Tracey Taylor

New York Times, May 2 2010

Photo: Thor Swift for the New York Times

Evan Shively was a chef at Postrio, the San Francisco restaurant owned by Wolfgang Puck, when it opened in 1989. The restaurant has since closed, and Mr. Shively now runs Arborica, a salvaged wood mill in Marshall that supplies architects and designers with reclaimed walnut, redwood and cypress with which to fashion floors, tables and doors. He lives next to the mill with his partner, the artist Madeleine Fitzpatrick. Mr. Shively visits the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sonoma County regularly because, he said, its mission to preserve and restore native biodiversity mirrors his desire to be a steward of the land. (His words have been edited and condensed.)

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS The center is not an inherently exalted spot. It’s a random Californian hillside not unlike many others, a hardscrabble adobe that, year after year, has been added to and enriched, letting it manifest itself over time. Somebody chose to make it extraordinary, which is what makes it inspiring.

ORIGINS OF THE SPECIES I was a puppy prep cook — just starting out at Oliveto in Oakland — when I discovered this place. I wanted to find the source of some beautiful herbal greens that came into the restaurant.

RHYTHMS OF NATURE I think of myself as under pressure because the logs roll in, and if something is not done with them, they’re lost. But, here, the commitment to the effort is so sustained. They have a seed-saving garden that has to be grown out every five years. I look at all the plants and vegetables here and appreciate the fact that it’s a place that values diversity. When I visit, I see varieties of fava beans and garlic I’ve never seen before. And the flowers are woven in for the aesthetics.

Photo: Laura Morton for the New York Times

Several times a week, Daniel Handler and his 5-year-old son, Otto, walk from their home in Ashbury Heights to the Randall Museum, which sits on Corona Heights with spectacular views of San Francisco. Mr. Handler, the author of the best-selling series of children’s books, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” (under the pen name Lemony Snicket), has also written three novels. His current projects include a fourth novel, a children’s picture book titled “13 Words,” and the script for the second Lemony Snicket movie.

OFF LEASH This is my son’s favorite place to run amok. We go to the museum and to “lawsuit park” nearby — a playground which hasn’t been given the nervous-parent treatment yet. There are two dog parks. My son loves dogs but we don’t have one, so he gets to “rent” one here and frolic with it. It feels like he’s a dog, as he runs off energy while I drink mint tea and make chitchat.

ANIMAL BEHAVIOR It’s not unusual for us to stroll down very early and stand around with other hung-over owners of small creatures.

ALL SENTIMENTAL I grew up coming to this museum — they used to have a huge taxidermy bear in the lobby, it was up on its hind legs. I would do rock-polishing classes here after school. One of the joys of revisiting old haunts is that it makes you feel younger and older at the same time. I remember being here as a kid, and now I come here with my son, but I wish I could make that sound less “Hallmarky.”

BLOWING OUT THE COBWEBS I sit at a bench and table with my back to the view, like Gertrude Stein. Otto runs around while I feign interest. I have a fantasy that I’ll bring a pen and write like Lord Byron, but it can get quite windy. So I come here when I feel like a blithering idiot and need to empty out my head.

New York Times, April 9 2010

Isabel Allende and William Gordon. Photo by Heidi Schumann/New York Times.

Isabel Allende always begins writing a new book on Jan. 8, a tradition that began in 1981 with a letter she wrote to her dying grandfather that would become the groundwork for her first novel, “The House of Spirits.” Since then, Ms. Allende has written 17 books, among them “Paula,” a memoir in the form of a letter to her daughter who died in 1992. Born in Chile in 1942, Ms. Allende fled to Venezuela when her family began receiving death threats after the military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973. She is first cousin once removed to President Salvador Allende, who died in the coup. She lives in Marin County with her second husband, William Gordon. (Her words have been edited and condensed.)

CANINE PRIORITIES The first hint of light through the curtains wakes up Olive, our dog, and then our day starts. She jumps on the bed and demands her breakfast. We rescued her, and now we serve her.

MORNING RITUALS Willie, my husband, brings me a big — really big — cup of coffee with milk in bed. I drink my coffee slowly, enjoying the moment. Then we take Olive for a walk, usually to Samuel P. Taylor State Park. I have a favorite trail where I always reflect or pray a little. It’s where we scattered my daughter’s ashes. We stop at Two Bird Cafe in West Marin or Comforts in San Anselmo for breakfast. Coffee and toast is good enough, sometimes oatmeal.

