Chefs and winemakers can be a rough and tumble crowd.  Throw butchers into the mix and watch out.  Then there are chefs who also butcher.  Time to run the other way.  This spring my friend, Jo Stougaard (of My Last Bite), and I attended ‘Cochon 555 – 5 Chefs, 5 Pigs, 5 Winemakers’ in the Napa Valley.  The name pretty much says it all.  Both of us were curious to learn more about butchering, what goes into the process, and how it’s done.  This event sounded both fun and educational — and it took place in the Napa Valley.  The added incentive for me was that two of my favorite chefs were competing: John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant & Farm, and Bovolo in Sonoma County.  So one chilly Friday morning in February we set off on what ended up being a three day food filled adventure which I’ve been meaning to write about ever since.  Hate to use a worn out phrase but where does the time go?  So much went on during our trip, and we took so many pictures, that it would take hours of writing and editing to recount every detail.  This will be a somewhat condensed recap, then I’m going to let the photos that Jo and I took tell the rest of the story.  (For more photos look for the ‘Flickr Stream’ links below.)

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Lunch at Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California

Our first stop was on the drive up to Napa from Oakland International Airport:  lunch at Chez Panisse, the café not the dining room.  I had eaten in the restaurant (both the dining room and the café) a handful of times when I worked in the restaurant business in the Bay Area in the 80s and 90s but Jo had never been.  It felt a bit like a pilgrimage.  The restaurant and Alice Waters have become so much more famous since the 80s and 90s.  The fact that Jo, a serious restaurant diner, had not been before made it even more fun.   We ordered a number of dishes so we could really get a sense of the menu and the food.  Everything, the food, the service, the ambiance, was wonderful; we had a primo seat (we also had one of the first reservations); it was the perfect start to the weekend.

Flickr Stream for Chez Panisse

Dinner at Ad Hoc, Yountville, California

Dinner that night was at another hallowed chef’s restaurant:  Ad Hoc. The chef being Thomas Keller.  Ad Hoc being one of many restaurants he owns on both coasts of the U.S., three of which are in the small Napa Valley town of Yountville.  I had heard so much about Thomas Keller’s restaurants but had never been to any.  Finally, I was in one.   It was wonderful.  I don’t think it’s the pinnacle of T.K. hallowed-ness which would have be The French Laundry (down the street from Ad Hoc) but it was a fine runner-up; and it represented perfectly the idea of ‘ad hoc.’  I liked the casual yet professional  atmosphere and service.  The food was hearty and straightforward, no gimmicks, and was prepared with obvious skill and attention to detail.  A garden behind the restaurant provides some of the restaurant’s produce.

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Yountville is jokingly referred to as ‘Thomas Kellerville.’  He has three restaurants and a bakery in a town that has one main street and a population of 2,916 (based on 2000 U.S. Census figures).  Chef Keller owns Ad Hoc, Bouchon, and the world-famous The French Laundry.  Opposite Bouchon is Bouchon Bakery where we had breakfast the two mornings we were in town.  Beautiful breads,  pastries, sandwiches, chocolates and other confectionery including foie gras doggy biscuits were among the baked goods that people stood in line for.  I wish there was a Bouchon Bakery in my neighborhood.  I’d ‘take’ my coffee there everyday all the while pretending to be in Paris.  It is that good.

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Stop at The French Laundry, Yountville, California

After breakfast I took Jo on a tour of the Napa Valley, well, a mini-tour actually.  After walking around Yountville where we saw Ad Hoc in the daylight, Bouchon Restaurant, Bottega, Michael Chiarello’s place, and the retail food shop Napa Style, we made another pilgrimage, this time to The French Laundry.  Not that it was open, or that we were eating there, we simply stopped to be food tourists, to take pictures, to peer through windows, and be in the presence of culinary greatness.  We weren’t alone, there were Japanese tourists that asked us to take pictures of them to which Jo naturally obliged.  A side note here: when I was in high school in neighboring Santa Rosa in the late ’70s I took my prom date, Gabrielle, a French foreign exchange student, to The French Laundry in Yountville for a pre-prom dinner.  At the time the building that houses the current The French Laundry was a restaurant also named The French Laundry.  Years later when Keller took it over he kept the name.  The pre-Keller The French Laundry was quite good (at least to my 17 year old palate).  I’ve always wondered if it was one and the same as the place Keller now owns, and has made so famous.  Now I know.  I made my triumphant return.  Now to snag one of those oh-so-hard-to-get reservations!

Snack at the Oakville Grocery, Oakville, Caklifornia

Next we headed further up the Napa Valley to the little town of Oakville where the original Oakville Grocery is located.  I have a personal history with the renowned retail food store in that I worked as a cheese buyer at what was supposed to be the flagship Oakville Grocery in San Francisco back in the early ’80s.  I started just after the store opened and stayed for about a year before moving on to help film producer, Dino de Laurentiis open his gourmet food emporium, DDL Foodshow in New York City.  Those were heady days in the gourmet retail food-iverse.  Oakville Grocery was my introduction to the world of high end, fancy food. My days as a cheese buyer at Oakville are some of my fondest food memories.  It was fun to see the original store again after so many years.

(See below at bottom of post for Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops)

Butcher, Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats breaking down a heritage pig. Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Afternoon at Cochon 555, Silverado Resort, Napa, California

The main event, the reason we made the trip, took place on Sunday afternoon.  Cochon 555’s goal is to celebrate and raise awareness of heritage breed pigs like Gloucester Old Spots, Yorkshire, Duroc, and Berkshire Cross.  Cochon 555 events take place all across the country.  5 local chefs are matched to 5 local heritage breed pig farmers and must come up with dishes using their specific heritage pig.  The dishes are then judged by professional judges and the public who is in attendance.  5 local wineries supply the wine.  The chefs competing at the Napa event were Chris Kostow, The Restaurant at Meadowood; Peter Pahk, Silverado Resort, John Stewart & Duskie Estes, Zazu Restaurant & Farm, Devin Knell, The French Laundry and Dennis Lee, Namu.  Each chef created and served several pork-based dishes.  Butcher, Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats held a butchering demonstration where he broke down a whole pig.  Jo and I mistakenly thought the event would be five chefs breaking down whole pigs before an audience of judges and public — so not the case.  It was a tasting event with very good food from all the chefs.  The winner of the Napa event was Devin Knell of The French Laundry.

Flickr Stream for Cochon 555 Napa Event

Late Dinner at Bottega Ristorante, Yountville, California

After the Cochon event ended we still had room to have a late dinner at Chef Michael Chiarello’s restaurant, Bottega.  We both liked the food, the atmosphere and the impeccable service.  Chef Chiarello maintains the high quality that chefs and restaurants in the Napa Valley are known for.   During our three day eating extravaganza I didn’t eat one bad bite.  It was all, every morsel, stellar including the food at Bottega.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Breakfast at Bouchon Bakery, Yountville, California

Again!  Of course!  Where else?!

