Tasting Arcadia

Episode 11 - Joshua Evangelista, Executive Chef at the Double Tree Hotel Monrovia

• Karen Mac Nair • Season 2 • Episode 13

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Culinary passion reignited! Join us on the Episode 11 of the second season of Tasting Arcadia, for a mouthwatering conversation with Josh, the executive chef at Double Tree Hotel Monrovia. Josh reveals the surprising story of how he nearly abandoned his 20-year cooking career—until his growing family sparked a renewed love for creating memorable food experiences.

For more information and tickets to the Taste of Arcadia visit TasteOfArcadia.com.

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Karen Mac Nair:

Hello everyone. I'm Karen Mac Nair, the CEO at the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce. I am super excited. Today is our first podcast for Tasting Arcadia. What is Tasting Arcadia? I don't know if you got to follow us last year, but we talk to our food, drinks, business, showcase members, vendors, about Taste of Arcadia. I'm happy to announce that Taste of Arcadia is September 13th at Santa Anita Park and we're super excited about it. Tickets have already started on sale for a discounted price right now until August 4th, and they'll go up. How do you know what the price is? How do you know how to buy the tickets? You go to tasteofarcadia. com to purchase your tickets today. So I am sitting here with my first guest, Josh. Josh, I'm excited you're here. Josh is the executive chef at the Double Tree Hotel Monrovia. We're going to get to know Josh. We're going to get to see a few things that he will be hosting us at Taste of Arcadia. But let's start off with a few questions. Josh, why don't you tell us a little bit about your hotel restaurant, about the?

Joshua Evangelista:

business Sure. So our hotel is located in Monrovia. It's off of Huntington, off of the 210. Right now we are serving breakfast and dinner. Our breakfast starts at 6 am, runs all the way to 10 am. Our dinner starts at 6am, runs all the way to 10am. Our dinner starts at 6pm runs all the way to 10pm. I've been with the hotel for the past four months now, and so it's an exciting venture. We're trying new things every single day to make sure that our culinary program grows within the hotel.

Joshua Evangelista:

Love that there's a lot of support with the management team and all the catering staff and the cooks in there. So it's a lot of fun going into this new venture and providing Arcadia, monrovia, all the cities near us, with some really good food and hopefully be the place to eat at in the next couple of months for sure I love that.

Karen Mac Nair:

Welcome to the community, josh the. San Gabriel Valley. We're excited. We do love our hotels here. It is a great way to have a sampling of wonderful food in the area. I'm excited about breakfast and dinner, so I could have a business lunch. Wait, no lunch, just breakfast and dinner, right. I could have a business meeting there I could come.

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely.

Karen Mac Nair:

And the bars open in the evenings right?

Joshua Evangelista:

Yes, actually, the bar opens up at 5 pm, right before dinner. So if you want to come down and have a few drinks right before dinner, we're open at 5 pm.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, that is great to know, and you are off of Huntington.

Joshua Evangelista:

Yes.

Karen Mac Nair:

You're 924 West Huntington Drive in the city of Monrovia.

Joshua Evangelista:

That's correct.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, I'm going to ask you the question that I always wonder Do you have any fun stories for us?

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely. I mean, for me cooking has always been a passion. I always thought that I was going to be a chef from the very beginning. Oh, I love that. I always thought that I was going to be a chef from the very beginning. Oh, I love that. It's been almost like 20 years cooking professionally. Last year I almost gave up cooking forever, okay, and somehow my family wanted to keep growing so we started having babies and now it's time to cook for my family again. So that kind of reignited a spark in my life to recreate food and to look at food in a different way, not just as a product but something that can feed people and make people happy. So I took it on again to just become the best chef I can possibly become.

Joshua Evangelista:

Cook it on again, to just become the best chef I can possibly become, and wherever I may be, I want to inspire all of the people around me to just kind of push forward in whatever it is they like, and not just cooking, but every other industry. So for me it's just kind of reinventing myself in the kitchen and becoming something bigger than I could possibly think of.

