Next on Food Blogger Spotlight we’ve got Arnold Gatilao from Inuyaki. Inuyaki covers an amazing breath of topics, from sous vide to chicharrones to Filipino fare. He’s a Yountville regular, and I’m convinced that one day he’s going to know Thomas Keller on a first-name basis.

Besides the good eats, Arnold’s also a great photographer – and he does it all with a magically delicious point and shoot. You’ll see some of his photos throughout this post and there are lots more on his site. I’ve also got to say that Inuyaki.com is a shining example of how minimal design can be really, really well done. I love his layout.

So, what does Inuyaki mean? Here’s a snippet from Arnold’s about page:

“If you’re curious, inuyaki means “grilled dog” in Japanese. I’m Filipino, but I thought it was funny name since my people do have a history of dog eating. I’ve never actually eaten dog, but the name popped into my head one day, and I thought it would be a funny name for a food blog.”

There you have it. Let’s welcome Arnold, and don’t be shy – say hi in the comments!

We all have staples that we couldn’t live without. What three ingredients do you *always* have in your kitchen and why? I’m not talking snacks like chips and hummus, but rather ingredients you use all the time in your cooking.
Bacon, eggs, and pasta. You can do a lot with all three ingredients. My wife improvises a lot of fun stuff with eggs, and no matter what, unless there’s a lot of mushrooms in it, it’s really good. Oh, we also have cans of SPAM on hand… in case of emergencies.

Imagine you moved to the smallest apartment possible – a shoebox, really – and you only had room for a single cookbook. Of all your cookbooks, which one would you keep? Why do you love it so?
I just got Ad Hoc at Home, Thomas Keller’s new book, and I think it’s a great all-around cookbook with a lot of instruction alongside some amazing recipes. Plus it’s the only cookbook that I feel personally connected to since I’m a regular at the restaurant and have eaten a lot of the dishes in the book. It’s exciting to bring them home, but I’ll still make the 75 mile drive to eat there, too.

When you’re looking for new recipes (or creating one of your own), what is your number one priority? What makes you pick one recipe over another?
Ironically, considering my love for Keller and his books, I lean towards easy recipes and simple preparations. If I have the time and/or patience at a particular moment, I’ll tackle something more complicated, but ease is definitely the first consideration. For example, I love pad thai, but the dish has so many components to it that the prep time alone doesn’t seem worth it to me when I can get it from my favorite Thai restaurant for under $10. I usually save the complicated or laborious stuff for when I’m entertaining friends because the effort is worth it.

Blogs have the potential to be so many things, from personal journals to outrageous adventure reports. What is the most important thing you put into your blog, and what is the most important thing you get out of it?
I think my blog is an accurate reflection of who I am… it’s all over the place and reflects my varied interests in food. I think curiosity is the most important thing I put it into the blog, because most of the things I cook and chronicle are usually lingering questions like, “Can I make my own pastrami?“

The best part about blogging in general is making connections with other bloggers or readers who genuinely appreciate your work. I think it’s amazing that people actually read what I post, and I’m always taken aback when people tell me they are fans of the blog. I love it when people tell me that something I wrote made them hungry, but even moreso when they say they were empowered to cook the dish, especially if it’s something they’ve never considering making.

Bonus question: Humans are visual creatures, and great images are a huge part of a blog’s draw. What makes your personal photographic style uniquely yours? What elements do you think set your images apart from other pro food photographers?
I don’t think my style is all that original, but I lean towards macros, especially when it lets you see a variety of textures in the food. I like angles and lines in photos, so you’ll often see pictures taken from the corner of a serving dish so that the lines of the platter become part of the composition. If I’m at a restaurant where plating is an important consideration, I work to make sure that the essence of the chef’s artistic vision is properly captured. My wife tends to do the more artistic compositions because that’s her background, and I do what I can to try and keep up with her.

Thanks for chatting, Arnold!

See?? I swear, they’ll be best buds soon.

Click here for more Food Bloggers Spotlight interviews.

Here are a few of my favorite posts from Inuyaki:

• Chicharrones (Fried Pork Rinds)
• Confit Byaldi (a.k.a. Ratatouille a la Remy)
• Adventures in Sous Vide
• A Sous-Vide Christmas
• Making Tapa with Dad