Stop at Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg., Saint Helena, California

This was our last day.  We had a mid-afternoon flight out of Oakland International Airport.  I, of course, had a few more things to show Jo.  I’m forever reading articles in magazines and on the Internet, and tearing them out, or printing them.  I’d seen something about the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. somewhere, had never been and wanted to go.  It’s further north in the Valley, up in Saint Helena, and worth the trip.  A tiny place chock full of dried sausages, salame, mushrooms, canned items, and bulk olive oil that is dispensed from a huge metal tank.  A foodie’s treasure trove.  As we were poking around, finding a few things to buy, Jo whispers to me: ‘Isn’t that Cindy Pawlcyn?”  I’d met Cindy years ago, eaten in her Napa Valley restaurant, Mustards, many times but I hadn’t seen her in years.  Sure enough, Jo was right.  We saw her in the parking lot and Jo spoke to her.  It was indeed Chef Pawlcyn.  Oddly enough our last stop before leaving the Valley was her restaurant Mustards.  But first a quick nip into Dean & Deluca – a new addition to the Valley since my regular visits in the ‘8os and 90’s.

Dean & Deluca, Saint Helena, California

I actually remember when Dean & Deluca was one store on Prince Street in SoHo in New York City.  Now it’s a global company with stores around the world including, apparently, one in the Napa Valley.  After we left the Napa Valley Olive Oil Mfg. we quickly stopped in as I wanted to see what this D & D looked like.  All the usual high end food products and produce in a gleaming metal and glass building.  If I lived in the area I’d certainly shop there – in fact as we were leaving Chef Pawlcyn was pulling in and waved to us – but I miss the old store on Prince Street with its uneven wooden floors and overflowing barrels of all sorts of good things to eats.

Photo by Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite

Lunch at Mustards Grill, Yountville, California

When I worked in the retail food and restaurant business in San Francisco during the ’80s and ’90s I made frequent weekend trips to the Napa Valley.  The weekend always ended with a late lunch at Mustards before heading back to the City.  When I first went to Mustards it was Chef Cindy Pawlcyn’s only restaurant.  She went on to open Fog City Diner in San Franciso, the Rio Grill in Carmel, and now has Go Fish and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen in Saint Helena.  I always thought Mustards felt like an old-fashioned road house both in design and menu.  The food, ‘American Grill food,’ was always good; trustworthy and dependable.  At the end of a weekend it was the perfect antidote for too much Napa Valley wine and the fuel we needed to get us home.  Not much has changed.  A plate of oven-roasted garlic, a perfect cheeseburger with stellar French fries and we were ready for the return trip home.  Our food-filled weekend coming to a perfect end.  Jo and I have been on two food oriented trips together and have had the best time.  She’s a fantastic traveling companion, and I look forward to our next foodie adventure.

Flickr Stream for Napa Valley Restaurants & Shops

Recommendation: Savor Los Angeles, Friday, July 30th, 7pm to 10pm ~ a sweets tasting event of one-of-a-kind bites from an exclusive set of L.A.’s best purveyors of sweet treats.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes at the 'Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee' event. January 2010. Yosemite, California

Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes are a husband and wife cooking team who own two restaurants in Sonoma County: Zazu Restaurant and Farm just outside Santa Rosa, California, and Bovolo Restaurant on the square in Healdsburg, California.  They are cooks who embrace a local, sustainable, ultra-fresh, from-the-garden cooking style wholeheartedly and without fail.  Not only do they have a kitchen garden at Zazu that supplies both restaurants with super fresh produce but they also raise pigs, sheep and chickens at their Sonoma County home.

John makes his own salumi having trained with Mario Battali, and at the University of Iowa Meat Lab.  Duskie prides herself in cooking high brow low food.  She likes to update classic American comfort foods using locally sourced ingredients.  She also competed on the ‘Food Network Challenge’ in 2007.  John’s style of cooking is authentic and rustic Italian.  He is responsible for their line of Black Pig Meats, bacon and salumi. Their philosophy includes no waste, and they use every part of the animal also known as ’snout-to-tail.’  They either raise the proteins they use and eat themselves, or know the person who does.  They are committed ‘to finding ingredients as close to their restaurants as possible, harvested at peak ripeness, and doing as little as possible to alter their natural perfection.’

Each time I head north from my home in Los Angeles to Sonoma County I eat at both of their restaurants.  The food is always exciting, with clean, simple, direct flavors, highly interesting while still being authentic, and the best food I’ve eaten in months. These innovative chefs have become my cooking heroes.  I recently had the opportunity to interview them at the ‘Chef’s’ Holidays at The Ahwahnee’ event in Yosemite.

Charles G. Thompson: As you both know I’m a huge fan of what you do.  First off, how did you become involved in the local food movement?

Duskie Estes: In Sonoma County the wineries are still family owned, and there’s still a diversity of agriculture.  We want it to stay that way because there’s so much soul in that direct connection to people over larger businesses.  When we saw what happened to Napa, and what could happen to Sonoma we became more and more dedicated to making sure we purchased conscientiously to help preserve the local small farmer.  Everything grows there, and all the proteins are available to us there, every awesome vegetable, the longer we’re there the more we get into it ourselves.

John Stewart: Very personal choices drive what we do, they’re not economic choices.  From a straight cost analysis it’s not always the smartest thing to support everything we do but it is definitely the right thing to do.  At the end of the day we want to be able to hold our heads high and know that what we did was right.  For me it all started when we were looking at our house and there were chickens behind it.  We had purchased other homes so I knew you could ask for things to be written into the deal like people’s living room furniture.  I asked for the chickens.  Our real estate person thought it was hilarious but I was like no, I want the chickens.

CGT: That’s a great story.  That brings to mind: there seems to be a huge upswing in urban farming.  Non-farmers, or city dwellers creating mini-farms at home.

JS: I think a lot of people start out that way having chickens kind of like cats.  If they have food, chickens do their own thing.  They’re kind of independent of you.  But you also have to be careful.  We had a vineyard in our backyard and everyone told us you have to put down synthetic fertilizers.  So we put down synthetic fertilizers, and then we saw our free range chickens run over and eat it, and we thought, wow, that can’t make sense so we stopped using the fertilizer.  It just goes from there.  Duskie did an event where this woman, Deborah, had Babydoll sheep so we got some sheep to care for the vineyard in a biodynamic way.  They can be in the vineyard and unlike goats they won’t go up on their hind legs and eat the fruit.  They wander through, they fertilize, and they eat.  You don’t have to put machinery through your vine rows to stop weeds, and such, your sheep do it.

Farfalline Pasta Carbonara, House Made Bacon, Farm Egg, Parmesan at Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Recently there’s been so much talk about the ‘politics of food.’  Could you both comment on that?

DE: I grew up in a political household.  My parents are very active politically but I’ve always felt powerless when it comes to politics.  To me the power I feel I have is purchasing power.  I make sure whether it’s a food related purchase, or something else I need not to shop at Walmart but to go to the small independent clothing store instead.  I make sure there’s a face where my money’s going and that it’s not lost out there to an unknown entity.