DAILY MISSIVE We do some chores, like Costco, or the Farmers’ Market. At home, Willie reads the paper while I write to my mother, who is 90 and lives in Chile. I write to her every day, and she responds with beautiful, handwritten letters.

NURTURING THE TRIBE In summer we may have a full house on Sunday. When I moved here, I missed my extended Chilean family, so slowly I put together my “tribe.” We are between 10 and 17 people. If the tribe is coming for dinner, I cook the main course and sometimes dessert. Willie cooks the rest of the week; Sunday is his day off. In winter I may cook a Chilean vegetable stew (charquicán) and filet mignon, or a coq au vin, or beef stew. For dessert, a Chilean flan de leche, my son’s favorite.

FAMILY TIME My Sundays are ideal, especially when the family is around. I love to have all the kids in the pool (five grandchildren plus their friends), the women in the kitchen cooking and gossiping, the men watching a game. It’s like an Italian movie.

A SCRIBE’S CALL I try not to work on Sundays, but if I am in my writing time (Jan. 8 to around May), I may sneak to my casita to work if we have no guests. The casita was meant to be the pool house, but it ended up being my studio. I’m working on another novel, and I’m very busy now.

EARLY RETIREMENT If we are alone, we may watch a movie in bed. If we have company, Willie and Olive go to bed early, often before the guests leave. I go to bed later.

Photo: Peter DaSilva/New York Times

New York Times, March 26 2010

After a long ride, the fantasy of a perfect day

Markos Moulitsas is founder and publisher of Daily Kos, the largest liberal blog in the United States, with one million to three million unique visitors a month. Mr. Moulitsas, 38, started his blog in 2002 after a stint at law school persuaded him that it would be “a cold day in hell” before he ever worked as a lawyer. Born to a Salvadoran mother and a Greek father, he is the co-author of “Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots and the Rise of People-Powered Politics.” He lives in Berkeley with his wife and two children. (His words have been edited and condensed.)

RUDE AWAKENING I have a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old. Sleeping in isn’t an option. My wife is an early riser and takes care of their needs, but I’m rarely in bed past 7:30 a.m.

LOGGING ON I grab my computer and quickly check in on my site and e-mail, make sure there aren’t any problems. Another quick scan ensures no big news happened overnight. I then check on the kids, who are usually fighting over the remote control or whining about having to go to church with my wife.

TWO-WHEEL WORK I eat a carb-heavy breakfast, fueling up for my long Sunday cycling training ride. Right now, that means a 50-to-60-mile ride, about three to four hours. I ride in the Berkeley and Oakland hills, Moraga, Orinda. Once a month, starting in May, I’ll be doing one century per month — organized rides of 100 miles or more. My big goal for the year is Death Ride: 129 miles with 15,000 feet of climbing over several mountain passes in the California Sierra.

REFLECTIVE TIMES You’ve got to think about something while on the bike for so many hours, so I try to work out family and work issues and strategize. I like to flex my entrepreneurial muscles, dreaming up new features for my site or even new business ideas. I’m also a classically trained pianist and composer, so I might dream up a catchy tune.

BIRTHDAYS AND BEARS Sundays are a big birthday day, so with two small kids, chances are there’s a birthday party. If not, the kids must be entertained, so it’s off to the Oakland Zoo, or hiking or going to a park. If it’s football season, I’ve got to watch my Bears. So I might have some people over so that the kids play together while I watch the game.

FANTASY LAND On an ideal Sunday, rather than a real one, I’d go out for my big, long bike ride. I’d get home. The kids would magically be napping, so I could take my own recovery nap. A few hours later, we’d wake up, go out for an early dinner. No one would fight, no one would spill food or drink all over themselves. We’d go to the park, have a great time, and when I told them it was time to go to bed, neither of them would complain. Add a Bears victory into the mix, and we’ve gone from ‘ideal’ to ‘perfect.’