Karen Mac Nair:

So this is not a double tree question. This is a Josh family question your favorite meal to prepare family group setting what would be your favorite meal?

Joshua Evangelista:

It would probably have to be a stew.

Karen Mac Nair:

I think a stew.

Joshua Evangelista:

just because a stew takes a long time to prepare, it starts off with, you know, cutting vegetables and marinating meats, searing meats, deglazing, adding stock to it, cooking it in the oven for hours and waiting for those smells to come out of the oven. I love that, I think the excitement really gets everyone, and my favorite thing is watching people eat. To be honest, Okay, great.

Karen Mac Nair:

Well, on the first rainy day can I come by your? House Absolutely, because I feel like a stew would be a delicious thing to have.

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely.

Karen Mac Nair:

Any Doubletree history with the Doubletree Hotel, Anything a fun fact or different things that we could share? Well, the Doubletree.

Joshua Evangelista:

I don't know if you know this, but we offer chocolate chip cookies to all of our guests and those chocolate chip cookies are kind of like a staple to the hotel. If I may, that would be probably the best thing that every guest says Double Tree Hotel has the best chocolate chip cookies and those are for everyone, all of our guests. If you come by and visit me, I would love to hand you a double chocolate chip cookie from double tree I'd love that, and we started off saying that we're part of of the arcadia chamber of commerce.

Karen Mac Nair:

At any event, when staff comes with the cookies and it's a raffle prize or a giveaway my gosh, the excitement that happens over a cookie. So I feel it kind of ties to your, your passion to cook for your family. It's like cooking for your extended family in a cookie which is amazing. I also have to point out, you do have gluten-free cookies for all those people out there that have those special dietary needs.

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely. We try to treat everyone with respect and try to cater to everyone. So if someone's gluten-free, we definitely can cater to them as well. I love that.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, why don't we talk about the Doubletree menu? Is there anything that is the most popular thing in your menu?

Joshua Evangelista:

Right now we're doing a lot of pastas. We're doing a lot of pastas. We're playing around with a lot of different ingredients. We just hooked up with a new company called Paradise Flavors and they're giving us a lot of product to play with fresh tomatoes, garlic, shallots. We're roasting everything, we're braising things, we're liquefying things. The flavor from our sauces is something I think is going to really stand out in the city and have people come down and eat. So definitely pastas are a hit right now.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, I love that. Any inspiration behind your menu when you're thinking about it you're in the your happy place is what I'm hearing. That is a great question. What's your inspiration?

Joshua Evangelista:

My inspiration really comes from the people around me. I try to build a menu based on my own history and the experiences that I've had, but also I try to attribute the menu with the people around me and what they like to eat. The culture that's around me, all of that around me, all of that I could have made a burger or pasta or something, but this is kind of my culture, mixed with a lot of the cultures from within my kitchen.

Joshua Evangelista:

Huge shout out to my kitchen staff as well. So it's definitely a mix of cultures and experiences for sure.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, that is wonderful. Now the Doubletree Hotel. We would love to support it in many different ways, but I always share at the Chamber. I only know what people share with us, so can you share with us a great way that we can support the hotel within the community?

Joshua Evangelista:

Yes, absolutely. I think the best way to support the hotel is to come and check us out. Come have lunch. I mean I'm sorry, lunch. Come have breakfast. Come have lunch. I mean I'm sorry lunch.

Karen Mac Nair:

Come have breakfast.

Joshua Evangelista:

Come have dinner Lunch is going to happen in around 2006,. But we're still working on that. But come in down and have some breakfast, have some dinner, have a drink at five o'clock.

Karen Mac Nair:

Love that.

Joshua Evangelista:

Come book a room and have a meeting there. You can also pick up the banquet menu and order from the kitchen. Oh nice, I'm usually there 24-7, so I would probably see you there as well. We like to cater to everyone, so if there's something on the menu that people do not like, I can always cater to them as well. I love every culture, every kind of cuisine, so we can always cater to everyone.

Karen Mac Nair:

I love that. I guess that's a positive and a negative about working for a hotel. You can literally be there 24-7.