JS: I’ve read a lot of Wendell Berry and Michael Pollan, and in reading these guys you really see the negative consequences of the American imperative of bigger is always better.  The farms in the 60s and 70s passed the scale of where they really should be.  Now we’re seeing all the economic and environmental consequences from these farms that are so massive.  They’re not good for the people that work there, they’re not good for the animals that are raised there.  The end product is bland and boring.  It’s cheap and there’s a lot of it which Americans tend to love but it’s boring, tasteless food.  People need to start thinking more consciously about where their food comes from.  In Europe a lot of this was never lost because they didn’t have as much land to scale out.  Their farmers had to stay small and diversified.  We were listening to Michael Pollan interview Wendell Berry recently.  Wendell Berry for 50 years now has gone on and on about the loss of American agriculture, and the loss of small scale farmers.  Sort of the beginning of the end.  He may be a little alarmist and a little out there but a lot of it is rooted in truth today.

The sign for Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Eating ‘locally’ is probably easier for those of us living in California, wouldn’t you say?

JS: Yes, we’re lucky being in California.  Not everyone has access to what we do so we can’t look down on them.   But if a food revolution really does get going it’s going to happen in all those Midwestern states.  That’s where the land is.  It’s not going to happen in the Bay Area, or the West Coast, not even the northeast.  There will be smaller farms and more regional differences. Like how Gravenstein apples grow around us, but Macintosh, or Romes, or Empires grow in New York.  For a long time I worked with Berkshire hogs which are also known as black pigs.  They came from Iowa and it was great because they were organic.  But a lot of people have made the case that if your organic raspberry comes from Chile then how organic is it if it has been flown in from somewhere so far away? So I started working with farmers from Oregon with a different breed of pig trying to get as close to us as possible to lessen the carbon footprint.  We all need to start thinking about our purchasing. Whole Foods may be the best option for a lot of people in a lot of places but for us it’s not.  We drive by small produce markets that are locally owned so if we spend our money at them it stays in Sonoma County.  Spend it at Whole Foods and it goes back to Texas.

CGT: Before Sonoma County you were both in Seattle.  Seattle’s a great food town.  What brought you to California?

DE: We met in Seattle.  I grew up in San Francisco and my parents lived in both Healdsburg and Oakland.  When we started to have children we wanted them to know and be close to family so we moved down to Sonoma County.  We adore Seattle, it’s awesome, and there are so many great farmers up there.

JS: We worked for Tom Douglas [a Seattle-based restaurateur] up there, and that involved working with a lot of local farmers, and those experiences led to what we do now.  A lot of berries and mushrooms among other things came from people who grew or foraged them.  We probably knew a whole lot less about wine than we do now but we knew all the local farmers.

CGT: That must have been more of an urban lifestyle because you were living in the city?

JS: Yes, we lived in the city but we drove out to the farms.  It’s probably where I got interested in making food because we would leave the city, and there would be all these berry farms and fruit farms.  I started making jams and jellies, and canning.  A flat of strawberries costs $15 and they were delicious.

World Famous Pork Cheek Sandwich with Roasted Peppers, Salsa Verde at Bovolo Restaurant, Healdsburg, California

CGT: Was the Mario Battali connection from Seattle, or through his father [Mario's father, Armandino Batali, a salumist, owns 'Salumi Artisan Cured Meats,' a shop in downtown Seattle]?

JS: Through Seattle but Duskie and I were also doing work on the annual Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  Duskie’s still involved and has done it now for 11 or 12 years.  I went for about 5 years and we got to know Mario through that, then we met him at a party in Seattle, and I talked to him about curing.  He’s a great guy, he’s giving with his knowledge, a great teacher, a nurturer of people.

CGT: Any frustrations with living the local lifestyle?

JS: There are times where we live – it’s not New York, it’s not San Francisco.  There’s a lack of a concentration of people.  We often joke that we have a lot more fans in Los Angeles and New York then locally.  People that readily understand what we’re doing more so than the people who grow, or raise our food.  They grow carrots, raise rabbits, and chickens.  They raise all their own products so they already get it.  They never left this farming lifestyle so who cares if it’s grass fed beef? There’s grass fed beef right out their windows.

CGT: Are you able to get away to San Francisco?

DE: 3 or 4 times a year.  Or sometimes we have an event to be at.  We probably only go out to dinner once a year.

JS: Where we live there isn’t much diversity with low end, ethnic foods like authentic barbecue for example.  There’s great Mexican but not much else.

DE: Or like that Korean barbecue dude, Kogi?  Even that whole truck phenomenon.  I’d love to do a truck.  That would be so up our alley to do like corn dogs and sausages but no one is going to come.  I’d be out there with my corn dogs all by myself.

CGT: You’d have at least one customer.  I’d drive up for that!  I love Sonoma County.  I went to high school in Santa Rosa.  Back in those days — 1976 to ‘77 — my mother wouldn’t let us go out to Guerneville, or the Russian River because it was too dangerous.  It’s changed so much since then.

DS: We opened Bovolo 5 years ago and Zazu 8.5 years ago.  My mother moved to Healdsburg 15 years ago and tried to convince us to move there from Seattle and open a place.  We walked around the square, and I was like, are you crazy?

JS: It was before the hotel, there were only a few Mexican restaurants, real bikers not the middle-aged guys on Harleys but real bikers, and that was it.  It wasn’t like it is today.

CGT: Well, thank you for taking the time to talk to me.  You’re doing amazing things.  I’ll definitely be in again on my next visit north.

JS: Thank you.  We’re very proud of the progress we’ve made.  We get Italian winemakers who say our food is better than what they get in Italy.  They really know what they’re talking about.

CGT: Indeed they do.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

Chef Suzanne Goin of Lucques, A.O.C. and Tavern at her cooking demo at the ‘Chefs’ Holidays at the Ahwahnee’ in Yosemite.

Uhm, let’s see: three days of celebrity chefs cooking amazing food at The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite in the middle of winter?! Okay, I’m in. I’ll splurge to watch Suzanne Goin of Lucques, A.O.C. and Tavern give cooking demos and cook the final meal served in the Ahwahnee’s magnificent dining room. Sure I will — and I did. Last week Robert and I spent three glorious days and nights in Yosemite Valley eating our way through food prepared by four chefs: Suzanne Goin; John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant + Farm, Bovolo and Black Pig Meat Co. in Sonoma County; and Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant + Bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On a previous trip to Yosemite I’d picked up information on the Chefs’ Holidays events and was more than intrigued. And I was reminded of them often as I get regular e-mails from Delaware North, the company that runs all accommodations, concessions and special events at Yosemite. As you can see by the title of this post the Chefs’ Holidays have been happening at The Ahwahnee for the last twenty-five years. There are a total of eight sessions that take place during January and February. I chose Session 5 for a reason: two of my current favorite chefs were going to be there. I’ve already written about my passion for what husband and wife chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes do at their two restaurants Zazu and Bovolo in Sonoma County. They live their loves locally; easily within one hundred miles of where they live and work. Their two restaurants embody the local lifestyle and their food is amazing. When I saw that they would be participating I decided to splurge and attend. The extra added bonus of Suzanne Goin as the headline chef was more than I could ask for. And while I didn’t know much about the third chef, Jody Adams, I do now and I am now a fan of hers too.

