106
NOVEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
IT’S NOT UNTIL I’M LYING FLAT
on my
stomach on a steep, muddy hill off a four-
lane road somewhere outside Los Angeles
that I recognize the lengths towhichKerry
Clasby will go for watercress.
Minutes before, we pulled the car over,
clambered past a guardrail and descended
a precipitous 50-foot slope stubbled with
sticker bushes. At the bottom was a
stream, which offered uneasy crossing
via a crooked path of slippery rocks. On
the other side: a sca ered handful of wild
watercress and celery plants. Clasby hap-
pened upon this patch years ago while
out on a hike. Wild watercress is uniquely
delicious and nutrient-rich, and lasts only
one or two days after a rainstorm, she
says—meaning serious cooks will pay a
small fortune for it. (One condition of her
showing the patch to me was that I not
reveal the location.)
Produce in hand, Clasby started nimbly
back up the hill. I immediately fell behind.
“
Think of the leaves on the ground as steps
andyou’ll get right up,” she said. I lumbered
awkwardly and, with just a fewmore steps
to go, went right down. “Grab a tree trunk!”
she yelled from the top as I floundered
helplessly in the dirt.
All this, I think, for a bit of watercress.
I first met 53-year-old Kerry Clasby
last year, though I didn’t know who she
was at the time. Not many outside the
culinary realm do. It was at a Manha an
dinner party hosted by chef Kris Morn-
ingstar, whose restaurant inside the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art, Ray’s
and Stark Bar, is widely lauded as one
of L.A.’s best; the party was to introduce
New Yorkers to his cooking. I sat next to
Clasby, a slender and energetic woman
with silvery shoulder-length hair, an easy
laugh and, as it happened, five avocados
in her purse.
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