Joshua Evangelista:

For sure, for sure, but I love the hotel scene. I love everything about the restaurant, especially our hotel. I think it's a beautiful location and I think if people were to come down and check us out, they would fall in love for sure. If people were to come down and check us out, they would fall in love for sure.

Karen Mac Nair:

So, with that, what are you most proud of being a part of with the Doubletree Hotel, with you, your staff, extended arm of the hospitality world.

Joshua Evangelista:

What's something you're proud of? I think most proud of is the staff that I have right now Coming into a new environment with completely new staff starting from scratch, everyone willing to to help out and be open to new changes. I know it's always hard to open up to new changes into this new chef that has arrived, but everyone has been really good. Everyone wants to learn, everyone wants to work hard. So I think that is what I'm most proud of, because you never know what you're going to walk into.

Joshua Evangelista:

So I walked into something good, something that is productive and something that can be pushed to the limit without getting pushed back.

Karen Mac Nair:

You know, I know you're newer to the community I've been doing in this position for nine years now and I can say that has been true with the double tree hotel for the last nine years is when we have an event there, we go have breakfast. The staff is so engaging and helpful and anything you need, big or small, um, they, they always treat you like you're part of the family. It really you hit the nail on the head. I so agree with you and I'm happy to see the legacy continuing awesome. We are going to talk about taste of arcadia now. Yes, um, taste of arcadia, just to give you a little bit of double tree history.

Karen Mac Nair:

Yes, just to let you know, um, back in 2018, 2019, the double tree hotel was able to be part of Taste and then in 2020, we took a hiatus to last year, and last year was our first year to be able to come back and be part of the community. So we're so excited that in 2016, we're up and running and that you all are back able to introduce us to the great foods super exciting. I also want to remind everyone that DoubleTree was award winning. That's right. Josh and I were talking a little bit earlier and I hear we still have some of the awards hanging up in an office space, so we're exciting about that.

Karen Mac Nair:

Is there anything that you're excited about as Taste is upcoming from your fresh eyes? I love this.

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely. I think these kinds of events are my favorite events to be at, just because it's a room full of culinary specialists, chefs, servers, banquet managers the entire industry is here and to be able to network with everyone, meet everyone, taste different dishes, their textures, their flavors all that is what gets me really excited, because you can learn so much from really good food and from really terrible food.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right.

Joshua Evangelista:

So I think this will be my first year representing Doubletree Monrovia, and I'm excited for all of it, for sure good, okay, we're gonna dive into it.

Karen Mac Nair:

I see you have a beautiful array of dish a dish, a pieces of dish.

Joshua Evangelista:

Why don't?

Karen Mac Nair:

you explain what we have and if we can set up because we're going to do a little tasting.

Joshua Evangelista:

Can I stand up?

Karen Mac Nair:

yes, yes all right.

Joshua Evangelista:

So today I brought a mixed seafood ceviche and the mixed seafood ceviche is going to be accompanied by an avocado puree. The avocado puree I tried to keep it really simple. A lot of the ingredients on the plates. I try not to add too many things if I have a lot of components, just because I want everything to stand out on its own. Again, the avocados are really fresh. A little lime juice, a little salt and pepper. Love the eye the mixed seafood.

Joshua Evangelista:

ceviche has a mix of scallops, shrimp, cod, and then, the day of, we're going to add some octopus. I didn't bring any octopus in just because it's really expensive and for me to bring it in it would have taken a couple more days, but you will see some octopus.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, great, I love that. I'll make sure I taste it before yes.

Joshua Evangelista:

For textures. I brought in some pomegranate seeds, I brought some shaved radish, and then also a little bit of micro cilantro, just to add some freshness to the whole dish. And then the vessel to pick up all these beautiful ingredients will be these chips that have been cooked in some butter, and I'm going to plate this up for you.

Karen Mac Nair:

Is that flour? Corn tortilla chips? That is a corn tortilla chip, A corn tortilla chip, Okay.

Joshua Evangelista:

I will have a couple of gluten-free tortilla chips at the Taste of Arcadia, just in case somebody is gluten-free.

