27 Apr 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

SEE: Herb Ritts At The Getty, Man + Octopus Circa 1989

If you’ve ever found yourself completely devoid of compelling reasons for a friend to meet you at a museum on a gorgeous, beer-on-the-beach sort of Saturday (the dark galleries are at least air conditioned, the tram to the Getty is sort of fun), you have new food fodder: The Getty Restaurant is serving up multi-course meals coinciding with the museum’s Herb Ritts: L.A. Style exhibition on view through August.

03 Apr 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

MEET: Lowell Novy Of Novy Ranches Grass Fed Beef

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Lowell Novy, a veterinarian who owns Novy Ranches. At his Northern California ranch, he produces grass-fed beef at fantastic prices (he recently turned the retail corner). As we chatted, he offered up some fantastic nuggets about the grass-fed beef industry, the commercial side of the cattle industry equation, and what approaching a food business the old fashioned way has meant for him:

03 Mar 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

High Desert Foods’ Bill Manning: On Turning Bruised Fruit + Legislation Jams Into A Sweet Ending

Thinking of starting up an artisan food business? Bill Manning of High Desert Foods is the epitome of the organic apples-to-applesauce businessman. He’s the sort of guy who cares about the broader societal and environmental impact of what he produces, yet he also appreciates that increasing the market value of a food product (heritage turkeys, bison, grass-fed beef and, sure, fruit-forward jams) is the quickest way to bring it back from near extinction.

25 Feb 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Triple Chicken Foot: From Home Brew To Fiddling Chickens (Or Something Like That)

Story evolution is a curious thing. There’s the compulsion, as with any good recipe that could be better, to constantly tweak them. And then there’s the I’m-ready-to-eat side of you that just wants to leave well enough alone. Sometimes, there’s even a homebrew side.

19 Jan 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Turning The (Produce) Tables: What Happens When Chefs Become Farmers? Very Good Things

What happens when chefs become farmers? Not just for a week or two, but for an entire year? Big (kale) cost accounting changes. (Sheep) expense shearing. Heirloom (apple) management shakeups. But in that really good apple cobbler-crumble, roasted squash-apple salad, and chipotle-apple chutney sort of way.

17 Jan 2012, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Meet Kinny Jung, The Potato Guy Wearing The John Wayne Hat

A circa 1968 hard hat from the John Wayne movie Hellfighters, a couple of Prince’s rusty bed springs from his 1980 album Bedsprings, and heirloom potatoes. Or, the great history nuggets you get by shopping at your local farmers market.

12 Dec 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Old School Farming: Those Pretty Produce Photos Don’t Tell The Real Story — It’s All Hard Work At Windrose Farm

Because we shouldn’t have to refer to some farmers as “old-school.” Because Big Ag culture — and flavor — has become one big rotten apple. Because we all could stand to walk in a farmer’s shoes just once to gain a lifetime of greater pear cobbler appreciation. Because people like Bill and Barbara Spencer of Windrose Farms are pouring their souls into a business that they believe in, and are doing it the right way. They are good to the land, good to the crops, good to the animals and good to the people who work on their farm.

05 Nov 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 1 Comments

Andy Rooney (1919 – 2011): You Don’t Have To Like Sauerkraut To Appreciate A Cabbage’s Contributions

What to say about the passing of the notoriously cranky, opinionated (and entertaining) Andy Rooney?

For some of us, with all the 60 Minutes dish washing-hour (Wash your mouth with dish soap?) memories growing up, it’s impossible not *think* when thinking of Rooney. Agree or disagree with those ornery Irish eyebrows (purely American eyebrows of Irish descent, he would be quick to clarify), and suddenly you were wearing a smirky grin by the time his rantings had wrapped – or at least those of us well versed in cranky-but-beloved grandfather types (and, unwieldy eyebrows) in real life.

08 Sep 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

Meet Valerie Gordon of Valerie Confections: A New Style With A Classic Response

Chocolate and God(ess) references. Yeah, a who-knows-how-old cliche. But with Valerie Gordon, it’s arguably still an apt description. Or maybe it was just that lingerie comment I couldn’t resist.

“People describe [receiving chocolate] as the same excitement as receiving a gift of very expensive lingerie or jewelry,” she says. And that emotive rush is not limited to the ladies. “I’ve definitely seen men have the same response.”

22 Aug 2011, Posted by admin in MEET, 0 Comments

CR8 (“Create”) Redux, The Photo Version

I’m not a big fan of the idea of “behind-the-scenes” photos. By nature, there is the indication that you are about to witness something fantastically illicit. Trust me, these are not. Nor are these photos at all glamorous. Or good. They’re simply a few snapshots that I took — using my really bad camera, while I was focused on ideas not images — when I was in the kitchen during one of Roberto Cortez’s CR8 dinners.