New York Times, December 26, 2009

Novella Carpenter is a writer, urban farmer and Dumpster diver. Her memoir, “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer,” chronicles her life on her small homestead near downtown Oakland. Ms. Carpenter, who studied journalism under Michael Pollan at theUniversity of California, Berkeley, also helps run a biodiesel station in Berkeley, where she teaches chicken and rabbit rearing classes. She is working on her second book. (Her words have been edited and condensed).

Photo: Josh Haner, New York Times.

UP WITH THE CHICKENS I get up at 7:30 to feed the chickens who gather on my back stairs and make a racket. Then I milk my goat, Bebe, while listening to NPR. All the days seem about the same. I do not have a weekend-centric, T.G.I.F. lifestyle.

PICK-ME-UP I drink a very strong cup of Lapsang Souchong, a smoky black tea. I call it bacon tea. I’m sure I’ll end up getting cancer from drinking it: they make it by roasting tea leaves over burning pine. I drink it with honey from my bees and goat milk from Bebe. I eat later — some figs from the tree, or some tomatoes, maybe a big salad from the garden.

MANUAL LABOR I do farm chores: milking, checking on the rabbits, collecting a few eggs from the chickens. They don’t lay as much as they used to. I need to cull them, but they are so old they are just not appetizing. Sometimes I’ll go to my office in Oakland and write. Sometimes I have a lot of farm work. The big chores are mucking out the goat yard, which can get really smelly. I’m often making something like cheese or sauerkraut, so I have to flip the cheese or change the brine water for any olives I’m curing.

EXPEDITIONS Bill, my partner, and I might plan a seasonal activity like olive picking in Davis, strawberry picking or tomato harvesting. Or we might go sailing or just have a picnic on Bill’s totally grubby boat. It’s a 21-foot sailboat that one of his customers gave him. It’s fun to sit on while the sun goes down.

DIVING FOR DINNER At night, Bill and I will often go into San Francisco to see a movie at the Red Vic or eat at our favorite Indian place, Shalimar in the Tenderloin. The real reason for going to San Francisco, though, is Rainbow Grocery. Sometimes we shop there, but mostly we wait until the store closes and the Dumpster comes out. We’re mostly there for the animals: the goats love the cabbage leaves, the bunnies love the bruised apples and fennel stalks. But we often find stuff for us to eat, too, like yogurt or bananas. Rainbow is great because they put the good, edible stuff in boxes within the Dumpster, so it’s easy to find and doesn’t get dirty.

A BOOK AND BED I go to bed around 11 or 12. I usually read in bed until I fall asleep.

New York Times, December 20, 2009

Photo: Heidi Schumann for the New York Times

Walter Hood checks the tidal charts and heads to Crown Memorial State Beach on the island of Alameda at least once a week to run on the sand and take in the sweep of San Francisco Bay from a little-known vantage. Mr. Hood, whose landscape architecture firm designed the grounds of the de Young Museum in San Francisco, lives in Oakland, and he spends a lot of time traveling. In August, he accepted a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award at the White House. (His words have been edited and condensed.)

SENSE OF PLACE Sometimes you forget you live on the ocean. This beach, with its views of the water, mountains and cityscapes, is the closest place to home where I can get a profound understanding of the bay and where I live.

ECHOES OF THE EAST I grew up in North Carolina, and there’s an East Coast flavor to the promenade and the way the garden apartments and “Leave It to Beaver”-style homes here are built right on the water.

LOCAL HAUNT During the week, I can be the only person running on the beach, and it’s so silent. There might just be a few people long-boarding or practicing tai chi. Families come here on the weekends, but it’s never crowded like Ocean Beach. It’s low-key and it’s predominantly locals, not tourists. It reminds me how diverse the Bay Area is — with Latinos, African-Americans, Asians and whites. I remember that this is why I live here.

MESS IT UP Alameda Beach is one of the messy landscapes I like to talk about: it’s not manicured or overly designed. All the layers — the 1970s buildings, the marshes, the driftwood and the old-fashioned signs — are part of an everyday phenomenon. It’s not trying to be something it isn’t.

CITY-CENTRIC This is one of the few places where the view is not dominated by San Francisco’s crown: its skyscrapers and hills. The perspective is South San Francisco, Hunters Point and even, on a good day, the Pac Bell Stadium. Oakland, which I sometimes think has an inferiority complex, is there, too. It’s good to remember that the bay is one continuous place.

