【一食一客】洛杉矶|Betty Porto@Porto’s | “我希望能环游世界然后吃遍世界上的美食”

“Porto’s是我妈妈的杰作。它是妈妈的梦想，她的血肉，她的灵魂。Porto‘s 的灵感就是我妈妈。”

时间：

地点：洛杉矶，Porto’s Bakery in Glendale，Yelp评选“百家必吃”之一

受访者：Betty Porto，Porto’s创始人。

采访者@Chihuo：Jeremy、Yunzhu

摄影@Chihuo：Yunzhu

文字@Chihuo：Jeremy

Q: What is your general impression of LA?

问：你对洛杉矶的感觉和印象如何?

A: I love LA. I love how every food in the world is in LA- LA is like a mini ‘United Nation of Food’. I can try all the exotic food all the time. However, Mom’s kitchen is the best. The love in the food is what makes Mom’s food so good. The love is no longer going to be there if she’s gone.

答：我爱洛杉矶。我爱可以在洛杉矶找到全世界各式各样的食物。洛杉矶就像是一个迷你的食物联合国，我可以随时的尝试新的异域风味的美食。但，妈妈煮的饭还是是我的最爱。妈妈放在她料理中的爱是无可替代的，是妈妈料理中的爱让她的食物如此好吃。

Q: What was the inspiration behind Porto’s?

问：Porto‘s的灵感源自于哪里？

A: Porto’s is Mom’s creation. It’s her dream, her body, her heart. Porto’s inspiration is my Mom. We do things the way we think she does things. And the way she does things is perfection. If she is going to do something, she is going to do it perfectly, so we will do it perfectly as well.

答：Porto’s是我妈妈的杰作。它是妈妈的梦想，她的血肉，她的灵魂。Porto‘s 的灵感就是我妈妈。我们做事的方法都按照我们觉得在相同情况下我妈妈会怎么做。她做事的方法就是注重完美。如果她要做什么事，她一定会完美的去做，所以我们也同样的会去完美的做事。

Q: What was the toughest challenge you have ever faced running the bakery?

问：在经营这家面包店时你所遇到的最大的困难是什么？

A: It’s definitely growing pain. As we grow bigger, there are more regulations to comply with and more employees to take care of. We have around 900 employees now. The main challenge is to bring in more money to feed the employee and feed them well. Porto’s is responsible for each employee’s family.

答：扩张。随着我们现在成长的越来越大，有更多的法律规章需要我们去注意然后也有更多的员工需要我们去照顾。我们现在有900名员工左右。最大的挑战是如何赚更多的资金来养员工，而且要养好员工。员工以及员工的家是Porto‘s甜蜜的责任。

Q: What would you say is your signature dish? And what inspired the creation of it?

问：你觉得Porto‘s的招牌是哪一道美食？然后这道美食的灵感是怎么来的？

A: It’s what Porto’s started with when it was first founded by my Mom. There are 5 of them:
Potato Balls
Meat Pies
Chicken Empanada
Cheese rolls
Cuban Cake
The inspiration behind these dishes is of course my mom.

答：我觉得是当我妈妈刚创立Porto’s时开始卖的五个食物：
马铃薯球
肉派
鸡肉馅饼
起司卷
古巴蛋糕
这些食物背后的灵感当然是我妈妈。

Q: What is one food that you cannot live without?

问：有没有哪一个是你欲罢不能的美食？

A: Arroz con pollo. My favorite food is definitely my Mom’s cooking, and one of the favorite foods is Arroz con pollo, which literally means chicken with rice. The rice is yellow- colored by sofrito sauce, usually comes with beans and carrots as well. Mom’s cooking is too good, so I don’t go eat Cuban foods here in LA. Cuban food is a mix of Spanish, Arabic, and French cooking, so you see a variety of foods in Cuban cuisine. You can make sofrito sauce at home by mixing tomato, garlic, black peeper, bell pepper, olive oil, and salt together. (The interviewer might have missed one or two ingredients)

答：Arroz con pollo。我的最爱一定是我妈妈煮的菜，但其中我最爱的一道菜是Arroz con pollo。这道菜的直接翻译就是鸡肉和饭。饭是黄色的-被sofrito 酱汁染色的，通常也会搭配豆类和红萝卜一起吃。妈妈煮的饭无可取代，所以我都不在洛杉矶吃古巴料理。古巴料理是西班牙，中东，和法式料理的综合体，所以你可以在古巴料理中尝到一系列异域风情的口味。你也可以在家里自己做sofrito 酱汁来满足自己的味蕾啊，把番茄，大蒜，黑胡椒，红椒，橄榄油，盐巴混在一起就可以了。（小编可能漏掉了一两个原料）

Q: What is your worst dinning experience?