Mirror Lake, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park

All of this taking place in Yosemite. I love Yosemite in the winter. There’s no one there. It’s as beautiful as it is any other time of the year. We were very lucky on this trip. We arrived on a Sunday and left on a Wednesday; the Thursday before our trip a huge storm dumped a lot of snow. By the time we arrived on Sunday the storm was over and the roads had been cleared. What was left was stunningly beautiful. A nice amount of pristine snow covered everything making for a true winter wonderland. The outside daytime temperature hovered around thirty-five degrees — not too cold at all with our layers of sweaters, scarves and winter coats. When we weren’t at the Ahwahnee eating we were out exploring this amazing place. This was a trip I could easily do over and over and over…

*Chef Suzanne Goin, Lucques, A.O.C., Tavern in Los Angeles, Californa. Author, ‘Sunday Suppers at Lucques’

The event took place over three days and nights. On Sunday night there was a reception to meet the chefs and we did. We chatted with Suzanne, John and Duskie, and Jody while eating hors d’oeuvres and drinking wine. It was a good way to start off the event. All the chefs were very approachable and quite friendly. On Monday at ten o’clock in the morning we met back at the Great Hall of the Ahwahnee for the first cooking demo: Suzanne Goin. Chef Goin prepared ‘Pan-Roasted Quail with Pancetta, Baked Ricotta and Sicilian Breadcrumbs’ followed by ‘Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts and St. Agur.’ Watching her cook I noticed that Chef Goin was very precise in everything she did. She new her next move; her mise en place at hand. I understood; she’d been trained in restaurant kitchens in France. Most chefs I’ve known exhibit this type of precision. It works, and is necessary, for what they have to do. She was also very giving in how she showed us to prepare the two dishes; answering questions, offering suggestions and making apt comments. Her two dishes were nicely refined, and beautiful to look at. After the demo we tasted the pear salad and it was really delicious. I’ve always loved endive and blue cheese together; the addition of the roasted pears added another layer of flavor and texture.

Roasted Pear Salad with Endive, Hazelnuts and St. Agur, Chef Suzanne Goin

Pan-Roasted Quail with Pancetta, Baked Ricotta and Sicilian Breadcrumbs, Chef Suzanne Goin

Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes starting their cooking demo at the ‘Chefs’ Holidays at The Ahwahnee’ in Yosemite.

*Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes, Zazu Restaurant & Farm, BOVOLO, Black Pig Meat Co., Sonoma County, California

That afternoon we all met back at the Great Hall at two o’clock for John and Duskie’s cooking demonstration. They made ‘Hazelnut Crepes with Nutella and Blood Orange Syrup’ followed by ‘Brussels Sprouts, Local Apple, and Black Pig Bacon Salad.’ John and Duskie are a little more country to Suzanne’s city. Duskie chose the crepes recipe with Nutella because Nutella is something she likes and because she likes to combine high and low food together. The idea is to use easy to get products with those that are harder to get in the same dish. There’s also a nice playfulness to Duskie and John, evident in this dish. One of the main reasons I like these two chefs is because as mentioned above they live locally, and because one of their credos is ‘no waste.’ They use every part of the animal; any organic waste from the food preparation process is either fed to their pigs or composted for their garden. In their restaurants many of the vegetables for the day’s menus are harvested in the garden outside the kitchen’s back door just before service. At their farm-home they raise pigs, have chickens for eggs and a garden. It’s a full circle lifestyle. During their demo they were relaxed and easy-going; they worked well together but it was also evident that they knew what they were doing. These are seasoned professionals. While the crepes were Duskie’s dish, the Brussels sprouts dish offered John his moment to work with his black pig bacon. Bacon that he cures himself along with other salumi that he makes. We tasted the Brussels sprouts after the demo and they were earthy and wonderful; the bacon, apples and sprouts working together perfectly.

Hazelnut Crepes with Nutella and Blood Orange Syrup, Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes

Brussels Sprouts, Local Apple and Black Pig Bacon Salad, Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes

Chef Jody Adams starts her cooking demonstration at ‘Chefs’ Holidays at the Ahwahnee’ in Yosemite.

*Chef Jody Adams, Rialto, Boston, Massachusetts. Author, ‘In The Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant’

Our final cooking demonstration was by Chef Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant + Bar in Boston on Tuesday afternoon. Chef Adams also made two dishes: ‘Orange Dusted Scallops with Sunchokes, Harissa and Olives,’ followed by ‘Scallop Ravioli with Pistachios, Pomegranate and Mushrooms.’ Chef Adams was such a joy to watch; she was funny, smart and also really knows what she is doing. There was a bit of Julia Child’s zaniness to her but she was actually in absolute control. When questions were thrown at her she surprised by breaking down the chemical process in certain cooking scenarios. Both recipes had long ingredient lists and many steps but she made it all seem effortless. She was very open to substituting ingredients; she taught interesting yet useful techniques – like how to cut parchment exactly to the size of your sauté pan. It felt a bit like we were in her home kitchen all around a cooking island pitching in. Chef Adams was unknown to me before this event but she has a new West Coast fan now. If I ever get to Boston I’ll be stopping in to Rialto. We tasted the the orange dusted scallops after the demo and they were among my favorite dishes we ate.

Scallop Ravioli with Pistachios, Pomegranate and Mushrooms, Chef Jody Adams

Orange Dusted Scallops with Sunchokes, Harissa and Olives, Chef Jody Adams

The dining room at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park

*Behind the Scenes Kitchen Tour

On Tuesday morning there was an optional tour of the Ahwahnee hotel kitchens. Robert and I were curious to see the behind-the-scenes of such a huge operation. There’s the beautiful public side but behind closed doors is where all the action takes place to keep the operation going. Sous-chef Beth Brown took us through the huge kitchens, storerooms and baking areas. I’ve been in a lot of professional kitchens, and I’ve seen other hotel kitchens but the size of this one was XXXL. The fact sheet handed out says that the kitchen is 6,500 square feet; the ceiling is 38 feet high at its highest point. The kitchen prepares 1500 meals per day for the dining room not including room service, weddings or special events. The bakeshop produces 400 loaves of bread per day. This is cooking on a massive scale. It was interesting to see what goes on behind-the-scenes in an operation this big.

The line in the Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen.

Bread baked daily in the kitchen of the Ahwahnee Hotel kitchen.

Sous-chef Beth Brown in the Ahwahnee Hotel pastry shop where chocolate truffles for the hotel sweet shop are being made.

*Chefs’ Holidays Gala Dinner, Chef Suzanne Goin

The final event of the three day food extravaganza was a gala dinner served in the Ahwahnee Hotel dining room. As Suzanne Goin was the headline chef she created and prepared the menu for the evening: Arugula Salad with Blood Oranges, Roasted Dates, Almonds and Parmesan; Maine Diver Scallops with Green Garlic Soubise, Chanterelles and Meyer Lemon; Alaskan Black Cod with Kabocha Squash, Golden Raisins, Pancetta and Pedro Jimenez; Braised Veal Cheek with Risotto Carbonara, Pea Shoots and Black Truffle Butter; Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Mascarpone and Pistachio Ice Cream. It was all incredible, wonderful, amazing — nothing more needs be said.

