Summer 2017 Publisher’s Note
“Let’s do it,” I said to my wide-eyed husband, when I’d just informed him what time we had to wake to go seaweed harvesting. I had never gathered seaweed off the Mendocino Coast, despite the fact that I grew up her and spent many hours at the beach. So regardless of the ridiculous departure time and the one hour drive, the excursion would be worth it—seaweed harvesting would be a new adventure! Sure, we could sleep in and have a lazy morning at home … or we could try something new. And I am so glad we did. We saw the sun rise on the Pacific. We saw the shore birds skim over the soft waves of a super low tide. And we got to take home pounds of vitamin-rich, ocean-washed seaweed thanks to the guidance of Terry d’Selkie, founder of Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company (p 18).
“Lets do it” got us out of bed on a dark morning and will be my motto for the rest of the summer. Join me in jumping into fresh experiences, like trying a new restaurant (see Wild Fish, p 20), or heading to a neighboring community to sample a different farmers market (or just recommitting to visiting your own more often—see p 6). Experiment with a new recipe, like Grilled Peaches with the famous summer gems from Langdon Farms (p 4). Or treat yourself to music, art, and an amazing burger in Boonville’s small town salon, Lauren’s (p 9). You can also taste what 75+ years of winemaking can produce over at Barra of Mendocino (p 16). This summer we can all move out of our comfort zones a little bit and have some new (and delicious) adventures.
Holly Madrigal, Publisher
Langdon Day Farms Bears Local Fruit
by Elizabeth Archer
It’s hard to believe that in a county dominated by acres of grape vines and pear orchards, fresh local fruit is a challenge to come by. But all of those grapes are turned into wine, and almost all of the pears are wholesaled out of county. Enter Langdon Day Farms in Potter Valley. Owners John and Grace March are trying to change the local fruit scene, one juicy peach at a time. “It sounds so simple,” says Grace, “but we just want to provide good, local fruit for our community.”
John is a fifth generation Potter Valley native, and participated in 4-H and FFA growing up. Grace was raised in Ukiah, and the two wed in 2014. Grace works for Redwood Community Services, and John runs the farm full time. Together they have a young daughter, Ansley, who may potentially be the sixth generation March to farm in Potter Valley. “My dad has worked in vineyards for a long time so I grew up in the agricultural community,” says Grace. “I never thought I would marry into it, but it means a lot to be part of something that has so much history.”
The name Langdon Day Farms comes from a combination of John’s grandfather’s middle name and his grandmother’s maiden name. The Days came to Potter Valley in the late 1800s, and the Marches came in 1912. Both families started farming from day one. The land was originally a dairy during Potter Valley’s dairy heyday in the 1950s. From there the land was planted in grapes, then pears, and was finally converted back to grapes.
In addition to the grapes he farmed, John’s grandfather started planting peach trees 25 years ago. Some of those trees still bear fruit. “My grandfather taught me everything I know about peaches,” says John. The trees are managed with a mix of organic and conventional approaches. According to John, “Peaches are susceptible to everything, so you often have to take conventional steps if you want to save the fruit.”
In all, Langdon Day Farms manages 80 peach trees across two orchards. Twelve varietals of heirloom freestone peaches produce fruit from early July to late September, and most of those peaches are sold via word of mouth. Says John, “When my grandfather passed in 2012, I inherited his list of customers, so a lot of people have been buying our peaches year after year.” As they increase production, John and Grace hope to work with the MendoLake Food Hub to distribute some of the fruit. After attending a recent Farmers Convergence—an annual event put on by North Coast Opportunities, which also runs the Food Hub—John is especially excited about the farm-to-school possibilities and hopes to get their fruit into local schools.
In their short tenure as Langdon Day Farms, John and Grace have focused on pruning old trees and revamping the orchard with new plantings. They installed cold storage in November which will enable them to expand to apple production, and they are also thinking about experimenting with pluots, Asian pears, and kiwi. Down the road, they may convert the old dairy barn to an event space. For now, they’re happy to increase fruit production and share the bounty with their county. “Nurturing something from a flower all the way to a massive, juicy fruit is exciting,” says John. “And it’s fun watching other people get excited about the fruit we grow.”
Recipe: Grilled Peaches (a March family favorite)
Ingredients:
An armful of ripe but firm peaches
1/2 stick salted butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Directions:
1. Heat grill to medium high (about 350 degrees)
2. Cut peaches in half and remove the pits
3. Whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg
4. Brush the cut side of each peach with butter mixture
5. Grill, flesh down, for 4-5 minutes until slightly charred and soft
6. Serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or a roasted marshmallow in the center
Mendocino County Farmers Markets
ADD FLAVOR TO YOUR LIFE (ALMOST) ANY DAY OF THE WEEK
MONDAY You can be sure to secure amazing finds at the Laytonville Market at Harwood Hall. Specially cured teas, fresh apples, handmade children’s tutus, and crafts are all on offer. Happy Day Farms grows tons of vegetables, and shoppers can always find fresh eggs. Kids are often seen dancing as local musicians entertain the crowds.
WEDNESDAY Even on foggy afternoons, the Fort Bragg Market is bustling and beautiful. The overflowing flowers and fresh vegetables from Nye Ranch are a wonder to behold. Bolliver’s Fine Food & Confections makes a huge variety of goodies like hand-crafted chocolates or shrimp curry to-go. The Noyo Food Forest has all the vegetables you need, and you can always find fresh caught fish from Princess Seafood.
THURSDAY The Willits Market is a hub of community life. The nearby playground is always full of laughing kids as parents on picnic blankets snack on fresh cherries and strawberries. Get locally raised Ford Beef, fresh eggs from Amanda Fairall, and gourmet dinners from Good Earth Kitchen. The salad mix from Green Uprising Farm and any raspberries get snapped up quickly. The Farmers Market Band keeps everyone hoppin’.
FRIDAY The drive to Round Valley is not for the faint of heart but it is well worth it for the Friday Market from noon to three at the Library Commons. This non-certified market is a bit renegade, and delights locals with produce grown less than a mile away, freshly made sourdough bread (if you are early enough), and Jim’s salsa (probably the best I have had).
