Community Highlights: Meet Monique King of Little Beast Restaurant

I started cooking in the late ’80s in Los Angeles, where I grew up. I graduated with a degree in fine arts- my art form is culinary arts. My mother is Puerto Rican, and I’ve always had a love for delicious, Caribbean home cooking. My mom is a fantastic cook, who comes from a large family with a strong culinary heritage. Everybody, especially all of the women, were phenomenal home cooks. They perpetuated and cultivated our version of all the classics, like the way our family makes rice, beans, and roasted pork. There are many different ways to do these things- some people put ham in their beans, and some people don’t- but it feels like that’s a big way that we cultivated our family cooking. We used to make pasteles for Christmas, where dozens of us would get together for this huge production and every family would make dozens of these Puerto Rican-style tamales with yucca instead of corn, green plantains, olives, and pulled pork to take home and freeze. Through this, I unknowingly became a lover of home-cooked food and a perpetuator of people’s home cooking. It definitely influenced the beginning of my career. Things change in the restaurant business, but that’s always been an underlying current- finding the soul of the dish.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?I would say it has- it never really occurred to me that I couldn’t do it. My first job was for two women chefs, so I had the example that women could be in the kitchen. Truthfully, every single person I worked for before becoming a chef at my own restaurant was a woman. I never sought that out, and I’m sure many women before me paved the way. There was one time when I interviewed for a sous chef job with a woman chef- I was qualified, and she invited me to apply for this job. But once we got to talking and she had an idea of my skill level, she turned around and told me she couldn’t hire me. When I asked her why, she essentially told me it was because I was a woman. She said, “If you’re excellent, we all lose, because they’ll treat you terribly, and if you lose, they’ll still treat you terribly.” Then she offered me a pastry chef job as a consolation prize- but I told her, “Just to be clear, I’m completely unqualified for this job.” Ultimately, she said it was fine and told me she was there to help me succeed. Under any other circumstances, it was an opportunity I never would have gotten.

We’ve been impressed with Little Beast Restaurant, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?It’s a small independent restaurant, sort of a mom-and-pop, casual fine dining. We have a really small staff and a really small kitchen. I’m a business owner with my husband. Little Beast is our fourth restaurant, and we’re about to open our fifth. I would say it’s kind of like a global bistro. Our staff is multicultural, so our seasonal menus are multicultural, as well. There’s soulful home cooking in every country, and we love being able to share that with others. We’re still in a very challenging time- my husband and I, along with our staff, work incredibly hard to pivot and keep up. I’m really proud that we’re still here post-covid and post-writers’ strike. Hopefully, we’ll be here post-tariffs. We’re very fortunate to have great employees who have worked so hard to pivot with us. That’s been the name of the game always but especially within the last five years. I don’t want to jinx it, and I’m not trying to be arrogant about it, because it’s definitely hard work.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?One hundred percent, The Bartender’s Manifesto by Toby Maloney. It’s so thorough, and it teaches you things that you wouldn’t even think about looking up. It’s more for a restaurant professional as opposed to the home mixologist. It’s definitely thorough- probably even intimidating to some of us regular folk. There’s really a full explanation of his thinking, as well as his technique and craft, rather than simple recipes. I also like Evan Kleiman from KCRW’s Good Food. She’s very down to earth and tells restaurant and food stories from all kinds of perspectives-  or a single subject, like corn.  Personally, I like Pod Save America and Jon Stewart’s podcast- he’s hysterical. I also liked reading the Obamas’ autobiographies and Fawn Weaver’s Love & Whiskey. We’re also really into reading vintage cookbooks. And then there’s my brother’s book, Two Truths and a Lie by Cory O’Brien. Normally I don’t enjoy science fiction, but his book was great.

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