Chef Suzanne Goin and me. She’s holding her book: ‘Sunday Dinners at Lucques’ which she autographed for me.

Chefs John Stewart and Duskie Estes and me. I interviewed them for an upcoming blog post.

Chef Jody Adams and me.

Snow-covered Half Dome, Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park

I love Yosemite but you know that already. Attending this event was truly an experience I won’t soon forget. The setting, the chefs, the food, and the company. Will I go again next year? Possibly. I will give it serious consideration. It was that good.

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Reviews: Venezia: Food & Dreams by Tessa Kiros, My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur by Romney Steele, The Spirit Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices by Sara Engram and Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe.

My great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman, at a family barbecue in Waller Park in Santa Maria, California.

Introduction – My Life in Food

I have very fond food memories from my childhood growing up on the Central Coast of California during the 60s and 70s. I grew up in the near-coastal town of San Luis Obispo. Even though I lived in other places as a child, it’s my hometown. My mother, Dawn Goodman, was born in Santa Maria, a town further south on the 101 freeway; and her grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman lived in Orcutt, a small town just south of Santa Maria. Most of my memories are of my great-grandparents, their profuse garden and their sourcing of local-area ingredients for family meals. Their home was the locus of all family gatherings and many happy times were spent there. However, my mother, my sister, Traci, and I have our own food history of which I also have memories. My mother recounts much of it in this post: read on…

Recently I celebrated a ‘big’ birthday. My friend, Karen Roorda, devised the most extraordinary gift for me: my life in food. From childhood all the way up to this blog. She brought a large duffel bag to the party and proceeded to take out all manner of items related to my food, cooking and eating history including a Big Mac, large fries and chocolate shake from McDonald’s. Was I surprised by this? Yes!! My mother had told her that we subsisted on fast food when my sister and I were in our pre-teens and teens. Karen had contacted my mother without my knowledge and gathered the necessary information to make this gift-presentation. It was an amazing surprise and a wonderful gift. Afterward I found out that my mother had written Karen an e-mail recounting my food history. I learned a lot from reading it, and remembered things I’d forgotten, and enjoyed it so much that I thought it would be fun to share on this blog. It also shows a bit where I came by my interest in food.

Before I let my mother take it away, I’d like to point out that she did raise my sister and I as a single mother without benefit of financial security. Food and cooking were not really a priority as she had a hard enough time keeping up with everything else. She did get us fed, she cooked often because she had to, we did eat out at fast food restaurants for awhile. I have no complaints. We all survived. I thank her for what she was able to do for us and show us about life. Now then, here’s my mother, Dawn Goodman, writing to my friend Karen Roorda (I have inserted my comments in [brackets]):

Charles’ History in Food by Dawn Goodman

Hi Karen:

What a wonderful thoughtful gift to give Charles. My problem is trying to remember 30 plus years ago, as well as having given Charles all his history (baby book, school records, photos, etc.) a long time ago, but I will do my best. Charles was nine pounds at birth and as a baby was not picky, he ate everything. At nine months he had to be put on low-fat milk because he was too roly-poly. He remained ‘chunky’ until junior high school when he shot up to six feet and thinned out. I do not remember him disliking any particular food although I’m sure there were some.

Being a single mother, working full-time, and keeping up the house and kids, I did not have much time for cooking. Also, Traci was a very picky eater, and as result we had a limited diet. I remember using a lot of Bisquick — in pancakes with bananas, biscuits, coffee cakes, etc. But mostly it was the usual, over and over — meatloaf, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages (pigs in a blanket), macaroni and cheese (from a box), spaghetti, tuna casserole, fried chicken, pork and lamb chops, turkey, beef stew, potato and macaroni salad, Iceberg lettuce salad, coleslaw, and pizza. We ate a lot of zucchini, in bread, as a pureed soup base, patties and in salads. When pizza first came out it was in a box with a can of tomato sauce and dough. The toppings were up to each person. This was just before pizza parlors became popular. We ate out more often than not. There was McDonald’s, Chinese food, Taco Bell, A&W drive ins, Sizzler (they were just starting). I seldom used a recipe only because I made the same things over and over. This was when nearly every recipe was made with one or the other of Campbell creamed soups; and yes, every dessert had some Jello in it. We ate few sweets except for cookies. I did make a banana bread/cake. Traci took the recipe to 1st grade for a Christmas book of recipes the kids made for their families. In it was our ‘Rotten Banana Bread,’ as the kids called it.

I was not a good cook and did not enjoy cooking. Because I didn’t, I think it was in junior high when Charles took an interest in cooking. He made up a recipe and entered it in the once-a-year recipe contest in the local newspaper [Telegram Tribune, San Luis Obispo, California]. He didn’t win but it was printed. It was called Pizza Casserole. There was Italian sausage, onion, zucchini, and tomato sauce with Bisquick biscuits on top. We ate it often. It was good. One time I was busy painting the outside of the house when he came out with a picnic lunch he had put together. He made me stop, clean up, and go for a short ride in the country. We had a lovely lunch which I’ve never forgotten. After he had been in France and come home he started culinary school. When a close friend was getting married he and two other students did the entire reception as a gift. He has always been interested in good food.

We were lucky to live near my grandparents and uncle and aunt. Because the ocean was only a few miles away we had access to fresh fish, clams, and abalone. This influenced Charles more than anything. When he was born there were still clams to be dug up at low tide in Pismo Beach [Clamming is now restricted due to over harvesting]. Grandma Ora made clam chowder and clam cakes. The abalone were on their way out by the time Charles was aware but we did have them from time to time. Grandpa Rollie raised sheep which we ate [I assume it was lamb we ate vs. mutton], and all the vegetables and fruit came out of their garden. Charles’ favorite item was the homemade jerky our Uncle Herman made from deer that he hunted. We also had wonderful barbecues at the local park [see picture above], on homemade pits, and even in the fireplace when it was cold outside. It was a way of life fast disappearing. Favorite family recipes made by grandparents and aunts: Tamale Pie, enchiladas, Heavenly Hash – a fruit salad, Macaroni Loaf, Mock Ravioli, Hot Fudge Pudding (I think I’ve seen this in a box by Betty Crocker now?), Velvet Crumb Cake, plus others.

Dawn Goodman

Please Vote For Me: The Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook Contest: I have entered my baked papaya recipe, ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya,’ into the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook contest. If selected the recipe will be published in cookbook published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. To vote go to the top of my blog to the Foodista icon. Thanks!

My Status: Continued wet, cold weather here in Southern California which is nice for a change. Planning to make some hearty winter dishes, recipes. Also new cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine. Cooking The Cowboy Way, a review of the new cookbook by cowboy-chef Grady Spears.