New York Times, November 1, 2009

Photo of Rob Forbes by Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

For Rob Forbes, a San Francisco designer who was the founder of the furniture company Design Within Reach, South Park in San Francisco encapsulates his evolving feelings about the ways humans use the space around them, with both purpose and serendipity. He chose to locate his new venture, Studio Forbes, on the leafy, oval-shaped park because, he said, he had never made a traditional separation between work and play and one of his greatest pleasures was people-watching. (His words have been edited and condensed.)

INSPIRATION I call the park, which is a magnet for creative businesses, a civil demonstration of democracy because of its mix of architects, homeless people, art patrons, bikers and tattooed kids.

HUMAN SCALE When I heard they were calling the documentary on national parks “America’s Best Idea,” I thought, Give me a break. But, actually, it’s true: public spaces that people actually use are the acid test of democracy. This park puts me in my place.

DOING LUNCH I have meetings at the park tables. The studio has open-plan offices so, ironically, we come to a public park for privacy. I just designed a bike bell there with the designers Pablo Pardo and Oliver DiCicco. I can’t say I’m on the youthful side — I don’t use the swings. But I like how authentic the park’s restaurants are.

STYLE COUNSEL The park’s design is quirky, full of funny shapes that would drive a modernist mad, like the masonry pathways that evolved organically. I’m not nostalgic about the past, but I love that this place has the best parts of tradition.

EAVESDROPPING There was an intensity about the park during the dot-com boom. It’s still a place where people are making stuff happen. But no one is boasting about it. This, right here, is the ballet of the sidewalks that Jane Jacobs talked about.

Photo by Russell Yip.

San Francisco Chronicle, September 23 2009

It seems wrong, somehow, to be bickering in such a beautiful, serene space. But Craig Newmark and his girlfriend, Eileen Whelpley, appear to fundamentally disagree on how the newly remodeled basement room in Newmark’s Parnassus Heights home is to be used.

The space, a soothing blend of pale poplar wood and Japanese-style shoji screens, is a work of fine craftsmanship, and Whelpley insists the Craigslist founder will be practicing yoga there. Newmark is less sure. “I have no illusions about yoga. I’m interested in the birds that visit me,” he said, referring to the bird feeders he has set up on the deck outside his home office upstairs. Newmark likes to snap photos of the birds when he’s not responding to customer service queries from Craigslist users.

“Craig is going to do yoga although he doesn’t know it,” said Whelpley with a fixed smile. “He will if we’re going to continue with this relationship.”

But back to the room. Newmark says the original idea was simply to create more usable space in his relatively compact home. “The room had dirty walls, a cement floor, an exposed fiberglass ceiling, exposed ducts, cords, one fluorescent light and lots of dust,” Whelpley said. “We thought we’d be lucky to turn this dead space into a clean storage area.”

Standing in what clearly evolved into something much more sophisticated than a storeroom, both Newmark and Whelpley say their ideas for the area were not ambitious. There was talk of perhaps making it into a sewing room for when Whelpley visits.

“The instructions were ill-defined,” said Russ Latta of Latta Construction in San Francisco, who oversaw the project. But his business partner, design-builder Satoshi Kuriyama, recognized potential in the dingy 300-square-foot space. “I saw it straight away,” he said. His original drawing shows a streamlined room highlighted with Craftsman-style touches such as the slim wooden beams that crisscross the walls and ceiling, the built-ins and alcoves.

All the mechanical elements, including the water heater and furnace, have been concealed behind doors or handmade panels. A part of the home’s foundation that jutted into the room has been transformed into a long built-in wooden bench and the screens hide shelving for storage.

Good design

But the room is far from utilitarian. A set of open shelves under the high window has been designed in a gentle cascade formation, and an open alcove in the center of the room helps retain a sense of airiness and includes two display shelves. A full-length mirror on casters with a Japanese-influence frame was designed by Kuriyama specifically for the space.

One of the most surprising aspects of the room is how light it is, given that it is largely underground and has just one tiny window. The whole area is bathed in a diffused glow provided by light fixtures hidden behind the fiberglass shoji screens and by two custom-made boxed ceiling lights. A pair of back-lit alcoves provides another source of light. The walls are painted pale green.