The Mendocino Farmers Market is nestled beneath the eucalyptus trees. The whole village turns out to grab their fresh vegetables. Petit Teton may be on hand with produce, jams and artisan cocktail mixers. Fortunate Farm grows the most stunning gladiolas to complement their vegetables. Sample the stone ground, fresh pressed olive oil of Terra Sávia with a Fort Bragg Bakery baguette.
SATURDAY The Ukiah Market was started in 1977 and is the oldest in Mendocino County. It boasts the largest group of vendors of all the markets. From 9 to noon you can pick up not only right from-the-farm produce but also artisan cheeses and handmade baked goods.
Folks in Anderson Valley gather next to the Boonville Hotel for their weekly farmers market, where you might find sun-ripened tomatoes and other veg from the likes of Wild Acre Farm, Brock Farms, and Blue Meadow Farm. Petit Teton Farm offers chicken, eggs and pork from their happy farm raised pigs. Pick up some fresh goat cheese and crafts from the Patchwork Goat or sample Yorkville Olive Ranch olive oils.
SUNDAY Sunday mornings are relaxed and easy at the Redwood Valley Market in Lions Club Park from 9 to noon. This sunny market is the perfect place to pick up some fresh pork from Jesse at Inland Organics and veggies from Black Dog Farm for a Sunday BBQ.
Not Just a Great Burger: The Many Ways Lauren’s Feeds Us
by Torrey Douglass
There’s nothing like the fries at Lauren’s. Thick salty wedges, with fluffy potato inside and crispy golden skin, these fries will haunt your cravings forever after your first sampling.
They come alongside the best burgers in Boonville—fresh and juicy, with a large lettuce leaf that is truly green, a pile of savory sauteed onions, and a healthy slab of tomato, all arranged on bread that was made by people who would not be ashamed to look you in the eye (unlike their mushable counterparts at the grocery store). Lauren’s burgers are so great that, despite the other tempting options, it’s hard for my husband and me to order anything else. He goes medium rare beef; I go veggie burger. Salad or fries? Is “yes” an option?
Sometimes we do manage to break with habit and order other things. The husb swears Lauren’s meatloaf is the best he’s ever ordered in a restaurant—full of flavor and never dry. The salad with beets, gorgonzola, and walnuts is a fave for me. The creamy tang of the cheese with the nuts adds a richness that borders on indulgent. The kids have graduated from the simply prepared “Nora’s Noodles” (pasta with butter and cheese) to pizza (plain or pepperoni), and my growing son now fills his hollow leg with the nachos, a plate piled high with cheese covered chips, jalapeños, and homemade salsa. He would order two if I let him.
It’s not just the kid-friendly food options that bring families through the door. On every table sits a small stack of blank paper and a little pot of colored pencils. Making food to order takes time, and waiting is easier when kids (and itchy grown ups) can stay occupied. There are more art supplies, toys, and books over in the kids corner, too, which goes a long way toward keeping grownup- only tables happy as well.
Lauren Keating of Boonville opened the restaurant in 1996 when her daughter was five. The kid-friendly perks developed naturally from being a working mom. She had originally moved to the area to farm, and though she soon realized cooking food was a better fit for her than growing it, the experience left her with an empathy for local farmers and the challenges they face. As a result Lauren has cultivated a number of long-standing relationships with local farmers, purchasing regularly from Brock, Blue Meadow, and Petit Teton farms, to name just a few.
To keep prices reasonable, not all produce is sourced locally, but those that are get pride of place on the menu, gracing the specialty pizza and pasta dishes and starring in seasonally inspired salads. At the time of writing, you could order Pasta with Italian Sausage from Mendocino Heritage Pork, with mushrooms and greens in tomato sauce, or pizza with grilled asparagus, green garlic cream, and onions, all locally sourced.
Lauren’s is more than a place to get a well cooked meal that won’t break the bank. It is Boonville’s hot spot for art shows, live music, and other community events, like the annual AV Ambulance dinner, and the occasional end-of-life gathering. Don’t expect to take over the whole place, however. Lauren sticks faithfully to her hours and never closes for private parties.
Dennis Hudson, local artist and member of the ukulele band The Ukeholics, compares Lauren’s to the French salons of the 17th and 18th centuries. Before moving to Anderson Valley, Dennis spent over three decades as the lighting designer and master electrician of the San Francisco Ballet, so I trust his opinion when it comes to the visual arts. He says, “It’s a salon in the true sense of the word. People get into conversations about everything. That’s the place.” Lauren’s has hosted a show of his drawings, several Ukeholics gigs, and, when there’s a gap in the calendar, you might see his collection of over 50 ukuleles from the 1920s to the present on display.
Steve Derwinski of Boonville, all around artist-craftsman-designer and lead saxophonist of the band Joe Blow, agrees that Lauren’s is an important place for sharing local art and music. “Quite simply it is the only game in town. It’s the people that make the party, and Lauren’s attracts a really good crowd of people.”
Local artists of all ages get a turn on the walls. Artist and art educator Cathleen Michaels works with Anderson Valley elementary, junior high, and senior high school students on photography, poetry and bookmaking projects. Recent exhibits include a collection of children’s art from the elementary school curated by art teacher Chris Bing and the Photo Voice Project from the AV High School. Cathleen has seen students “gain valuable firsthand experience of bringing an art exhibit and opening reception presentation together for their families, teachers, peers and the larger community. Community members and visitors who stop in have the uniquely powerful opportunity of seeing student perspectives and voices through art. It’s really a remarkable kind of exchange.”
Dennis agrees, saying, “I admire Lauren for her matter-of-fact support of local artists. She doesn’t take commissions. We have access to be seen and heard, and you don’t normally get that unless you pay for it.”
The restaurant turned 20 last year, and in her usual wry delivery, Lauren reflects, “it doesn’t get easier.” She works hard to stay on top of changes in clientele habits and taste, and behind the consistent quality is a lot of thought and effort. Fortunately she has a new business partner to help with the load and eventually take over the restaurant. Natalie Matson lives in Boonville and grew up in Mendocino County, where her family has lived for five generations.
