SPOTLIGHT // BECKY REAMS

So there's this thing called brunch. You know it well, it's usually on a Sunday between 11am and 3pm, and it's purpose is to either allow you to catch up with friends, recap the night before, or soak up a hangover. If you're lucky, you can accomplish all three goals and if you're really lucky there's an unlimited adult beverage to add the cherry on top. That is brunch. Then there is Bang Bang Brunch. The brainchild of Chef Becky Reams hosted at various restaurants and private venues throughout Los Angeles. Chef Becky re-imagines classic foods and adds a wow factor, or rather a bang factor (we had to!), like our personal favorite: the tres leches french toast that's more of a bread pudding that tickles your tastebuds and, well, you get the point. Come with a friend or make new ones at the private event, either way you'll leave talking about the experience you just had. Oh did we mention that she's also a photographer? So basically she is a force to be reckoned with.

See why Chef Becky Reams is our Daring Creative of the week.

In a few sentences, please tell us about yourself:

I’m a generally impatient, yet eternally motivated and constantly curious person. A creative/neurotic/confidently insecure, idealist. Oxymoron intended. I love deeply and fight hard for the things I believe in.

When did you decide to pursue your current career path?

As cliché as it sounds-- after I was on the FOX reality cooking show, Masterchef. I knew I wanted to be a chef. And being a chef isn’t something that happens overnight, or in a year, or in 5 years...

I’m not one of those people who watches reality TV with hypnotized interest in the gold-painted, glorified lives of other seemingly famous people. I’m really not. So the fact that I got a little 15 minutes of fame from a reality cooking show, which rearranged my entire life’s path-- is frankly funny and ironic to me. Nonetheless, I cannot be anything but thankful for the time I spent on the show, and the wisdom and trust that was bestowed upon me from the producers, and hosts.

After I finished filming, I came home, unpacked my bags, quit my photo studio gig, and got a job as a line cook at a local restaurant paying $10 an hour-- All in the same week.

When I make up my mind about something, that’s it.

Fast-forward 3 years, a lot of broken ego, burn scars, and life experience later-- I decide to leave the restaurant world as an apprentice, to start my own culinary venture: Bang Bang.

How did you go from idea to execution?

I’m still going [from idea to execution]. I think it’s obtuse to think that I’ve already done it. My goal as a chef (and businesswoman) is to always be learning; always be soaking up information and processing that into new ideas, functions, goals, procedures. Not to dodge the question too much, but honestly, I believe that evolution of ourselves is key to working toward our goal, whatever that may be. Frankly for me-- my end goal continues to change, the more I develop my business. First I was a pop-up, then I wanted to be a restaurant, then a catering company, or a private chef service... I’ve only now realized my aim, to build a concept simply rooted in honest, genuine love for cuisine and the high level of service which goes along with that.

How does the city you live in influence your creativity?

Los Angeles is filled with some of the most talented and unique people I’ve ever met. I luckily meet all different kinds of people, all different kinds of creative and beauty. It’s easy for folks to discount someone as creative for any number of reasons, but the real art, is finding what is uniquely creative about them. Everyone has something. I find great respect in the virtue of knowledge, therefore, I want to learn as much as I can from others. That’s what keeps me creative.

Has rejection ever affected your creative process?

Of course. Its sucks pretty hard to get the wind knocked out of you by some ‘yelp elitist’ who thinks your painstakingly perfectly poached eggs are gross or when you show up to an event 300 miles from home and realize you forgot your fryer. But rejection and failure is completely necessary. It’ not exactly grand wisdom for me to say, that failures set you up for bigger & better successes. Far more and far wiser people than myself, have praised the experience and knowledge that come from failures-- You become something stronger and better from it. I am 100% a risk taker, generally calculated, but nonetheless risk-taker. This means I fall on my ass a lot (metaphorically and literally). But it also means that I am happier knowing what works and what doesn’t. I am stronger knowing exactly how far I can push myself. I am wiser knowing who I can trust and who I can’t. I work harder and longer than I ever have before in my life, but it still feels better, knowing it’s something I love and risked my financial livelihood to do.

And now I always have a gear checklist when I load the truck for events, and I personally sign off on every egg that goes out to one of my diners. Live and learn.

In thinking about the things that you have created, is there something that you hated but the public may have loved - and perhaps purchased?

Oh, this is funny. In 2014, one of my dishes was named one of the 100 things in LA to eat, by Timeout magazine. It was a dish called called the ‘All in One.’ Essentially a hollowed out egg shell, filled with a sweet/savory millet granola, bacon jam, whipped egg foam, and maple sherry whipped cream. The idea was that its breakfast all in one [or two] bites. I was serving it at one of my Bang Bang Brunches, and the editor that later named the dish one of the best things to eat in LA, was in attendance. So I and my sous chefs are back in the kitchen, all plated up and ready to go--when we go to exude the egg mixture from the charged siphon, it wouldn’t come out. The egg had barely overcooked inside the siphon, and was too thick to come out. It had clogged the fine opening of the siphon nozzle. I don’t want to say I panicked...but I was less than happy. In my mind when each dish is conceptualized it all works together and should be eaten precisely that way by the diner-- so when things go awry (or what many cook friends and I call ‘curve-balls) what do you do? Well, you problem solve, because that’s your only option on the fly. So we ended up spooning it into the cups and it was fine. But in my mind that dish will always be a failure because it wasn’t presented exactly how I envisioned it.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to pursue the same career as you?

Be disciplined. Put in the work. Never underestimate the power of building relationships and valuing good people. Do good, be fair, be honest. Most of all, believe that the work you are doing is truly something special. Lastly respect and honor the creatures that make your craft possible.

What has been the pit and peak of your week so far? (a low and a high moment)

Pit: Getting off of a plane from working 7, 12+ hours days in a row--to going shopping to prep for another event in 24 hours. That was a toughie.

Peak: That moment after just successfully executing before mentioned event, packing the last box into my truck and driving home to drink a beer and finally sleep.

Who is someone famous that you think is killing it at the moment? In other words, is there someone whose career you admire.

So. Many. People. Chef Christian Puglisi of the restaurant Relae, in copenhagen just published a book called ‘Book of Ideas,’ and its wonderful. More close to home, Brendan Collins is a chef I admire, who is doing great food and building a brilliant brand for himself, simultaneously. Roy Choi is actually a sweet and smart dude. Great brands with forward thinking creative ideas I love: VNYL, Kit&Ace, Alchemy works, Create & Cultivate (I love everything about her brand and vision), Yellow Conference, the Moon and Co, Grand Central Market, Weiser farms, Middlebar, Haute Hope, BUNCH MAGAZINE

I want people to remember me as:

Passionate, driven, generous, kind.

If I only had 24 more hours to live, I would:

See my family, tell them how much I love them. Get a fast expensive car and drive to some restaurant along the central California coast, with my closest friends and boyfriend-- Then eat and drink and laugh and be unapologetic. Then then sleep outside under the stars, and thank god for all the blessings and beautiful life I had on earth.

If I had to choose a theme song to represent me it would be:

TBD... haha

For more on Becky Reams visit her here. To attend one of her spectacular Bang Bang Brunch events, check her out here.