table talk / By Joseph Byrd

A Locavore Dream

Or, Chang and Change, Part II: Bringing it home to Humboldt

(Sept. 4, 2008)  In a previous column, I wrote of New York’s newest culinary destination, David Chang’s Momofuku Ko, a restaurant at the forefront of a new American cuisine, making eating out an exciting yet relatively affordable adventure (“Table Talk,” Aug 21).

But there is another kind of culinary adventure, one presaged by Michael Pollan, whose books (most recently, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) have endorsed the concept of eating food that has traveled 100 miles or less to the store. He inspired the term “locavore,” one that is gaining in popularity in large urban areas. Of course, such an approach in New York City is possible for only a tiny sliver of the community, and a wealthy one at that. Here in Humboldt we have an entire month dedicated to local foods.

GALLERY >

At the end of the column I asked if this area might be up to the Chang challenge? Well, we certainly couldn’t do what Ko does — a 13-course meal with foie gras, caviar, Kobe beef, and so on. But wait, we have local food that New York pays big bucks for: crab, oysters, wild mushrooms, goat cheeses, organic vegetables, beef, lamb and chicken. In fact, we could maybe do Chang’s concept better, and make it more local and less expensive.

You know what the problem is? People want to choose. As an example let’s imagine a local restaurant, we’ll call it “Le Foyer.” To maintain the high quality and an extensive menu expected of a high-end restaurant, Le Foyer will require at least six starters and eight main courses, among them a steak (every party will include a steak-eater), a “catch of the day,” a less expensive chicken dish, a cheap pasta and, this being Humboldt, a vegetarian special. On a typical night, some food is bound to be wasted. The restaurant can’t absorb such waste and make a profit, so other items have to be priced higher. Your simple wood-fired pizza may be paying for the seared sea bass that wasn’t ordered. Now, don’t get all indignant; this is the way it works. Simple economics. Having a variety of choices costs money. In fact, it should cost money.

Now let’s imagine a North Coast restaurant somewhat in the image of Ko. You arrive, are seated, and a chef brings you an amuse-bouche while you consider the wine list. You will eat well tonight, perhaps 10 courses, none of them large, none of them selected by you. And you will pay $45, rather less than if you went to Le Foyer and had appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert of your own choosing.

The setting of this theoretical restaurant will be modest, ideally in a remodeled Craftsman-style house. Lots of wood, but no tables: the central room will have been enlarged to contain both the main kitchen and the dining area, with a big U-shaped counter seating perhaps 16. Each day, the three chefs and pastry chef will plan and prep a menu according to availability and cost. Naturally, some food can be preserved, but nearly everything will be from local organic sources.

Let’s look at a possible late summer menu:

Baked house-made goat cheese ravioli with bing cherry chutney

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