The mother of three boys ages three to nine, Natalie loves how the partnership lets her explore different interests. In the cold months she does a pop-up dinner on Sundays, where she enjoys a break from the floor and gets a chance to strut her stuff in the kitchen. She makes jams from local fruit, a tradition originally started by Lauren’s daughter, Nora. She also grows micro-greens for the salads and keeps the music events on track, spearheading the once-monthly open mic night and booking bands for live music on the occasional Saturday night. She cites the restaurant’s role as community hub as her favorite aspect of her new job. Of Lauren herself she says, “I’m surprised she can still outwork me.”
Kitchen Speaks Love
The Revival of Shop House Diners in Bangkok
photos & story by Geoff Thomas
For every travel article praising Bangkok’s eclectic range of street-food, there’s been a corresponding promise from Bangkok’s Metropolitan Authority to clear those famous food vendors from the city’s increasingly congested sidewalks and streets.
Until recently, those whispered political promises had been lost to the sound of crashing woks, the flashing of hot oil, the laughter of diners, and the clatter of plastic plates on folding metal tables. But in May of 2014, a new sheriff arrived in Thailand and achieved what had previously been considered impossible. In double-quick time, the newly installed administration united the once seemingly disparate branches of power and brought them together on the same page. Unfortunately for many, the page they’d chosen hadn’t been found in any travel brochure.
Having been given a bite to match its bark, in 2015 the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority finally implemented its long promised program to reclaim the city’s sidewalks and streets. And, much to the delight of Bangkok’s increasingly influential brick-and-mortar restaurant chains, by December of 2016 more than 15,000 independent food vendors had vanished from the city’s streets.
Removing such a large number of vendors from the dining supply chain has no doubt benefited the city’s growing number of branded restaurants, but with bricks-and-mortar comes costs, and while tourists enjoyed Bangkok’s street-food for the overall dining experience, cash-strapped Bangkokians enjoyed it mostly for the affordable price.
Today, as tourists begin dining on burgers, pizza, ramen, and sushi in air-conditioned comfort, and food writers scurry away in search of new employment for their well-crafted clichés, budget conscious Thais are rediscovering a dining experience that’s perhaps even more traditional than street-food: The-Shop-House-Diner.
. . .
Beneath an eight-storey residential building in a northern suburb of Bangkok, Apple is opening the curtain on her ground-floor apartment. Beyond three small wooden tables and a hand painted sign Khrua Bork Rak (Kitchen Speaks Love), there’s little to suggest that her single-room apartment has become a popular local eatery. There’s no notice to tell diners when Khrua Bork Rak will be open and no menus to indicate what dishes might be available. But according to the constantly smiling Apple, when you know your customers, such administrative niceties are simply garnish. Apple isn’t big on frills, and as each dish she serves is priced at around 35 Baht, or one US dollar, garnish is a luxury she probably can’t afford.
This evening, Apple hopes to serve forty plates of food, but aside from the steamed and sticky rice, nothing else appears to have been prepared in advance. I ask if I’m keeping her from the kitchen, which is half of her apartment and a small square balcony at the rear, but Apple just laughs: How can she prepare food before she knows what her customers will ask for?
An hour earlier, Apple had scoured the local food market and inspected the produce on offer. With only the outline of a menu in mind, she’d negotiated the keenest prices for the best examples of everything before returning home with her produce on a taxi-bike. So Apple knows what ingredients she’ll be using tonight, but the way in which those ingredients will be combined and cooked will, to a great extent, be decided by her customers.
As a ‘ping’ from Apple’s phone announces her first order of the evening, she wanders away to her tiny kitchen. On the small open burner, oil heats in a wok while she furiously chops ingredients: pork, basil, ginger, red chilies, green beans, and spring onions. Singing as she works, the first dish of pad krapow moo saap—fried basil with pork—flashes to completion in the pan, giving Apple the chance to respond to her customer’s text message. Laughing as always, she tells me that the customer had requested shrimp for the second dish, but the shrimp in the market had been too expensive today, so she’ll be happy to accept chicken instead.
From the open doorway, a regular customer arrives and asks not for a menu, but for the total price of the order that’s keeping Apple busy. With an appreciative nod, Apple tells her that the total charge will be 80 Baht and the order includes two small bottles of water from the fridge. A minute later, Apple hands me a carrier bag containing the two main dishes and a large bag of steamed rice, and asks me to take it to the taxi-bike waiting in the car park with the bottles of water, a hand-written receipt and the customer’s change. Seeing that Apple had her hands full in the kitchen, the regular customer had instinctively volunteered to act as Apple’s cashier and beverage server. At Khrua Bork Rak, this level of customer interaction is certainly not unusual.
Back inside, the volunteer successfully negotiates the food order for a newly arrived party of four, then fills their beverage requirements from the well-stocked fridge. Nothing appears to have been written down, and when I ask with all sincerity how Apple manages to keep track of the individual checks, she simply laughs and gestures for me to step back from the flashing oil.
Three hours into service the three small tables have morphed into one large table for eight, a table littered with bottles, glasses, and plates of food that the diners appear to be sharing. With all eight stools occupied, additional customers take seats on scooters parked nearby. As the evening continues and the food orders mount, random customers step in to assist. While Apple concentrates on the cooking, the impromptu cashier is now carefully bagging rice from the steamer. In between cleaning dishes, another regular customer has taken on the role of server while her partner restocks Apple’s fridge with sodas and beer. Tonight is a busy night, and while Khrua Bork Rak might be a small family diner, the breadth and willingness of Apple’s unrelated family appears endless.
At around nine o’clock, aware of what ingredients remain in her fridge, Apple tells the final diners what dishes she can produce, and each of her suggestions is eagerly accepted. At this hour, Apple’s customers are exclusively locals, residents from the apartments above. Not many months ago, these residents would’ve eaten street-food in the vicinity of their offices after finishing work then traveled home and vanished into the isolation of their rooms. But with the opening her shop-house-diner, Apple has revived a traditional Thai sense of community and made the daily lives of these hard-working Bangkokians far brighter with her food and laughter.