Karen Mac Nair:

Thank you. I mean, they're so fluffy, I'm surprised they're corn. For those of you who are just listening, it is all displayed in front of me. You can watch this on YouTube and you can see the wonderful, delightful colors. I brought some beautiful double-tree Yay, I love that, thank you. He colors Yay, I love that, thank you. He just showed the logo Again. You know I work for a chamber. I get excited over logos and branding. It just it makes it part of what we do.

Joshua Evangelista:

This here is the avocado puree I'm going to put it down here.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Joshua Evangelista:

I made a little mess. Here it's okay. This actually happens in the kitchen almost every single day, so we're used to this. I'm going to grab a ceviche.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, so this is being plated and it is not on top of a chip. At this point, the chips will be on the side. Yes, oh, that is different than I thought it was headed towards on top of the chip.

Joshua Evangelista:

I love it. It's more like a I guess like a seafood salad, if you will.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Joshua Evangelista:

I wanted to present this just a little bit different, just so it stands out.

Karen Mac Nair:

No, I appreciate that. Look at those great big cherry tomatoes.

Joshua Evangelista:

Right Okay, so that. Appreciate that. Look at those great big cherry tomatoes.

Karen Mac Nair:

Right Okay, so that's that it's that time of year. I love that.

Joshua Evangelista:

We're going to add a little bit of pomegranate seeds.

Karen Mac Nair:

What made you come up with pomegranate seeds as being an addition? Because that is a nice. It seems like I haven't tasted it yet, but a nice, a sweet flavor to add.

Joshua Evangelista:

Yes, yes, I love playing with different flavors as well. A little bit of acidity with some sweetness, a smooth, puree, different textures, but it all makes sense together. Once you pick it up and you eat it, it just the pop, the smoothness, the acidity from the fish. It all just makes perfect sense.

Karen Mac Nair:

Love that.

Joshua Evangelista:

I haven't tasted all these ingredients together, but I know in my head that they will make sense once they go inside.

Karen Mac Nair:

I would be happy to have the honor of tasting all of these together and letting you know Don't worry everyone, as you're driving, listening, walking. I will report.

Joshua Evangelista:

These are little shaved radishes. I shock these in a little bit of ice water so they get nice and crispy. Oh, that's a nice trick for home. We'll do a little bit of ice water so they get nice and crispy. Oh, that's a nice trick for home. We'll do a little bit of micro cilantro on top.

Karen Mac Nair:

I am not a chef, so I don't know what is the difference between a regular cilantro and a micro cilantro.

Joshua Evangelista:

The micro cilantro is a different seed that doesn't fully grow, so it's a young cilantro. It's a lot brighter. It's a different seed that doesn't fully grow, so it's a young cilantro. It's a lot brighter. It's a lot fresher. There's more crunch than if you were to bite into a regular leaf of cilantro.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Joshua Evangelista:

And it does look a lot prettier on a plate than just a big leaf of cilantro.

Karen Mac Nair:

It does look prettier, and nor did you have to cut it smaller. Its presentation in and of itself seems the right size.

Joshua Evangelista:

Right, right right.

Karen Mac Nair:

Look at me learning things. I love it. My husband would be very excited.

Joshua Evangelista:

And these are the chips For the taste of Arcadia. I'm going to do one chip per.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay.

Joshua Evangelista:

Just so. I think it looks nice with one chip, but since we're all going to taste it, I'm going to put a couple chips on here.

Karen Mac Nair:

Thank you. We will have forks, though, in case we need a little more scooping action, and I brought some extra, just in case you guys want to indulge into some ceviche.

Joshua Evangelista:

So this is it right here Avocado, puree seafood, ceviche, radishes, pomegranate seeds, micro cilantro and some chips.

Karen Mac Nair:

So I noticed you brought a lime also. Is there any lime juice on top, or is that your own flavor?

Joshua Evangelista:

I'm going to put a little piece on the dish as well, just in case somebody wants a little more acidity on there but I think it's perfect as is okay, may I try?