My great-grandparents, Ora and Rolla Goodman, Orcutt, California

One of my favorite family stories is about how my great-grandmother, Ora Goodman – the inspiration for this blog – fed the hobos on Sundays. Sunday was pancake day at my great-grandmother’s house. Every Sunday Gramma Ora made pancakes for the family, and always made extras for the local hobos. They’d come by the back door and she’d pass plates out to them. This isn’t something I experienced but my mother did. She has childhood memories of this happening. The town this took place in, Orcutt, California, was a small town back in those days, and it still is. It was a poor town as well. The time period was the early to mid 1940s. The Great Depression was still a recent memory. There were still a lot of people living in poverty. My great-grandparents didn’t have a lot but they did have a giving, generous spirit. When I first started reading about ‘gleaning’ – the act of collecting leftover crops from farmers’ fields – I thought of this story. I thought of what I knew about my great-grandparents, and how spreading around the little bit they did have was true to form. It was probably also a more giving time. My mother tells me that the hobos would mark the houses that gave them food. A mark on a fence post, a pile of rocks, who knows exactly how they let each other know that this was a house that gave handouts. I love how the message was spread. Any hobo passing through town could easily find a meal. My great-grandmother’s house wasn’t the only house in town that gave out free food. Apparently it was a common practice of the time — and I love that. That generosity of spirit. The helping hand.

Gleaning has been around for a very long time. Historically, going back to biblical times, farmers purposefully left the edges of their fields unpicked, and unharvested for the less fortunate. My mother currently lives in the area where my great-grandparents lived. It’s an agricultural area. A lot of produce is grown there. She tells me that after a field is picked any leftovers are taken to local food banks. A practice that has endured for centuries. Ancient cultures promoted gleaning as an early form of welfare. Some ancient Jewish communities required farmers to not reap all the way to the edges of a field so as to leave some for the poor. (Source: Wikipedia) There has actually been an uptick in the act of gleaning recently. Our current economic downturn seemingly a turning point. The desire to live simpler, to reach out to others. An urban gleaning movement has taken hold. Urban gleaners harvest public fruit: like picking from a neighbor’s over-burdened tree; an untended orange tree is picked free of ripe fruit; trees that bear fruit in public places, parks, libraries, government buildings are targets as well. A group in Los Angeles, Fallen Fruit, has made it their mission to collect as much public produce as possible and give it to the poor, hungry and needy. Fallen Fruit has a list of gleaning ‘Dos and Don’ts’:

Ask first, or leave a note with your contact information

Take only what you need

Be friendly

Share your food

Take a friend

Go by foot

Fallen Fruit creates maps to publicly available fruit. Some groups distribute unwanted food to shelters, and soup kitchens. Others collect food that isn’t sold at farmer’s markets. Volunteers go into farmers’ fields to harvest produce that can’t be sold. Home gardeners grow extra produce and give it to local food pantries and soup kitchens. One such group in Washington D.C. started a program called ‘Grow A Row’. Participants plant an extra row or two in their gardens and donate the vegetables to a local food bank. Neighborhood Fruit helps find public fruit local to where you live. Their homepage states “10,000 registered trees and more get added everyday.” Another site Veggie Trader is for those with excess produce in their gardens looking for other home gardeners to exchange with. Food Forward collects backyard produce to donate to local food banks, and has donated 30,000 pounds of citrus to food pantries this year. All of these groups, and there’s a whole lot more out there, have taken the Victory Garden concept and created a modern social movement.
Maybe all of this giving, this generosity of spirit, is something positive that has come out of our nation’s financial malaise. It reminds me of the story of Gramma Ora’s pancakes and feeding the hobos. Her act of ‘gleaning.’ It makes me think of simpler times when the act of giving was just a part of life. No forethought, no planning. If someone had less than you, you helped. If they were hungry, you gave them food. It’s nice to see that giving spirit returning. I thank my great-grandmother for setting the example for me. Those were some very lucky hobos.

Follow: twitter.com/fallenfruit; twitter.com/backyardfruit; twitter.com/veggietrader; twitter.com/foodforwardla; twitter.com/snailwrangler.

My Status: Settling into late fall, happily. New cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: my personal, childhood food history as told by my mother, Dawn Goodman. Reviews: Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine. Bread Matters, a review of the new bread book by Andrew Whitley.

89 miles, about 1.25 hours, from my home in Atwater Village.

Lotusland in Montecito, California is a wonder to behold. I had the privilege of seeing it this past Saturday. Faye, a follower of this blog, and a docent at Lotusland, very kindly invited me up to visit. I took Robert and my mother, Dawn, along with me. Lotusland has nothing to do with food but it is so unique that I decided to write a bit about it here. A 39-acre botanical garden containing subtropical and tropical plants from around the world, Lotusland also includes rare cycads (the oldest plant species in the world), cacti, palms and euphorbias. The place is a botanist and gardener’s dream.A well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, Madame Ganna Walska, purchased the estate that would become the gardens in 1941. She spent the next forty-three years designing unusual displays with exotic plants. A series of gardens takes the visitor through a labyrinth of landscape adventures. There are a total of twenty-six uniquely different gardens spread across the thirty-nine acres. Gardens such as the Japanese, the Aloe, the Fern, the Cactus, the Topiary, the Cycad, and the Succulent to name a few. Her original purpose for purchasing the property was to create a retreat for Tibetan monks. The original name was ‘Tibetland’ and after the monks never appeared, she renamed the property Lotusland in honor of the Indian lotus that grew in one of the property’s ponds. ‘Madame,’ as she is and was known, spent a lot time and resources seeking out the most unusual species of plants, and often securing the biggest and the best plants available. She was a demanding, intelligent and extremely creative personality. She had a vision of what she wanted and didn’t stop until she had it. After marrying and divorcing six husbands designing, overseeing, and working in the gardens became her life work. She worked on Lotusland up to her death in 1984 when she was in her late 90s. She left the property to a foundation in her name, and the gardens are now owned by the citizens of Montecito.

The gardens are truly stunning. My favorite garden was the Theater Garden. A theater with stage and seating all in plants. Curved hedges and a raised grassy area formed the stage. Rows of hedges behind and around the stage formed the backstage areas where props were stored and actors changed costumes. Madame actually staged plays there often. I had heard about Lotusland from my mother who had visited before but I didn’t quite grasp the uniqueness of what it was. It’s hard to until actually witnessing it in person. The only way to visit Lotusland is to make a reservation to go on a docent-lead tour. As mentioned above, our docent was Faye. Her knowledge of the plants, and the history of the place was astounding. Not only did she know every plant’s botanical name, she was also able to tell us where it came from, how it grows, and why Madame chose it for Lotusland. It was a vastly interesting two and half hour experience. One I absolutely recommend.

Me, my mother, Dawn, and Faye, our docent.

Pictures don’t really do it justice but here are few we took during our tour.