“It’s the best room in the house. There’s a good energy that is palpable when you’re here for any length of time,” said Whelpley, who used to work as a senior executive at Gap and is now training to be a yoga teacher. “It certainly shows how with the right skills you can transform a dark room into an inviting space.”

There are plans to put in some large eye screws for yoga ropes as well as a “whale” back bender bench, and Kuriyama will make some additional pieces of furniture for the room - a long narrow table, perhaps, to be placed alongside the bench.

More changes

Conversation turns to the possibility of holding intimate dinner parties there, perhaps serving sushi and preceded by some light yoga. Whelpley says the success of this project has given her the remodeling bug and she has had Latta begin converting part of the home’s garage into another livable space. “Maybe that could be the sewing room,” she said. “This room is far too nice for that.”

Which brings us back to the room’s function and, specifically, how Newmark plans to use it. The consensus among the small group gathered in the new space is that it should not be tarnished by electronics, whether a television set or a computer. “I would hope no one would come in here with computers,” said Latta, looking at nobody in particular. “Craig spends too much time on electronics,” Whelpley said. “This space is a perfect place to relax.”

“Relax? I’ve heard that word before,” Newmark said. When asked directly whether he will be taking up yoga, he said: “I’m looking forward to learning yoga. But you can only quote me on that if you put it in the appropriate quotation marks.”

Michelle Kaufmann Designs Closes Doors

San Francisco Chronicle, June 14, 2009

When Oakland architect Michelle Kaufmann, known for designing sustainable, prefabricated homes, announced late last month that she was being forced to close her firm, reaction was swift.

More than a few observers expressed dismay because they had been intending to buy one of Michelle Kaufmann Designs’ homes.

“This is sad. I love her designs and was actually planning on purchasing one in the fall,” wrote a commenter on The Chronicle’s On the Block blog. “So sorry to hear this is happening,” said another. “We, too, looked forward to a green retirement in a Breezehouse.”

On a different Bay Area property blog, reader Audan wrote: “This is terrible news. I have been looking for land in Sonoma County to put an mkHearth home on.”

A lack of clients was never Kaufmann’s problem, according to the architect.

“There is definitely a demand for efficient, healthy homes,” she said. “And it’s going to increase as more people view homes as somewhere they want to live for the long term rather than as a short-term investment.”

Since 2004, MK Designs has built 40 single-family homes, mostly in the Bay Area, and Kaufmann is working on two multi-unit projects, one in Denver, the other in Los Angeles.

MK Designs has completed significantly more homes than other independent Californian firms specializing in prefab homes, such as LivingHomes and Marmol Radziner, both based in Los Angeles. And Kaufmann says another 100 homes were scheduled for construction over the next two years.

If anything, the issue was more about supply than demand - that, coupled with the financial crisis. As Kaufmann, 40, put it in her blog post: “Despite our best efforts, the financial meltdown and plunging home values have caught up with us. The recent closing of a factory partner, as well as the gridlocked lending faced by homeowners, has proved more than our small company can bear.”

The Sacramento factory partner that shuttered a few weeks ago was the second factory MK Designs worked with to go out of business. The first time, with a factory in Los Angeles last year, MK Designs was left in the lurch. They had several homes under construction when the supply of materials dried up.

The difficulties Kaufmann faced finding a reliable source for the building blocks of her homes - be it reclaimed wood flooring, folding glass doors or high-performance insulation systems - go to the crux of the issue for MK Designs: scale.

“Our mission has always been to create sustainable, accessible architect-designed homes,” she said. “That was why we chose the modular system. But in order to achieve cost efficiencies, we required scale, and that took longer than we wanted.”

Kaufmann founded MK Designs with her husband, wood craftsman Kevin Cullen, in 2004. The company quickly gained a reputation for its attractive home designs, including the mkLotus, the Glidehouse and the Breezehouse, the latter produced in conjunction with Sunset magazine.

Kaufmann led the way in lobbying for more environmentally responsible building practices, and the firm won several awards for its green building credentials.

It all began when she and Cullen were looking for a home to buy and, when it became clear they weren’t going to find what they wanted, decided to build their own. Kaufmann had moved to the Bay Area after working for five years for noted architect Frank Gehry in Santa Monica. She describes that experience as inspiring: “You would go to an opening of a museum he had designed and see people weep. It really demonstrated the power of good design,” she said.