Karen Mac Nair:

if you hand me perfect, he is handing me the plate again. If you're looking, watching on YouTube, I try. Yes, you hand me, perfect, he is handing me the plate Again. If you're looking, watching on YouTube, if you're driving along, I'm going to try to give you an honest um review. Is that probably the best way? Okay, the chips. I love chips too. I'm a fan. Hmm, so good, the crunch crunch. You can hear the crunch. Okay, I'm gonna take another bite because I want to take the taste of pomegranate in this one sorry, everyone, hold on.

Karen Mac Nair:

Great flavor, awesome, I agree. You don't need any more lime cool, everything is in it. Sure you guys how rude I'm talking my mouth but I figure it's the only way I can describe this the pomegranate.

Karen Mac Nair:

such a nice touch, right, I would not have thought that. Even to bring that to your home for a party. As we're head to the summer and hot weather, this is quite refreshing. Ooh, it is delicious. I had another question, it just completely slipped from my mind. Oh, I know what the question was. If I taste this at Taste of Arcadia and I love it, may I come to the Doubletree and order it? Is it something that's available? Absolutely, okay, absolutely.

Joshua Evangelista:

Awesome. Just in case I'm hooked, may I come to the.

Karen Mac Nair:

Doubletree and order it. Is it something that's?

Joshua Evangelista:

available, absolutely.

Karen Mac Nair:

Okay, absolutely, just in case I'm hooked.

Joshua Evangelista:

That's a great question, just because I did not think about that. But yeah absolutely I think our goal is to cater to everyone. Food is something that I love to do, and so if someone is excited about the ceviche, I would love to cater that ceviche.

Karen Mac Nair:

Good, good, good good, because we have found that in years past that, um, when you highlight something and then people are tasting it and you know, once you have that food experience, you want to go back.

Karen Mac Nair:

This is me I'll go back over and over and over like I want to taste it again and really enjoy it. So I'm glad because after we're off the air, I'm going to finish my plate and make sure that I can come and order it. Also, is there anything else you wanted to share with us about taste, about the hotel, that you just want to make sure we get it in?

Joshua Evangelista:

Absolutely, I think. I just want to reiterate the fact that we are open for breakfast and we are open for dinner. There is a new chef in town and we're trying so many different things and the input of the city and the nearby cities would be greatly appreciated, so you can see what we're trying to do at the hotel.

Karen Mac Nair:

I mean, I love that, josh. I feel like you're more than just a hotel to leave my parents at when they come in and visit. You are a place where we could locally dine, we could locally enjoy, we could have our meetings, we can have a drink, we can host different people there. So I'm so excited that you're in our neighborhood. Welcome to the Arcadia, san Gabriel Valley, monrovia, all surrounding areas. We're so happy to have you. So I'm going to wrap up this episode now and I just want to remind everyone, first of all, thank you for joining us at our first podcast.

Karen Mac Nair:

Remind everyone. This is Karen Mac Nair for Tasting Arcadia. You can go to tasteofarcadia. com to buy your tickets today. The price will go up on August 4th, so make sure you buy your tickets now. We have VIP tables. You can get a VIP table that comes with the early entry. It starts at 2 o'clock, so, VIP, you can come in at 1 o'clock. I didn't even tell you where it was, silly me.

Karen Mac Nair:

It is at Santa Anita Park. We are in the paddock area of Santa Anita Park, so we're super excited. It's going to be a wonderful day of dancing, food fun. We're going to have business, showcase cars, lots of vendors, lots of great foods and drinks. So if you'd like to follow us and continue to hear more about Tasting Arcadia, you can go to your favorite podcast channel. We'll be on YouTube, apple Podcasts, Spotify, amazon Music and iHeartRadios, so there's lots of ways to listen. If you're like me and you're on a morning walk, this is a great way to start your day. Or you can go to the Doubletree, have breakfast and listen to see what's going to be at Taste of Arcadia. So thank you all for joining us today. We will have our next episode to hear more about what is going to be at Taste of Arcadia September 13th. Super excited, join us, don't forget tasteofarcadia. com, and we'll see you and then see or hear from me on your next episode. Thanks Bye.