Tired but smiling, Apple declares the night to have been a success. Having served more than forty plates of food, Apple not only covered her costs, including the rent on her apartment, but also returned a modest profit. At ten o’clock, the curtain at Khrua Bork Rak is finally drawn. Apple’s fridge is empty, and tomorrow the daily cycle of market-to-mouth community-dining will begin afresh.
Tending the Legacy: Barra of Mendocino
story and photos by Ree Slocum
Many could’ve predicted that Charlie Barra, son and grandson of Italian wine grape growers, would one day own his own 327 acres of vineyards and winery with tasting room. Born in 1926 with pruning shears in his hands, 19 years later Charlie made a whopping $10,000 his first year leasing a vineyard, while also managing to graduate from high school. He worked hard growing grapes, and in 1955 bought the current Redwood Valley Vineyards on East Road in Redwood Valley.
In 1980 Charlie made another wise decision and married his sweetheart, Martha. She happily jumped into the domestic and business partnership with Charlie, contributing organizational and legal skills while Charlie managed the day-to-day business of growing grapes. Organic grapes, as it turns out. Martha told me a favorite Charlieism: “I’ve grown organically for 50 years. The first 30 I didn’t know it!” He’d learned the age-old methods from his grandfather and father, who never used chemicals in the old country.
One of the earliest changes Charlie implemented in the early 1960s was hiring seasonal workers through the Bracero Program, a federal program whereby agriculturists in the states could legally bring in workers from other countries (in this case Mexico) if they anticipate a shortage of domestic workers. The Bracero program disappeared and has been replaced by the H-2A program. Among the most heavily regulated and monitored programs in the states, H-2A is expensive. The employer pays the going wage set by the Department of Labor and all of the worker’s expenses: transportation to and from their country, lawyer fees to do the paperwork, housing, food, transportation, and doctor appointments.
Martha not only continues the valuable H-2A program, but has also enlisted the help of Sheriff Tom Allman in brainstorming how to get more local workers who need and want jobs. The two came up with a very new program called the Inmate Picker Program. The minimum security inmates who are chosen for the program are highly vetted. They work in the vineyards during the day, earn a fair wage, go back to jail at night, and receive their paycheck every week during harvest from Redwood Valley Vineyards. Martha has hired a few who have returned to the vineyards seeking work after their release from jail.
Since 2003, Martha and her grown children, Shawn and Shelley, have become an integral part of running the winery, the custom crush facility, the brands, and the vineyards. At 90, Charlie is now retired. He still has that twinkle in his eye, especially for his lovely wife, and has the quick-witted mind his friends love.
Winemaking is a labor-intensive endeavor. Fortunately, the Barras have loyal employees that Martha considers family, including three Hispanic families who’ve been working in the vineyard since the early 1980s. Roberto Gonzales has been vineyard foreman since 2013 and has 35 years of experience growing wine grapes. Katrina Kessen is tasting room manager and events coordinator, whose southern hospitality is a charm. And wine maker Owen Smith, signed on in 2013 and is instrumental in producing the current award winning, organically grown and processed estate wines under the Barra and Girasole (jeer-ah-so-lay) labels.
I visited the winery and tasting room on a cloudy day after Martha took me on a tour of the Redwood Valley Vineyards. Barrels of Pinot Noir were out of storage and spread on the wide cement floor of the Redwood Valley Cellars facility. Owen Smith, Barra’s winemaker, was tasting the various barrels to see which ones would be included in this year’s Barra of Mendocino’s Pinot Noir. According to Owen, each barrel has a bar coded label telling him not just which Barra varietal and vineyard the grapes were from, but also the age and type of the barrel, where it was made, who the cooper was, the toast level, and the length of time the staves were aged before the barrel was assembled. Also included is how many times the barrel has been used and for what wine. All this information allows them to track what has worked in the past so they can apply that knowledge to next year’s production.
When you sit down and share your next bottle of Barra ofMendocino or Girasole wine, raise your glasses to toast Charlie and Martha. Their fine, well balanced, organic wines add a splash of old world style to our palate and meals.
Seaweed: The Ocean’s Gift
by Holly Madrigal | photos by Ree Slocum
“Before we start we thank the ocean for this gift,” says Terry d’Selkie as her voice raises to sing a song taught to her from an elder. The song has calls that sound like seabirds and gives our thanks for the seaweed harvest we are about to collect.
Today is a nice low tide so the ocean ebbs and flows calmly as we clamber over rocks gathering sweet kombu, wakame, and sea palm. Sweet kombu grows in bunches on these rocks, and we navigate the sea anemones and urchins to cut the broad leaves; my hands become somewhat slimy. d’Selkie explains that this seaweed has lots of saccharides, which account for its sweetness. The Mendocino Coast kombu grows in long smooth ribbons and can be used when soaking and cooking dried beans. Enzymes in the seaweed help break down the properties of beans that can lead to digestive issues, like gas. Kombu is also proven to eliminate heavy metals and radiation from the body.
I learn a lot as we harvest. The wakame is broad and emerald; Terry calls this “women’s seaweed” because it is so rich in calcium and other nutrients. When it comes to the sea palm, Terry instructs us to cut the smaller palm fronds leaving a two-inch mop atop the stalk. This allows the palm to continue to grow and multiply.
We trim the seaweed in bunches and fill mesh bags to be hauled back up the rocks. Terry takes an “accept what nature gives you” approach with her seaweed harvesting business, Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company. She does not freshwater rinse, since doing so dilutes the minerals and flavor, and instead rinses the seaweed in the ocean. The harvested seaweed is sun-dried in the fresh air of the Mendocino mountains.
To ensure the safety of her product, Terry takes the seaweed to a lab to test for radiation (we are across the sea from Fukushima) as well as toxins or other impurities. Every time the results have come back clean.
Ocean Harvest sells their sea vegetables at many local markets. Terry has customers in Colorado and New York as well as some local restaurants. Café 1, in Fort Bragg, uses the sea palm in their coleslaw.
