Full Interview

Like many chefs, David Bazirgan puts his history on the plate. It’s just that this chef has an unusually interesting history.

“I’m doing the kind of food I want to,” says the executive chef of Dirty Habit, in San Francisco, “there are no rules to this menu”. And that means “chef Baz” can incorporate the flavors and ingredients he loves most into Dirty Habit’s eclectic, constantly evolving selection of small plates, taking inspiration from the Mediterranean, Asia and beyond.

“I love Asian ingredients because of their exciting interplay of flavors—hot, sour, salty, sweet, umami,” he explains. “I love Vietnamese flavors, I love Japanese food. With this menu I can do things like add soy sauce or fish sauce to a vinaigrette dressing to give it more punch.” And he considers Kikkoman teriyaki sauce one of his secret ingredients.

Dirty Habit, which opened in mid-2014, represents a radical departure for the Boston-born Bazirgan, who came up cooking in such high-profile Italian restaurants as Olives and Galleria Italiana and immersed himself in classical French technique in culinary school.

Moving to San Francisco in 2003, where he eventually became executive chef of the chic Fifth Floor in the Hotel Palomar, he garnered attention for his finely crafted New American tasting menus.

But times were changing, and when the hotel’s management decided to completely reconcept the restaurant to become more casual and cocktail-focused, Bazirgan and two of his colleagues stayed on to help transform the space into what is now Dirty Habit. The following year, the hotel was rebranded as Hotel Zelos.

The chef makes no secret of the fact that Dirty Habit is first and foremost a cocktail lounge and that the small plates are there to support liquor sales in what is now an edgy, sexy, destination drinking place with an outdoor patio and a spectacular fifth-floor view of San Francisco.

But Bazirgan is also quick to point out that this is authentic food, sourced and prepared with integrity—“I’m not doing wasabi mashed potatoes here,” he says. “We’re doing quality food with much less fuss and creating a fun dining experience for customers in a cocktail-focused space.”

Yes, there are chicken wings, but they’re flavored with sweet soy and chili vinaigrette. The signature steamed buns are filled with fried lamb belly and peanuts. Fresh snap peas are dressed with smoked beef and Iberico ham xo sauce that is made in-house using the kitchen’s own dried shrimp and scallops. And an uni flan applies French technique to the delicate Japanese custard known as chawanmushi: eggs and cream with brown rice vinegar and Kikkoman Soy Sauce.

Perhaps nothing illustrates Bazirgan’s cross-cultural approach more than the fried sweetbreads with teriyaki sauce, pineapple and cashews. “I love working with offal and sweetbreads, and I really enjoy introducing new ingredients in a familiar enough way to get people to try it,” says the chef, who grew up eating teriyaki sauce and loves its interplay of flavors.

Frying cubed sweetbreads in a standard breading with panko crumbs adds crisp texture; the warm cubes are then tossed in Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce to add distinctive, sweet and sour umami flavor. “That’s what’s so great about teriyaki sauce—it’s not just sweet, it also has vinegar that balances out the sweetness,” he explains. To finish the dish, the chef adds seared chunks of fresh pineapple and toasted cashews, a spoonful more teriyaki, and a drizzle of chili vinaigrette (Kikkoman Soy Sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar and Thai bird chilies). A flurry of julienne scallions adds color and a bit of soft heat to complement the chilies.

“That teriyaki sauce really works with the rich crunch of the sweetbreads—a lot of high acid, a lot of umami for a really in-your-face flavor.”