Java with Jamie: Chef Sam Baxter on hospitality, seafood, sustainability

Restaurants have notoriously slim margins. Add in inflation, the pandemic and non-loyal diners -- making it in the industry is tough.

This week we visit Connie and Ted's, a West Hollywood restaurant hotspot for 10 years, where we sat down with longtime chef Sam Baxter.

"These are some of the menu items that kind of define who we are. I mean, obviously we're a New England seafood restaurant here in West Hollywood, of course. There are some kind of West Coast twists, a lot of West Coast fish, but kind of remaining true to our roots," said Sam Baxter.

That's not the only twist today as I drool over all the food. Executive Chef Sam Baxter lets me know he will not let me have hot coffee with oysters. It's never too early for oysters or an espresso martini.

Connie and Ted's has anywhere from eight to 12 different oysters on the menu each day.

Should I do East Coast or West Coast?

"It's all subjective," said Baxter. "Do you like the little-more assertive, little saltier oysters?"

The restaurant does all the traditional New England seafood dishes: clam chowder, steamers and of course a fresh Maine lobster roll.

Baxter has been the executive chef at Connie and Ted's since the beginning. The native Angeleno was working with his friend and colleague, James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Cimarusti, at the restaurant Providence, when Cimarusti asked him to open the more casual seafood restaurant in West Hollywood. The restaurant is named after Cimarusti's grandparents.

"We started as definitely being an East Coast kind of clam shack, was like the mentality, so the core of our menu is based on those items, like the clam chowders, lobster roll, oysters, but also kind of developing relationships with local fishermen here, which when we first opened was an underutilized resource, getting a lot of fish out of Santa Barbara, specifically," said Baxter.  "And there's species that come out of there that are like world class, and you know, people know spot prawns and sea urchin, of course. But there's also black cod, vermilion rockfish that comes out of there and they're all sustainably caught fish, which is also kind of part of our evolution as well."

Seafood sustainability is important to Baxter, who grew up a SoCal beach bum.

You've always loved the ocean.

"Yeah. I think it's just being a SoCal kid," said Baxter.  "I mean, it was too easy growing up in the Valley. It's like, just go right over the hill and you're at Zuma Beach or whatever it might be.

Did you always like seafood?

"Absolutely. Yeah. Since I was a little kid," said Baxter. "I hate to admit it, but like, birthdays, seven, eight years old, it was Red Lobster. Growing up, that was what was around. And I've just always had a fondness for the ocean, in general. I think at one point between maybe the ages of seven or eight, up until like 13 or 14, I wanted to be an oceanographer. And 'Jaws' was my favorite movie. All that kind of stuff."

Take me through the stages for you. You're like seven, eight years old. You love the ocean, thoughts of becoming an oceanographer.

"Then the thoughts were becoming an engineer. I thought, I liked to play with Legos and I liked math, so why not? So that was a track. And then I went to college in San Diego and kind of choosing to go there was also because the surf was really good there, so that was part of the draw," said Baxter. "And that's actually when I started cooking. And then again, kind of reflecting back, it's these things you kind of forget about, it's like, 'Oh wait, I cooked with my mom all the time.' Or at least kind of stood at her side when she was, especially when I was really little. And it was just making a decision that I didn't want to go eat fast food. I wanted to make my own food. And just started kind of the learning process, it took me to culinary school and then, you know, working in restaurants. And here I am."

Between inflation, the pandemic and notoriously tight restaurant margins, you would think Sam Baxter would be stressed out.

Has it been fun?

"Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't still be here if it wasn't," said Baxter. "I'm happy. It's good."

Is there a lesson in that? Like sometimes you don't have to have a next step, you're just content.

"Yeah, I guess there's many different mindsets. Like so many people have, 'I've got my five-year plan, my 10-year plan,'" said Baxter.  "I'm kind of just 'go with the flow' kind of person, you know, and take things as they come."

And Baxter says he's not working toward awards, but something much more simple.

I always found working in restaurants, it's fun to see the regulars. 

"Yeah. And here we have a wide-open kitchen, so you see everybody, say 'Hi,' got people coming up and saying thank you. And again, you know, this is like the hospitality business. I'd say that's something that's kind of -- not so much changed, but in the very beginning, you know, things were very hard opening a new restaurant, and you want to kind of like stick to your guns and be like, 'Oh, you want to take, you know, no arugula on my grilled calamari, or no chives on my lobster.' Like, no, no. But then it's like, wait a minute, like, I can't tell you what you want to eat. You know, we have the way we want to do things, but everything is subjective. Whether it's the type of oyster you like, or whether or not you want arugula on your calamari, you know, bottom line, just want to make the people happy, put a smile on their face."

I can tell you, eating all of this, he definitely put a smile on mine.