Any individual can harvest ten pounds without a permit, although the sea palm requires authorization. I, for one, am delighted and humbled by this bounty that awaits us just off shore. No need to board a kayak or don a wetsuit to gather these nutritional powerhouses; a song of gratitude instead seems very fitting for this gift.
Recipe: SPICY SEA PALM SALAD
Serves 6-8
1/2 to 1 oz. Sea Palm (crumbled)
8 oz. spaghetti or soba noodles (broken in half)
2-3 Tbsp. hot pepper sesame oil
2-3 Tbsp. sesame oil or olive oil
2-3 Tbsp. shoyu or tamari sauce
1-2 Tbsp. maple syrup or natural sweetener
2-3 Tbsp. vinegar
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 Tbsp. ginger (grated)
1/2 cup cilantro (chopped)
1/2 cup roasted pepitas (toasted pumpkin seeds)
Cook noodles according to directions. Add Sea Palm during the last 5 minutes of cooking—crumbled sea palm will expand, so smaller pieces are better.
Meanwhile, mix all liquid ingredients, garlic and ginger in a large bowl. Drain and rinse noodles and sea palm. Add to large bowl. Mix well. Just before serving, add cilantro and pumpkin seeds. Enjoy hot or cold!!
Wild Fish: Restaurant
by Sara Liner / photos by Ree Slocum
Many chefs and ardent home cooks dream to own a little bistro where the focus of the menu can be placed entirely on the seasonality, locality and integrity of its ingredients. For Liz and Kelvin Jacobs, it was a dream over twenty years in the making, but the precise concept of their restaurant, Wild Fish, came to be by complete accident or, for those of us more romantically inclined, by many acts of fate and faith.
Kelvin is an award-winning chef who has built his career championing small farmers and independent fish mongers. Liz is a linguist, illustrator and passionate food writer, whose culinary pedigree has its roots in New Orleans, Portland and Italy. The two met and fell in love in Devon, England, where their shared passions fueled their partnership in a critically acclaimed inn and restaurant. Liz ran the front of the house, while Kelvin helmed the kitchen.
When the global recession hit in 2008 and food prices soared, while discretionary income shrank, independent restaurants suffered worldwide. Restaurants famously live or die by razor-thin profit margins, and mom and pop operations either adapted or perished. It was an opportunity for Kelvin and Liz to downsize from being an inn and restaurant, and start anew, as a bistro. An artist really just wants to focus on their art, and who are chefs if not artists?
In a leap of faith, they packed everything up and moved from the U.K. to the Mendocino Coast, without the safety net of deep pockets or outside investors. “Kelvin’s favorite memories were of his time spent on holiday in California, and I am a U.S. citizen,” explains Liz. “We didn’t have much money to do research in person, but we did have Google.”
One day after months of searching for the right spot, they stumbled across the petite restaurant with a million-dollar ocean view that would become Wild Fish, whilst stretching their legs in the parking lot of the Little River Market.
Kelvin peeped in the windows and knew it was the perfect place. “I was dubious at first, this little space adjacent to a post office?” recalls Liz. “But then we could really see it, and we put in our application.” The landlords had several suitors for the space, but liked Kelvin and Liz, and granted them the lease. Wild Fish opened on Thanksgiving Day of 2011.
Kelvin and Liz are deeply committed to showcasing seafood local to the Mendocino and West Coast: sablefish, salmon, rock cod, oysters, and mussels, whose source point are always given on the menu. Noyo Harbor, just ten miles north, is featured heavily. Liz and Kelvin have been given a special commendation as “Local Seafood Heroes” by the Fort Bragg Groundfish Association, an organization committed to sustainable fishing and to advocating for the rights of independent fishermen who work out of the Noyo Harbor. Fishermen like Scott Hockett of Noyo Fish Company, makes deliveries to Wild Fish up to three times a week, often delivering live fish to the kitchen door.
The seafood isn’t the only menu item sourced locally—the produce for the starters and entree accompaniments is provided by Gowan Batist of Fortunate Farms, and their olive oil and wines come from the surrounding appellations of Anderson Valley and Redwood Valley. Accordingly, their menu is subject to change, depending on what looks best on the market that week. No hocus-pocus or gimmickry. The Wild Fish team put forth simple, exquisite food that shows a masterful restraint and showcases the character and quality of each lovingly sourced item on the plate.
Kelvin has fallen in love with a lesser known local delicacy—sablefish—a sumptuous, oily whitefish, which is served with the skin perfectly crisped with blackening seasoning, the flesh underneath perfectly tender. Like the sablefish itself, the accompanying creamy polenta (a nod to Liz’s time in Italy) and braised Easter egg radishes, sugar snap peas, and mustard greens served with brown butter sauce, are modest, yet delectable. A cedar-plank roasted chili pepper rock cod is presented whole, stuffed with aromatics and served with jasmine rice, mustard greens and a red Thai curry sauce. Half the joy of fish is its texture, and there is something delightfully intimate and rustic about getting a whole fish in a restaurant, the way one usually only does at backyard barbecues.
The main courses are the stars, but the other courses are enticing in their own right. Shaved asparagus salad with mixed baby lettuces, tossed with a tarragon-buttermilk dressing, is enlivened with edible flowers and bright herbs. Yorkville Cellars 2014 Sauvignon Blanc, which gives all of the citrusy and mineral notes one expects from that varietal, is a nice pairing. For dessert: sticky toffee pudding with pecans, and lemon pot de crème give a nod to the proprietors’ time in Europe. Wild Fish is a must for anyone coming to the Mendocino Coast in hopes of truly exquisite cuisine.
Growing Wellness at Commonwealth Garden
by Jackie Cobbs | photos by Ree Slocum
Hospital food is known for being bland and boring cafeteria food—flavorless chicken beside soupy mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables that came from a freezer bag, with some Jell-O for dessert. Wouldn’t fresh, organic food be more appetizing and help put you on the path to wellness?
That’s what Ananda Johnson, the director of Commonwealth Garden, thought when she decided to grow food for patients at the new Howard Memorial Hospital in Willits. But she had no clue how difficult it would really be.
