Garden To Table Restaurants

With land a premium here on the Peninsula and the Salinas Valley at the back door, much of the produce in our local restaurants is purchased.

The Construction Of The Living Wall At The LALLAgrill

Many of those items come from smaller family farms that grow first and then go offer Chef's their pick of specialty items.

Pat Ottone at the LALLAgrill overcomes the limited space issue by growning his own herbs on a living wall.

Zapotec Pleated Tomato

Chef Luis Osario harvests fresh herbs for LALLAgrill and LALLApalooza right on the patio outside the door.

Jon Kaskey partner at Paradise Catering in Carmel Valley already has acres and gives the "Garden Update."

Yellow Ruffled

As of last call Jon and Nancy had just returned from a food tour in Italy. Currently they have 150 tomatoes in the ground with burried soaker hoses and organic compost from their catering. They have 150 more tomatoes in planters ready to go in the ground, and 200 more seedlings in growing boxes getting ready for transplant. Varieties include:
Yellow ruffled, a stuffer that has 2 to 3-inch fruit, deeply pleated like an accordion, with a hollow seed cavity perfect for stuffing. Pleasing, mild flavor.

Black Cherry

Pleated Zapotec a highly pleated pink fruit that is very unique. Good flavor and great presentation when sliced.

Black Cherry Plants produce a good quantity of purple/black cherry tomatoes that have a flavor that resembles Black Krim.

They are also growing peppers, cucumbers, and many of their fresh herbs.

This article in the SF Gate explores other Bay Area Garden to Kitchen restaurants.
This time of year, many Bay Area chefs have a split personality: They are behind the stove at night and nursing young plants in their garden during the day.

Jon Kaskey And Nancy Rohan of Paradise Cater Are Happy About Their Garden

The California style of cooking is ingredient-driven, which means that cooking starts in the garden. Take that a step further, and it's only natural chefs would want to cultivate their own.

Dozens of chefs have carved out plots either adjacent to their restaurants or nearby so they can control what comes in to the kitchen; many other chefs have special relationships with farmers who grow special crops for them.

It makes for some fresh, exciting eating. A little dirt on the fingers seasons the pot nicely.

Read the full story here.

Pork Shoulder 403

The pork butt and the pork cushion are both from the pork shoulder …the upper 1/2 is the pork shoulder Butt # 406 and the bottom Half is Pork Shoulder Picnic…AKA Cushion # 405.

The "cushion" comes from the Pork Shoulder Picnic (or Arm), The picnic shoulder is more economical than the Boston Butt, but also contains more fat than the blade shoulder. When the bone and fat is trimmed from this cut it results in a very rich flavored roast. The meat from this cut is excellent for making juicy barbecued pulled pork. The Picnic has a large bone and joint that runs through the middle of the roast, one side has a large lean muscle...that is the "cushion". You can also slice and pound them for pork cutlets, stew meat, etc and use them in any chicken recipe.

The 'whole' pork shoulder (15-20 lbs) consists of the upper part (Boston Butt) and the lower part of the shoulder (the Picnic). You can purchase it whole, however most times it is found in the store separated into the two pieces mentioned above. The difference between Picnics and Boston Butts are the bone structure......the butt has a small shoulder blade bone and the picnic has the front leg bone and joint. The
picnic is normally sold with "skin on", whereas the Butt only has a small fat cap. Both have excellent bbq meat, but the Boston Butt has the better value.

Durham Ranch Saving The Earth Through Cattle Management

THE FIRST MILLIMETER HEALING THE EARTH BROADCAST: Spring/Summer 2009 PBS, check local listings

Mother Nature she can take us or leave us. We told her we loved her but she didn’t believe us.
We’ve got this world of ours running a fever. She tried to warn us, but we did not believe her.
Michael Kiely, Uamby Ranch, Australia

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO —

Healing the Earth takes us on a journey around the world and addresses the most crucial issue of our time, how to solve global warming. “We would only have to improve carbon percentage by 1% on our 450 million hectares of agricultural soil in Australia and we could sequester all of the planet’s legacy load of carbon,” states Christine Jones, PhD. Stanford Professor, Christopher Fields, PhD. observes, “You can think of soils as a bank account that has the capacity to really build up very large quantities of capital moving into the future.” James Hansen, PhD, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies adds, “Our agricultural practices could be modified to bring CO2 back down much more quickly.”

