language, is Mediterranean inspired healthy food with Greek roots. Our main ingredients are Californian extra virgin olive oil, lemon, garlic, and fresh herbs. All our vegetables are local from farmers market vendors around Los Angeles. Our meats are all natural. Our seafood is sustainably sourced and we make all sauces and dressings in house. Our specialty is grilled octopus. Also on the menu are Jidori chicken skewers, Duroc pork skewers, seasonal vegetable skewers, charcoal roast sweet potato, and our signature potato salad.
– People know me at the market as the Octopus guy or the Octopus whisperer.
– Proud to serve the community, make people happy with good food, support the local farmers and small businesses.
– My difference from the others might be my culinary background, born and raised in Greece, lived in the Netherlands, travel around the world, worked next to great chefs.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I don’t think that there is so much a single moment as much as several smaller moments. I love it when kids order octopus skewers and then come back for more. The compliments when someone tries brussel sprouts for the first time and discovers that they like them is also pretty cool.