“It hasn’t been just a walk in the park,” Johnson says, “and it certainly has been a long shot since when I first came up with the idea and said, ‘wouldn’t it be neat to grow food for the hospital?’ It was very naïve. The reality is you have to be registered, you have to have certifications.” Despite the demanding complexity of the process, Johnson persevered, and today Commonwealth Garden has been growing food for the hospital for four years.
The process of starting the garden has been a long one. Back in 2006, community volunteers wrote up a business plan and presented it to the Howard Foundation, which approved the project. Then Johnson had to come into compliance at the state level where the regulations are stricter than those applied to organic farms. “Once a year, the garden is inspected by the state to ensure that everything is organic—from the soil, seeds, fertilizer, and compost, to the washing, packaging, and delivery,” explains Mellisa Bouley, the garden’s supervisor.
The Commonwealth Garden broke ground in more ways than one. It is the first of its kind in the nation. There are other hospitals that purchase organic food, but this is the only garden directly growing food for their patients. And many of the patients seem to notice the difference. The fresh, healthy meals aren’t your typical hospital food. Johnson jokes that several people have been reported as saying, “Could you not check me out until after lunch so I can get another meal?”
It’s not just the quality of the ingredients that is so exceptional. The meals are prepared by talented chef Kyle Evans. Chef Kyle takes the organic produce that is grown at the Commonwealth Garden and creates healthy, delicious meals for the patients at Howard Memorial, as well as the adjoining restaurant, Roots. He tries to create comfort food that will inspire people to eat healthy even after leaving the hospital.
The journey from garden to hospital room had its challenges on the food preparation end, too. Each item has to have its nutrient data compiled and then approved by the hospital nutritionist. Evans and Johnson have been working together to find what foods work best. Each item has to be cost effective, safe, and healthy for the patients.
“It’s been a learning curve. One year the garden grew tons of kale, but then we learned that kale has high levels of vitamin K, which fights with blood thinning drugs,” Chef Kyle says. “Another year they grew lots of garlic, but I found that buying peeled garlic cloves was much more cost effective than paying my employees to process the garlic from the garden,” he adds.
Evans and Johnson are working to find a happy medium that works for the garden and the hospital. Johnson finds what they can grow most efficiently, then Evans fills out the rest with food suppliers.
The dedication of these two, along with unbelievable community support, has made the Commonwealth Garden the first in the nation to be certified for growing food for hospital patients—particularly impressive when you consider that California has even more regulations than the rest of the country. “This community is amazing; the amount of money that is raised here is incredible for its size. That’s why it’s so hard to duplicate elsewhere,” Arnie Mello, Executive Director of the Frank R. Howard Foundation, explains. Volunteering and donations of both money and supplies from the community have made the project possible, along with funding from the Howard Foundation, the hospital, William and Judith Bailey, and multiple grants.
As a secondary benefit, the Commonwealth Garden feeds those outside the hospital, too. They donate produce and vegetable starts to the Willits senior center, food bank, and schools as well as through Sparetime Supply and their farm stand.
Johnson’s original idea to grow food for hospital patients has become so much bigger than she first dreamed. It shows people what a community can accomplish when it works together, and it serves as an example to other hospitals that want to offer organic, local food to their patients.
The Commonwealth Garden farm stand is open Friday afternoons, across the street from Howard Memorial Hospital.
Mariposa Market of Willits
by Holly Madrigal / photos by Matthew Caine
“Our produce display was an old Ping-Pong table,” laughs Mary Anne Trevey, thinking about the beginnings of Mariposa Market in Willits. “After the store closed we would put the produce to bed in the cooler and play Ping-Pong.” When Mariposa was starting out, it was before the mainstream organic movement. The idea of seeking out fruits and vegetables that had not been treated with chemicals or pesticides was still in its infancy. “We had to go to great lengths to get our produce,” she explains. “There were old-timers out in Potter Valley that grew amazing melons and peaches, but the majority of the produce had to be bought in Santa Rosa. We would drive down before dawn and bring fruits and vegetables back up to service the store.”
Mariposa Market, as we know it today, is a beautiful, thriving, cutting-edge market with teeming displays of fresh fruit and vegetables, much of which come from local Mendocino County farms. Mariposa Market is as much a gathering place and social hub as it is a place to buy groceries. With the expanded beer and wine section, lively deli, welcoming patio, and freshly made to-go food, Mariposa is your best place in Willits to run into friends and catch up on the local happenings. But it took years of dedication by Mary Anne and the original employees and family of Mariposa to get this market to where it is today.
“We started in August of 1979, next to the old feed store and icehouse in Willits (at Main Street and East San Francisco Street). Owners included me, my husband and my brother,” says Mary Anne. “Our heat was an old barrel converted to a woodstove and our cash register was a hand-held calculator and a muffin tin.” The market grew slowly, adding a pickup truck to make produce runs. They soon started providing dairy and perishables and got an actual register.
In 1989, Mary Anne’s husband’s plumbing business was taking off, so he left to run that, and her brother moved on to other projects, but Mary Anne and a dedicated group of employees carried on. By the late ‘90s, the market had outgrown its humble beginnings and moved to a location at 600 Main Street. A beautiful mural and large butterfly (“mariposa” means butterfly in Spanish) adorned the front of the building. “We thought there was so much room that we would never be able to fill it all,” shares Mary Anne. Little did she know that by 2007 they would have outgrown this location as well.
“I remember the lines going out the back door,” recalls a long-time customer. “We used to have to dance around each other because they would be so busy that the carts couldn’t fit down the aisle.” By this time Mariposa Market had become a full-service natural food store, including a full line of health and beauty products, gifts, extensive bulk foods, and a full produce cooler. The movement to eat locally was really starting to take off around this time, and Mary Anne curated the produce, buying from the new farms popping up around Mendocino County, including Irene Engber of Laytonville and Tom Palley of Covelo Organic.
“A true act of fate resulted in the move to Mariposa’s current location,” says Mary Anne. The property next to them opened up and through a sheer force of will they were able to buy it and design the current building. The new space allowed them to expand significantly and provided needed parking. With the additional room, Mary Anne was able to add a deli and coffee bar that has become a welcome gathering space. Mariposa now offers beer and wine, which completes its role as a one-stop-shop.