问：你最糟糕的用餐经验是什么？

A: I was very disappointed by services of a restaurant that I’ll not name here in Las Vegas. We waited there for 2 hours and food was still not served. We were not served well while we waited, so we decided to leave after 2 hours. They brought out the food after we walked out, and they chased us with the food in their hands too! So we ran away from the restaurant! It was an interesting experience.

答：我之前对某家在拉斯维加斯的餐厅的服务十分失望。我们等了两个小时食物还没上桌，而我们在等的时候餐厅的服务也没有很好，所以我们等了两个小时之后真的等的不耐烦了所以我们就走了。当我们刚出餐厅的时候餐厅的食物煮好了，然后他们端着食物追出来叫我们！所以我们就用跑的从那家餐厅逃离了啊！那是一个蛮有趣的经验。

Q: Who is your most memorable customer?

问：你有让你最印象深刻的客人吗？

A: We have on average around 10,000 customers on a typical Saturday, so it’s hard for me to remember any specific customer. I do remember one person in a hurry though. He told one of the employees that he is catching a plane, and he is in a rush, so we let him purchase first. He was so thankful that he left a $50 tip! So I told our employee to trust our customers.

It is always rewarding when customers want to take pictures with me and talk with me because they love what we make. There are younger customers that bowed to me to say thank you as a gesture of showing how much they love Porto’s. That is the most rewarding experience for me.

答：我们在一个平常的礼拜六平均有10,000个客流量，所以要记住单一客人蛮困难的。但是我对一个赶飞机的人印象深刻。他对我们其中一个员工说他在赶飞机，他问说能不能让他先买，于是我就带他先去购买我们的面包。他后来很感激我们对他的体谅，留了50刀的小费呢！所以我跟我们家的员工说要相信我们的顾客。

那平时的时候会有客人想要跟我拍照和聊天因为他们很喜爱我们的面包，这对我来说是最大的鼓励。有几次还有年轻的顾客因为太喜爱Porto‘s了所以对我鞠躬以示感谢Porto’s一直以来对食物的坚持。那个经验十分特别，也是对我最大的鼓励之一。

Q: What is the taste of home to you?

问：对你来说家的味道是什么？

A: Taste of home is Mom’s homemade cooking. When my siblings and me were little, Mom was always experimenting with new recipes, so there were always good desserts for kids to eat. I remember when we were young, our house always smell like cinnamon, sugar, and cakes.

答：家的味道是妈妈煮的饭。当我跟我的兄弟姐妹还小的时候，妈妈常常会实验新的食谱，所以每天都会有好吃的甜点给我们小孩们吃。我还记得小时候，我们家总是充满了肉桂，糖，和蛋糕的味道！

Q: What is your favorite bakery or restaurant in LA

问：你在洛杉矶最喜欢的的烘培店或餐厅是什么？

A: Bestial. It’s a small place in Downtown LA, and it’s pretty new. I like their salads, it is very detail, and has multiple layer of flavors. The meat and pizza is also pretty good. I like their desserts a lot, especially the tangerine pinna cotta.

答：Bestia。那是一家在Downtown 洛杉矶蛮新的店。我喜欢他们的沙拉，小细节做的很好而且还有多重层次的味道。肉类跟比萨也蛮不错的。我也很喜欢他们的点心，尤其是橙子奶冻。

Q: If you can pick anyone, who do you want to dine with and why?

问：如果你可以选任何人一起吃饭，你会选择谁和为什么？

A: Family. To me, eating around the table means family, and you make memories with people you eat with. Family and foods go together.

答：家人，对我来说，同在一张桌子吃饭就是家人，而且你会有跟一起吃饭的人一起留下回忆。家人和食物是密不可分的。

Q: What are some of your hobbies besides running Porto’s?

问：除了管理Porto‘s，你还有哪些兴趣？

A: I love the arts. So I go to art museums, concerts, ballet, and theater. I also like music, so I listen to jazz, opera. I like many things in Downtown LA.

答：我爱艺术。所以我会去美术馆，音乐会，芭蕾，剧院等等。我也很喜欢音乐，所以我会听爵士，歌剧。我喜欢许多在洛杉矶 Downtown的事物。

Q: Do you have any long-term ultimate goal? (Personal or Professional)

问：你有什么长期的目标？（私人或工作）

A: For personal goal, I want to travel around the world and eat foods everywhere.

For Porto’s goal, I want it to live on. I want to have our children to take over and run it in future. I think by running Porto’s, I’m giving life to parents even when they pass away. If Porto’s lives on, then the parents live on. Hopefully the next generation will take the responsibility to expand and change.

答：私人的目标的话，我希望能环游世界然后吃遍世界上的美食。

Porto‘s的目标的话，我希望它能一直营运下去。我希望我们的孩子可以接手并经营它。我觉得就算父母有一天离开了我们，我们可以皆有经营Porto’s让他们在我们心中永存。所以Porto‘s还在，父母也就还在。希望下一代能负责扩张跟改变Porto‘s。