This groundbreaking documentary includes interviews with leading scientists as well as personal stories from farmers and ranchers on three continents to examine how carbon sequestration in top soil can not only curb global warming; but increase biodiversity and fertility, lessen the use of fertilizers and pesticides and utilize rainfall much more effectively.

The “how”, according to experts, may come from an unusual source; the hooves and mouths of domesticated animals. Emmy© Award winning filmmaker, Chris Schueler, shows how effective grazing plans in the Sonoran desert of Mexico, the almost infertile land in northern Zimbabwe and even the vast farmland in Australia as well as across the United States have changed the topsoil into a rich, productive, moisture laden land. “One of the best reclamation tools that we have found is the hoofs and mouths of our domestic animals”, says rancher Ivan Aguirre. And the results are amazing. “I found native species of plants that normally tend to be in riparian areas, near arroyos or slightly wet areas in the desert; they are found throughout the land,” remarks forestry professor, Alfonso Gomez Lopez.

As viewers take this stunningly filmed journey around the globe, the local children talk about how important the land must be to all of us. Through their voices we grow to realize the critical nature of this message. And we come to understand: THE ANSWER IS RIGHT UNDER OUR FEET.

A Night On Cannery Row

Just under 100 people enjoyed a family night on Cannery Row including the option of a show at IMAX theatre and dinner afterwards at Willy's Smokehouse that included appetizers,Smokehouse specialties and sides, dessert, beer, wine, and sodas.

This event for ACF members, partners, and Culinarian students-and their families attended. Chef Paul Lee emphasized that this is a focus on the "entire culinarian", incorporating family members in events too.

General Manager Dana Neikirk and his staff did a great job beginning with the passed appetizers, and continuing through the warm brownie sundaes. As he addressed the crowd explaining their dry rub, slow smoked process he asked for a show of hands on who didn't know what a beef brisket was. A good sign for the training of this group there were only 3 hands raised and those were all under 6 year olds.

Chef Abe Vickeryand his kitchen staff provided flawless service in preparing a wonderful meal for a large group of descerning eaters!

Mark Jones, ACF event coordinator who was there with his wife Kristin and two sons said, "The service was great and food outstanding! I couldn't get enough of the Brisket and Willy's homemade chili was killer! My son loved the blue soda and my little guy enjoyed the homemade chicken strips(not many places make their own!) We would like to thank everyone who attended to support ACF and to all those that couldn't make it-we look forward to seeing you next time. We have two events in the works right now and I will keep you posted. Keep an eye out for ACF, Monterey on Facebook-coming soon!"

The Pitfalls of Being Fully Connected

Do you remember what we thought the world was going to look like when we were all grown up? Robots were going to do our housework, our clean burning hovercrafts would transport us around town, don’t get me started about how convenient particle transporters were going to make life? Beam me up Scotty!

Instead we run around with wireless bluetooths saying “what? What? WHAT?” People jump in on your conversations like you were talking to them. My computer beeps as it receives emails at 75 mph zipping down the freeway. Cars swerve as people text and picture message. What ever happened to simply crimping your eyelashes while driving?

Friday I walked into the OB/GYN’s office with my daughter. Doctor’s offices used to be one of those places that always requested cell phone silence. Not this office the two ladies behind the desk both had Bluetooth’s in their ears, and commented right away about “Dad bringing his work with him”. As we laughed and I explained that I was the “food sales guy” an email popped in on the computer with its telltale beep and the cell rang.

The call was from Larry King, one of my drivers and went like this:

Larry: Boy its loud there are you in a nightclub?

Me: No I’m at the doctor’s office.

Larry: What?

Me: No I’m at the doctor’s office.

Larry: The where office?

Me: I’m at the OB/GYN.
Larry (father of two teenage boys) sounds perplexed and the ladies in the office are now chuckling.

Larry: I have an invoice with two cases of two different olive oils, was this supposed to deliver today?

Me: Oh the blend and the extra virgin?
The ladies in the office lose it now, all heads in the office turn and a grey haired gentleman says “what do you sell again?”

One of the ladies behind the counter asks me “so you sell condiments” and I respond condom mints? I sell all kinds of mints. (be Dum Dum)

You gotta take the moments when you can get them!