This market has not only been a wonderful place to shop but also a great place to work. A couple of employees like Nan Trichler have been there almost from the beginning, and others have lent their talents along the way. It has been a long journey getting Mariposa to where it is today. Mary Anne laughs, revealing that she does not know how she was able to pull it off, but seeing that twinkle in her eye and witnessing her passion for good, clean food and nourishment, it is clear that Mariposa Market will continue to be a Willits icon for many years to come.
Grow Your Own Tea Garden
by Sara Larkin / illustrations by Cozette Ellis
As a child growing up, my family home was filled with the sound of the whistling kettle and my mother calling for someone to “Pour me some tea.” Tea has been a part of human activity since early times and has evolved with human culture. There are many excellent companies providing store bought teas, but it can also be quite rewarding, relaxing and resourceful to grow your own.
There are many uses for tea – social, medicinal, for hydration or relaxation – and there are millions of people worldwide who have a regular, even daily, relationship with tea. Here are some common and easy to grow herbs that are well suited for our region and would be a great start to a tea garden.
Anise hyssop(Agastache foeniculum) tea has a slightly minty taste with hints of licorice. A great addition to any garden, this plant has lovely purple or blue flower spikes and is very attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. The leaves and flowers are useable, dried or fresh, for making tea. Anise hyssop tea can provide a mild relaxing effect and can help to calm a nagging cough.*
Chamomile(Chamaemelum nobile) is a common tea herb that is often used as a sleepy time brew. Chamomile is easy to grow and produces an abundance of small, white, daisy-like flowers which are loved by pollinators. The flowers are the part of the plant used for tea making, and the more you pick, the more she produces! The taste is soft and mildly sweet with an instant calming effect – sigh. Chamomile is a mild sedative, a great sleep aid, is helpful for digestion and is safe enough to give to children.*
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) Melissa means “honeybee” in Greek, and this plant is a bee favorite. A bright green knee high beauty, Lemon balm will happily inhabit even the least appealing of yards. She prefers full sun, but can thrive in partial shade. The leaves have a strong lemony smell and can be used, dried or fresh, for tea and other culinary delights. Lemon balm is considered to be calming for the nervous system, mood elevating, and can be helpful for symptoms of the common cold.* Try blending with mint, rose or tulsi.
Lemon verbena(Aloysia triphylla) is a handsome upright shrub and is a lovely addition to any tea garden. The leaves have a pleasing aroma, the tiny flowers are appreciated by bees, and it provides an abundance of leaves which can be picked, dried, and stored for several months. As an herbal tea, she has a sweet lemony flavor that combines well with mint and chamomile. This plant is thought to have calming effects and can aid digestion.* Makes a great iced summer sun tea or can be used hot to warm up a grey winter afternoon.
Mint(Mentha) is a classic tea herb. Mints are vigorous growers, so be careful about where you choose to plant these beauties. There are many varieties available—peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, strawberry mint and more—and all have a distinctive taste. All mints are cooling to the body and are helpful for digestion and the stomach.* Use the fresh or dried leaves of the mint plant to make a fresh, invigorating brew.
Rose (Rosa) is a common plant to find in many gardens, but rose is also a great plant to include in tea. The classic scent of rose is infused in the tea cup relaxing the mind and body and transporting you to the magical beauty of a summer garden in full bloom. Flowers that have passed their prime are perfect for using fresh or for drying and storing for later use. You can also consider planting Rosa rugosa, for the abundance of hips that follow the flowers. The hips are a great source of vitamin C.
So next time you sit down to a hot, or iced, cup of herbal tea, consider the herbs that contribute to the myriad flavors and envision the beauty of planting your own.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to be a substitute for medical advice. Contact your doctor or herbalist for more information on the healing properties of these plants.
Love, Italian Style: A Summer Cocktail by Cucina Verona in Fort Bragg
story & photo by Sara Liner
Sessions, cocktails, and spritzers—light sippers that won’t leave you too tipsy before the first course arrives— are not a new concept. In fact, having a low-proof cocktail or two before dinner, a.k.a. an aperitivo, has been an Italian tradition for over two centuries. Aperitivos are meant to stimulate the appetite, ease you gently into an evening of wining and dining, or just accompany a low-key, low-impact afternoon with friends.
With this in mind, Joe Harris, executive chef of Cucina Verona, an Italian eatery in Fort Bragg, whose menu boasts selections of Old World classics with a seasonal Californian spin, has created a low-proof cocktail menu. It features amari, vermouths, and liqueurs from Italy like Aperol (Campari’s less bitter cousin) and Carpano Antica (the O.G. sweet vermouth, herbal and port-like) as well as those from small-batch Californian makers like Quady Vineyard’s Deviation and Vya vermouths, and Tempus Fugit liqueurs.
The atmosphere at Cucina Verona is inviting. If looking for a more casual experience, one can always sit at the warmly lit osteria (bar) and chat it up with one of their friendly bartenders. Or if you’d like an intimate night out, the elegant ristorante (dining room) features live dinner music and attentive service. They also offer ten local microbrews on tap and a wine list that showcases Mendocino County and regional Italian varietals.
We think Cucina Verona’s “Love, Italian Style,” with its lightly tart and floral notes, is the perfect spritzer for summer. The infusions of damiana flower and rose geranium from the Quady Deviation, and the rose essence from the Fentimans, are said to have an aphrodisiac effect. Saluti!
Love, Italian Style
2 oz Vya Dry Vermouth
2 oz Quady Deviation
2 oz Fentiman’s Sparkling Rose Lemonade
Combine ingredients over crushed ice in yourfavorite glass, stir 3 times for luck.
