FRESH FROM FARM to CHEF
Restaurants partner with produce growers, cultivating both friendships and fine dining
OH,what a difference fresh za’atar makes. When Berkeley chef Mona Leena opened the doors to her highly anticipated new restaurant, Lulu, this summer, the food was a celebration of her Palestinian heritage fused with her California sensibilities. A key ingredient: the fresh, seasonal produce from Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm in Watsonville.
In addition to pristine fruits and vegetables, Griffin grows an ancient Middle Eastern culinary herb that is the cornerstone of Leena’s cuisine, fresh za’atar. Grown expressly for her, it shows up in salads, freshbaked breads and more.
“It grows wild in Palestine, and they somehow figured out how to farm it here,” Leena says. “Being able to dry and grind my own is amazing. I love everything Andy grows, but this is invaluable.”
What’s the saying — behind every great chef is a skilled farmer? That’s often the case in the Bay Area, where farm-to-fork dining is the norm and supporting small local farms a priority. But the ways in which these chef-farmer partnerships are forged and operate is as varied as the veggies in a chopped salad. With the fall harvest in motion and menus brimming with that bounty, we explore how three top Bay Area restaurant chefs use local farms to inspire their menus — and how they can inspire yours, too.
Adam Rosenblum Causwells and Red Window
San Francisco chef-restaurateur Adam Rosenblum first got to know the Tenbrink family of Fairfield’s Tenbrink Farms eight years ago, when he was a sous chef at Flour + Water. It was one of 80 fine dining restaurants that source fruits and vegetables from the farm run by Linda, Stephen and their daughter, Laura.
“They’d always invite my family up for the day,” he recalls. “I’d take my daughters for olive picking. I’ve taken my parents. They’re such an amazing family.”
So when the Maryland native was ready to strike out on his own in 2014 with Causwells, the Marina District bistro, he asked if they could take on another account. Luckily, he says, the answer was yes.
Currently, Tenbrink Farms’ Blue Lake beans share the spotlight with Rosenblum’s roasted chicken breast; their famous late-season tomatoes are used to
braise the pork for his spaghettoni, and their squashes are already popping up in many fall soups and salads.
“They give us the best quality products around,” Rosenblum says.
Every Tuesday, the Tenbrinks send an email blast to their chef partners with a list of what’s just been picked. Rosenblum and the other chefs, who often create their menus based on that produce availability, respond with their orders by Wednesday night. And on Thursday, Laura drives into San Francisco to make the deliveries.
“Usually, they have some extras in the trunk, in case you want to do some window shopping,” Rosenblum says.
And while he does not source all his produce from Tenbrink Farms for Causwells or his new Spanish tapas spot, Red Window, which opened in North Beach in March, Rosenblum says small local farms are the cornerstone of sustainability and supporting them is critical. Plus, he just loves working with them.
“I enjoy them as people,” he says. “It’s just a really easy relationship.”
Linda, who has been farming since 1982, shares the sentiment. “Our relationships are strong,” she says. “Like, we love each other. And we’re really loyal.”
Manish Tyagi Aurum
Last December, when chef Manish Tyagi opened Aurum, a modern Indian bistro in Los Altos, one of his first customers was a fellow Indian-American, clad in overalls and work boots, out for a bite with what appeared to be a post-harvest farm crew.
“The spiciest thing in Los Altos was the wasabi at Akane,” recalls Tarun Marya. The farmer, seed breeder and Mountain View native runs Luna Vez Farm, a tiny, one-acre organic farm in the Los Altos Hills. “We had to see what Aurum was all about.”
Marya, a former pastry chef, runs Luna Vez primarily as a Community Sustained Agriculture or CSA membership program with four other local farms, but he also supplies a few restaurants in the area, including Amandine Lounge in Los Altos and Protégé, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Palo Alto. He liked