Lotusland is located in Montecito, California, for reservations call 805-969-9990, or e-mail: reservations@lotusland.org. Website: http://www.lotusland.org/

My Status: Settling into fall, happily. New cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: ‘gleaning,’ or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer’s market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook and Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

Last week I had the pleasure of joining my friend Lori’s mother for a terrific foodie outing in Santa Monica. Lori’s mother, who lives in New York City, was given a very nice gift and asked me to be her guest for part of it. She spent three luxurious nights in a beautiful suite overlooking the beach at the Casa del Mar hotel in Santa Monica. On day two of her visit, last Wednesday, I met her at the hotel at 9:00 a.m. and we went to the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market with the hotel’s chef, Michael Reardon. We helped Chef Reardon pick out ingredients that he then prepared for us that night at Catch, the hotel’s restaurant that overlooks the Pacific. We spent forty-five minutes or so walking the market; Chef Reardon looked through the amazing produce, spoke with a few of the purveyors, and listened to our likes and dislikes. Later that night we returned to the hotel for our special farmers’ market dinner. Here is the menu that Chef Reardon created for us:

Pancetta Wrapped Figs with Wild Arugula, Tomcord Grapes and Taleggio Crostini

Alaskan Halibut with Piperade and Littleneck Clams

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Wiser Farms Carrots, and Potato Puree

Panna Cotta with Local Strawberries

The food was wonderful; perfectly prepared. No fancy tricks here. Good, clean, straight forward preparations and flavors. Honest cooking. The exciting part for me was knowing where the ingredients came from, and being part of selecting them. I knew they were local, very fresh ingredients because I was with the chef when he chose them. Both Lori’s mother and I were very pleased with our meal. Every dish was prepared with care and an eye for detail. The short ribs were so good that Lori’s mother made a reservation for the next night on our way out so she could have them again. Some of the menu items that Chef Reardon picked out at the farmers’ market included the figs, arugula and the Tomcord grapes in the fig dish. I’d never heard of Tomcord grapes before, and just as the name implies, they’re a cross between a Thompson seedless and a Concord grape. To make the piperade for the halibut, he used several varieties of peppers from the market. Wiser Farms is a well-known local, organic farm that supplies many of the local farmers’ markets and chefs with amazing produce. The carrots and potatoes in the short ribs dish came from Wiser Farms. And the strawberries in the panna cotta came from Harry’s Berries at the market. Harry’s Berries is a berry farm out of Oxnard, California.Chef Reardon oversees the restaurants at three properties in the Edward Thomas Collection (ETC) of hotels: Shutters on the Beach and Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, and Hotel Andalucia in Santa Barbara. He has also cooked at Tra Vigne, and Cantinetta and Wine Bar in the Napa Valley. While living on the East Coast he had his own restaurant, Bistro Zella in Upstate New York. His early cooking days found him in the kitchen of the legendary New York restaurant Le Bernardin.

The day and evening were a pleasure. I thank Lori’s mother for inviting me to be her guest. And I thank Chef Reardon for a delicious and enjoyable meal at Catch.

My Status: Settling into fall, happily. New cookbooks to try, some to review; new kitchen equipment to try out. More cooking, eating, writing, blogging coming soon.

Upcoming Posts: ‘gleaning,’ or the act of gathering public produce, or leftover farmer’s market produce, and giving it to the poor, needy and hungry. A history of the movement, and those that are involved with it. Reviews: The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook and Cooking Light, a review of the redesign of the Time Inc. magazine.

4.2 miles, about 12 minutes, from my home in Atwater Village.

I like my neighborhood. It feels like a neighborhood. In Los Angeles that’s saying something. Neighborhoods here can comprise large geographical areas. Maybe they’re actually more ‘areas’ than neighborhoods. I’ve lived in other areas of L.A.: the Fairfax district, Hollywood, West Hollywood. I moved to the eastside of Los Angeles in 1999; to Silver Lake. I quickly fell into the whole scene, the Silver Lake vibe. It reminded me of San Francisco, the East Village in New York: it wasn’t L.A. Funky, more laid back, more creative, more mixed: socially, economically, racially. I’d found my L.A. home. It all worked for me. I now live in Atwater Village — really just Silver Lake adjacent. Still quite happy in the neighborhood.

One of the reasons I like my ‘hood so much is the preponderance of locally owned and operated businesses: cafes, restaurants, bars, stores and shops. Auntie Em’s Kitchen is one such local business. Located in Eagle Rock, a neighborhood to the east of Atwater Village, it’s a longtime fixture in the East Side dining establishment. Owned by the indefatigable Chef Terri Wahl, the food is local, seasonal and prepared and served with a down home spirit that makes the dining experience fun and relaxing.

Robert and I had lunch there the other day. The place reminded me so much of the funky, vegetarian, hippy places I used to see all along Haight Street in San Francisco in the early 80s. Things at Auntie Em’s are loose around the edges, very laid back. Want coffee? Go to the self-serve coffee island and help yourself. The room we were seated in had a reach-in refrigerator that the cooks came to for supplies. In the back was a refrigerator case full of cheeses for sale. Not only does Auntie Em’s have a cafe and bakery but they also cater, sell housewares, condiments, sweets and cheese, and they recently began a farmer’s market produce delivery service. I signed up for the produce delivery and I love it. Terri and her staff keep a keen eye out for whatever is fresh and seasonal. They shop at the local farmer’s markets, and they work with local farmers and purveyors to keep up with what is seasonably available. The restaurant’s menu changes according to what is fresh and available.

We both ordered salads; Robert had the Tossed Cobb — chicken breast, apple wood smoked bacon, avocado, blue cheese, egg, tomatoes, scallions and romaine lettuce tossed with a house dressing. I had the Grilled Steak — thinly sliced marinated skirt steak, tomatoes, caramelized onions and blue cheese served on baby greens. The waitress told us that the first thing they were famous for was the Cobb salad. The next thing was the red velvet cupcake — a mini one of which came with the check gratis.

Auntie Em’s Kitchen is a full-service fresh, organic, local and sustainable operation. My kind of place. I am glad it’s part of my neighborhood.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReportMy Status: enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: ‘The Barcelona Cookbook’. ]]> http://www.100miles.com/the-local-report-auntie-ems-kitchen/feed/ 1 http://www.100miles.com/gardening-auntie-ems-produce-delivery/ http://www.100miles.com/gardening-auntie-ems-produce-delivery/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:11:00 +0000 Charles Thompson http://100miles.com/?p=45

Me, age 2 1/2, helping water Grampa Rollie’s garden, Arroyo Grande, California, March 1962.

Gardening

Gardens were a big part of my childhood. As long as they were alive my great-grandparents, Rolla and Ora Goodman, had a bountiful garden. Lucky for me they both lived until I was in my teens. The garden I remember the most, and spent the most time in, and ate the most food from, was the one they had at their modest little home in Orcutt, California, along the Central Coast of California. Each visit my sister, Traci, and I would spend hours down in the garden; eating strawberries right off the vine, pulling up carrots for the mid-day meal, helping Grampa Rollie water or weed. I learned a tremendous amount about gardening from them, and from helping out in their garden.

When I was around eleven or twelve my mother let me plant a few rows of vegetables in our backyard. We were living in San Luis Obispo, also on the Central California Coast, not far from my great-grandparents, and I wanted to apply what I had learned from them. I think I planted some zucchini, Swiss chard and tomatoes, maybe a few other things. And I believe I was able to get a small harvest from it. Our neighbors, across Pismo Street, were Mr. and Mrs. Tanner, and he was quite the gardener. I spent a lot of time with him in his garden. He had the touch; his plants were healthy and very productive. He sent me home with zucchini, tomatoes and any other surplus he had each time I crossed the street to visit him. He also came over and offered his advice about my fledgling few rows. After my first few successes, and after eating my own home grown vegetables, gardening really got under my skin.