Pilón Kitchen Rolls Up with Far Away Flavors in Tow
by Anna Levy / photos by Bobby Cochran
I try tequeños for the first time on a gray day near the end of summer, in a month appropriately nicknamed “Fog-ust” on the Mendocino coast. Against the backdrop of a chilly, muted afternoon, I dip the lightly-fried cheese into a tangy green sauce and am momentarily transported somewhere other than a quiet farmer’s market in northern California. Standing next to the small trailer that is Pilón Kitchen, I can suddenly imagine someplace different: someplace warmer, brighter, more celebratory.
This is, of course, no accident. Rather, it is the realization of the hope that inspired Erick Diaz and Sauline Molina to start their catering business and food trailer in 2015. “Through a simple bite, you can travel through Latin America and reach Venezuela,” they explain. “Cooking for us means transporting us to Venezuela with our families and friends.”
For the pair, who fell in love with Mendocino County while on their honeymoon four years ago, Pilón Kitchen helps form a bridge between their two beloved homes. “We chose Mendocino County because of its tranquility,” they say. “We come from a big city, beautiful and until a few years ago, very cosmopolitan. But Venezuela is going through its worst moment in history, where human rights are violated and the constitution has deteriorated.”
Thus, to honor their country of origin, Erick and Sauline have looked back at happier times. When they designed the menu, Sauline says, they “looked at what we most loved in childhood and that in adulthood prevailed.“ In searching for those recipes, they turned towards their families and now enthusiastically cook in a way inspired by the people who taught them to love food, including “my grandmother, my mom, an uncle, a sister.”
“We feel proud to bring our culinary culture to another country,” Sauline explains. Through both their food truck—which can be found at farmer’s markets, festivals, and events—and their catering service, which operates throughout Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma counties, they strive to share the best of their own memories around food.
Their Empanada Frita, for example, and Chicha—a nonalcoholic drink made from rice and cow’s milk—remind them of eating lunch during high school, while their Arepas— gluten-free corn pockets stuffed with a variety of fillings— provide an homage to Erick’s grandmother Gladys. Even the tequeños carry with them a memory of Ramona, Sauline’s grandmother who made them during every holiday, and the tangy green sauce that accompanies them—a signature recipe—comes from Erick’s Uncle James, who gifted it to them when they opened the business.
Sauline says that Pilón Kitchen’s food is not only memorable because of the personal history it carries; Venezuelan food itself quickly becomes memorable, too, because of “the mix between salty and sweet.” She explains that, “cumin and laurel are always present.” The result is a “careful elaborationof each dish, totally homemade and fresh,” with an eye towards simplicity and nutrition.
“It’s real food, presented in a form of fast food,” she continues, noting that though all of their food exists in Venezuela, they have tried to make it their own. The Cachapas, for instance, are most commonly enjoyed as a breakfast food, the pancakes of fresh corn dough grilled and eaten with Queso de Mano, a soft, handmade cheese. For Pilón Kitchen’s catering menu, though, the Cachapas are served as an appetizer, with a salty, hard, white cheese to balance out the dough’s natural sweetness. The result, Sauline says, “is so delicious.”
Still, while their food may have deep traditional roots, it’s undeniable that Erick and Sauline are far away from where they started, and not just geographically: they were actually professional optometrists in Venezuela. Though the two fields may not overlap in many ways, the couple credits their success in each because of the same passion “to serve, to improve the quality of life.”
“When we started Pilón Kitchen, our biggest hope was that people would enjoy our food as much as we did,” Sauline says. Now, as they look towards growing their business in years to come, they continue to seek out ways to satisfy their customers. In Mendocino County, that means, in part, looking for opportunities to incorporate local ingredients while remaining true to recipes that have stood the test of time. Still, they’re up for that challenge, and as Sauline says, “we love to innovate.”
Standing in line again for a taste of a faraway culture, I consider that idea of innovation, which seems in some ways to exist at the very root of this business. It occurs to me that perhaps these optometrists-turned-chefs are simply honoring their original profession in a different way. After all, on a gray day in August, they’ve not only shared a new cuisine with me, they’ve also helped me see through the fog, to something I didn’t even know I was missing.
To find out where Pilón Kitchen is on any given day, or to inquire about catering possibilities, contact Erick and Sauline at pilonkitchen@gmail.com. They can also be found on Facebook (Pilón Kitchen) and Instagram (@pilonkitchenvf).
The Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa
by Andy Balestracci / photos by Holly Madrigal
For thousands of summers our extended human family has been intimately involved with a co-evolving partnership with the plant world. A promising fat seeded wild grass, Teosinte, originated in what is now central Mexico and has become one of the staple crops feeding the world: Corn. Your broccoli, kale, cabbage and brussels sprouts are all botanical kissing cousins from the same species, Brassica oleracea, that expanded and flourished in the wetter, cooler northern European climate.
This successful partnership with the plant world has fed and nourished human civilization, allowing it to grow to the current global population of 7 billion. But today food plant diversity loss and a subsequent staple crop bottleneck threatens this relationship. While 80% of our diet is plants, 60% of that energy intake comes from just five cereal crops. In the last 4 generations the vegetable varieties available from U.S. commercial seed companies has decreased a staggering 93%. At work is the consolidation of global seed companies supplying fewer varieties to large and often mono-cropped agribusiness farms, coupled with the bulk of humans residing in urban areas instead of the biodiverse agrarian communities of former generations.
But folks committed to preserving biodiversity and food security have not been idle. They’ve initiated a blossoming of community seed exchanges, seed banks, and seed libraries all over the country, including here in Mendocino County. They’ve also pioneered local initiatives like Mendocino County’s 2004 Measure H, which banned the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO’s), the first of its kind in the United States. And they’ve organized events like the Heirloom Expo, scheduled for September 5-7, 2017 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
The Heirloom Expo is now in its sixth year and may be the largest public gathering of heirloom seeds and vegetable varieties on display in the country. Last year an estimated 20,000 farmers, foodies, activists and seed savers attended to witness the cornucopia of rare heirloom vegetables on display, including a literal kaleidoscopic pyramid of squash. Past speakers have included powerhouse food activists like Italian Slow Food founder Carlos Petrini, and Indian Seed activist Vandana Shiva. Whether you’re a farmer, hobby gardener, or just an eater, this singular event will inspire you to revitalize your personal partnership with plants.