Tagine dreams

FARID ZADI is finishing off a \o7tagine \f7of lamb shanks braised with nuts and apricots in spicy tomato sauce, the crown of a meal that includes four Algerian salads and the flaky filo snacks called \o7brik\f7. As he skims the fat from the \o7tagine's \f7red-orange surface, he slyly says, "This is the French chef in me. In Algeria, they probably wouldn't skim it."

Born in France of Algerian Berber ancestry, married to an American woman born in Korea, with cooking experience in five countries, Zadi, 39, has the sort of cosmopolitan perspective that probably represents the future of cuisine. He's knowledgeable about North African food as well as classical French cookery.

His bully pulpit isn't a restaurant but a Le Cordon Bleu course at the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, where he's training many of the upcoming generation of chefs. They're basically learning French technique, but Zadi makes sure they know the right way to make a couscous as well.

He's making his influence felt through his writing and food blogging too, and he champions North African cuisine as a board member of the new Pan-Arab division of Slow Food International, the nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving traditional cuisines.

"I first learned of him by reading his defense of Algerian food on eGullet.com," says food writer Paula Wolfert. "It was very touching -- so smart, so passionate, so directed toward what quite a few of us are interested in."

Training and passion are fine things, but the proof is in the \o7tagine\f7. The fact is, Zadi is a brilliant chef. Everything he touches explodes with fragrance.

North African food -- perhaps the last underappreciated Mediterranean cuisine -- has been slipping more and more into the mainstream around here, particularly during the last year. More and more Southern California restaurants now find room on their menus for a couscous, such as the mint-infused version on which L.A.'s Water Grill serves Dungeness crab cakes. Other North African elements are showing up too, such as the \o7merguez\f7 lamb sausage at the Vertical Wine Bistro in Pasadena, the Cornish hen \o7bestila \f7at Bin 8945 in West Hollywood and the homemade \o7harissa\f7 hot sauce that Hollywood's Hungry Cat serves with seared tuna.

As with the earlier influences of French and Japanese cuisine, we can expect to see culinary fusion (we're already seeing it in, say, the veal chop with walnut couscous at Studio at Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach). Our tables should be wonderfully enriched with North Africa's perfumed spices, feather-light couscous and earthy hot sauces.