Then I grew up. I went to live in Europe, then San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. Gardening quickly took a back seat to living life in the big city. To work, school, and a busy social life. I lived in apartments not in houses with yards; there was no real property to plant a garden. I currently live in a condo with little available outdoor space. A poor excuse, I know that many people find ways to plant vegetables in very small areas but it’s my excuse nonetheless. I replaced ‘garden fresh’ with ‘farmer’s market fresh’ and at least I had that. Enter Auntie Em’s Kitchen in Eagle Rock, California — a mere 4.2 miles, 12 minute drive from my home in Atwater Village.

Auntie Em’s Organic Produce and Dinner Delivery

Auntie Em’s is quite the food enterprise. Located on Eagle Rock Boulevard, there’s a cafe and bakery that serves fresh, healthy food using ’seasonally available fruit, vegetables, meats, poultry and fish’. The cafe menu and bakery items offered change according to what is seasonally available. My kind of place! They also have a marketplace that offers cheeses, condiments, sweets, Auntie Em’s frozen dishes, tableware and gift baskets; and they offer full catering services. Their newest venture is a farmer’s market produce delivery service: ‘Auntie Em’s Organic Produce and Dinner Delivery’. The service brings ‘locally grown, organic, seasonal produce and heatable meals and baked goods to your doorstep’. I am in my third week. And I love it.

They go around to local farmer’s markets, gather whatever is fresh, seasonal and wonderful, and deliver it to my doorstep once a week. The produce they have chosen has been top notch: fresh and full of flavor. It lasts longer than anything I buy in a grocery store. Some of the local farms that the produce comes from are Wieser Farms, South Central Organic Farms, McGrath Family Farms, K and K Farms, Jiminez Farms, Tutti Frutti Farms and Finley Farms. My delivery arrives on Monday afternoons but on Sunday an e-mail arrives with a list of the items to expect; often there are notations about a specific item, a way to prepare it, or store it. Usually there’s a suggested recipe for one or two of the items. Have I said I love this? It’s almost like having my own garden — okay, okay, I did say ‘almost.’ Another reason I like it is I had been finding it difficult to get to my local farmer’s market on a regular basis depending on what else was going on in my life. It has been a perfect solution. I have yet to try the reheat-able meals and baked goods as the produce is more than enough to feed me for a week but I will try them soon.

Last week’s e-mail had an additional touch: a story written by Auntie Em’s owner, Terri Wahl, about her gardening trials and tribulations over the years. I found it so interesting and charming that I asked her if I could re-post it, and she agreed. As you will see gardening is not always easy but as both Teri and I know it is immensely satisfying. When the carrot you put in your dinner salad comes out of the garden your hands planted, there’s no feeling, or taste, quite like it.

In Terri Wahl’s own words…

I have such a giant respect for farmers — especially organic farmers after the trials and tribulations with my own garden. I have had a garden every year, in every apartment, duplex and now the house that I live in. When I was eighteen, I moved out of my parent’s house, into a 4-plex. I was on the second story. I started a little garden in pots on the balcony. Herbs, cherry tomatoes and carrots. The carrots didn’t do too well, the herbs did pretty well, and the cherry tomatoes grew like weeds. My mother was always an avid gardener. She had compost piles before it was the cool thing to do. She explained to me that the things that I planted in pots would do much better if they were in the ground. More nutrients, more water, more sunlight. I dug up parts of yards in rented apartments to plant my little gardens (boy were the landlords pissed). I tore out the ugly perennials the gardeners planted in front of another apartment I lived in and planted away (not enough sun there). But I never gave up.

There were successes along the way, even great veggies that I grew. Back then if you saw mold on the leaves of a zucchini plant or motes on the underside of the leaves of a tomato plant, it was fine to blast them with some crazy toxic anti bug spray. Back then it was also fine to sprinkle everything with some kind of powder that would make everything grow huge. But over the years we have all learned that these pesticides and sprays were harmful, and not the proper way to garden or eat. In the house my husband and I live in now I have had an organic garden plot in four or five different places on our hillside backyard. One place was too shady, one place smack in the way. THEN three years ago, the attack of the gophers. I really thought I’d found the absolute perfect spot. My pastry chef, Michael, and I dug it over, added organic Amend and compost, measured out the perfect rows, and planted every row from seed: heirloom carrots, heirloom beets, Easter egg radishes, leeks, Little Gem lettuces, and rows of different herbs.

I really thought that this was going to be the best and most prolific garden yet. We did everything right. I had plans to use all the produce at the restaurant, and to eat from the garden at home and not buy produce for months, and then we would turn the soil and rotate the crops! Oh yeah, I had it down. I thought I was such a pro. The garden was growing beautifully. Giant green carrot fronds; the beet greens above ground looked so tender and tasty. Then all of a sudden there were two or three carrots, or radishes gone from the end of the rows. The next morning more were gone. I thought my dogs might be digging them up but there were no digging holes. I picked some of the other carrots to see what was up, and all that came out were the green fronds — no carrots attached. Same with the beets and radishes. SOMETHING was eating them from underneath. My mom came over and saw the little gopher hole about five feet away right away. I got a hose and filled up every hole with water. Flood them out! To no avail. I went online and looked up ‘humane’ ways to trap them. Not one thing worked. I was so pissed that I stormed down to Home Depot and bought six packs of these crazy big fire cracker-looking things that you’re supposed to light and shove down the holes to smoke them out. I would stop at nothing to get them. I paid some ‘gopher guy’ hundreds of dollars to trap them. Nope! Nothing worked. It was definitely a ‘Caddy Shack’ situation in my yard. I sadly let my garden die from no water. They were not going to have my lovely garden.

Two sad years went by, and I refused to plant a vegetable garden. This year my husband suggested a new location up and away from all the gopher activity. So I planted another garden. Skeptical at first, but I took the precautions just in case they decided to come up hill to have a nibble on my new garden. I wrapped roots in wire mesh, and the garden started to grow. I had the humane trap guy come back (I negotiated a lower price) and set kill free traps. SO far so good. The score is even though. They ate a zucchini plant and eggplant plant. They literally sucked the whole thing underground, top leaves and all. Gone! But when they started to nibble on two tomato plants, I caught them. I covered their holes, and ruined their tunnel. So I saved those. Everything looks like it is thriving. I check daily (sometimes two or three times). So a tip of the hat to the organic farmers that do this for a livelihood. They battle this problem a hundred fold and have to use non-commercial, humane and organic ways to deal with all pests. It’s hard and frustrating. They always seem so positive and upbeat, and I am always so excited to taste and see their bounty.

Reprinted courtesy of Terri Wahl, Auntie Em’s Kitchen, Eagle Rock, California

My Status: it’s still hot in Los Angeles – upper 90s, summer is really here; enjoying all the summer produce; writing, cooking, blogging and eating!

Upcoming Posts: The Wedge Salad: a recipe, the origins of the salad and of Iceberg lettuce. Review: ‘The Barcelona Cookbook’. Pimientos del Padrón: a recipe and pictures from a weekend pepper cooking session with my Galician friend, Júrgio.