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5 Questions for Jessica Koslow

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Jessica Koslow is founder of the L.A. preserves company Sqirl and just opened a cafe in her production space on the edge of Silver Lake. In addition to making jams, marmalades, chutneys and fruit butters, Koslow is overseeing the Virgil Avenue breakfast-and-lunch spot, turning out dishes such as brioche toast with greens, tomatillo, lacto-fermented hot sauce and fried egg; applewood-grilled sardines with fennel, beets, jicama and arugula; and kabocha with lambs quarters, romanesco and Baserri sheep cheese. And there’s no shortage of jams: How about Moro blood orange and vanilla bean, wild blueberry and tarragon, or Mission fig with Mourvèdre?

What’s coming up next on your menu? Spiny lobster lightly grilled over binchotan [Japanese charcoal].

Latest ingredient obsession? Jimmy Nardello peppers from Windrose Farm. They’re in our dishes raw and fermented. Fruity, sweet, a little kick in the seeds — they’re fantastic.

The one piece of kitchen equipment you can’t live without, other than your knives? My beautiful copper jam pans.

The last cookbook you read — and what inspired you to pick it up? “Mouneh: Preserving Foods for the Lebanese Pantry.” Edward Behr wrote about it in the Art of Eating earlier in the year; however, it was not available for sale directly in the U.S. until recently.

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What chefs have most influenced you? Victor Arguinzoniz of Asador Etxebarri and Hiro Urasawa of Urasawa. Letting the ingredients shine through with the softest of touches, while still imparting a strong point of view as a cook, is a challenge and a skill. Arguinzoniz and Urasawa are champions of this.

Sqirl, 720 N. Virgil Ave., No. 4, L.A., (213) 394-6526, www.sqirlla.com.

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