Chef Dale Talde calls his style 'naturally fusion'

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Chef Dale Talde says his childhood in Chicago was a little slice of life from Southeast Asia, and it continues to inform his cooking today.

"My parents' house was basically like going to the Philippines," said Talde, who was born in Chicago to Filipino parents. "It could have been a house in Manila. What inspires me is what I grew up with. What I am is a chef that has taken his roots and is trying to put it in his food."

Those roots are on display at his Brooklyn, N.Y., eateries — the Asian-American restaurant, TALDE, and his roadhouse-style bar, Pork Slope. It's a blending of culinary cultures that he says is natural for chefs of his generation, a style he calls "naturally fusion."

"What's authentic to me is cooking Filipino-Asian-American food. That's the generation of chefs that I'm coming from," the 35-year-old said recently during an interview at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. "It's just what we do and are doing it well."