Unfortunately, good design was in short supply in the houses she and Cullen viewed as potential homes. “So much of what we saw was poorly designed. It’s a significant problem in the United States: Most homes are not healthy or efficient,” she said. “And hiring an architect takes time and can be expensive, so not many people do it - only 3 percent of homes are designed by architects.”

The home the couple built on-site in Novato was admired by several friends who asked if the couple could build similar homes for them. Thus, a company was born. Having determined she wanted to embrace a modular building method to minimize costs and waste, Kaufmann went on to replicate her own home using prefabricated materials.

Modular homes produce about 50 to 75 percent less waste than site-built ones, which average about 7,000 pounds of waste, said Kaufmann, who likes to quote the fact that few people would build a car on their driveway, so why build a house from scratch on site?

As the business grew, it became apparent that being able to control the whole process, from manufacturing through completion, was essential. Kaufmann hit walls trying to innovate with new approaches or alternative materials. “Most of the factories we talked to had the same mind-set based on high margins and low volume,” she said. “They weren’t interested in discussing creating some crazy new countertop made out of recycled paper.”

So MK Designs took what seemed the obvious step and bought a factory. It was in Seattle, which was close to several other companies they did business with, including a window supplier and a factory that provided them with Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. “That changed the game for us,” Kaufmann said. “It opened up the ability to design the elements we wanted and to grow.”

The business thrived and, even as recently as last summer, Kaufmann was talking to venture capitalists willing to put up $100 million to help buy half a dozen factories across the United States. But when the economic slump hit the offers of funds dried up.

Today, Kaufmann remains optimistic. She believes MK Designs achieved proof of a concept and that when the economy recovers, more home buyers will be looking for the types of homes she specializes in.

As for affordability, mass-market accessibility was always the long-term goal, but Kaufmann would be the first to admit they hadn’t quite cracked that nut. She says a regular MK Designs home costs about $160-$180 per square foot - and up to $250-$300 per square foot for a customized version. The site cost is not included in those estimates. A typical developer-built house, she says, is at least 10 percent more expensive, but Kaufmann’s goal was to offer more significant savings over a conventional home.

She is also quick to point out what she sees as the flaws inherent in using the square-foot calculator. “Unless you’re paying cash, this measurement is not meaningful,” she said. It also addresses only up-front costs. The utility bills on a genuinely green home immediately translate into significant savings compared with a conventional stick-built home, she said.

Kaufmann is proud of the fact that her work so far has helped spread the word about the benefits of sustainable modular architecture. A fully built mkSolaire model house can be seen on the grounds of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, for instance. Sited in the footprint of a Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian home, the smart home features a solar electric generation system and a living roof. Its purpose, according to the museum, is to “show consumers what the future may bring.”

Kaufmann is in talks with a number of large home-building companies about the possibility of joining forces. She also is keen to work on the creation of well-designed, sustainable communities. “I think we need new models for extended families, co-housing and retirement communities,” she said.

And to those people out there who had hoped to one day build their own Michelle Kaufmann-designed home, the architect said: “Stay tuned.”

California restaurants focus on suppliers

Financial Times, June 6 2009

The cocktails have been ordered, the birthday greetings extended. Now comes the complicated part – deciding what to order from the menu at Pizzaiolo, an acclaimed restaurant in Oakland, California, known for its blistered wood-fired pizzas and regional Italian specialties. The conversation among friends gathered for a celebratory dinner centres not on appetite or taste but on the intricacies of provenance.

A dish of braised goat prompts the most debate – the meat is listed as being from Bill Niman’s ranch in Bolinas, 50 miles north of Oakland. Niman’s humanely raised Niman Ranch beef was the darling of the foodie set for years. But Niman left the company and has started afresh with a small herd of grass-fed goats, as well as a young wife nicknamed Porkchop. So what about the goat? No one doubts it will have lived a good and healthy life. But has anyone tasted the squid pizza with aioli whose main ingredient was sourced just down the coast in Monterey Bay? Another diner is leaning towards the Becker Lane pork with cannellini beans, artichokes, fennel and spring onion salsa because he’s heard the pork from this organic farm is unequalled.

Such menu dissection is not uncommon among northern Californian diners. They are choosy and, invariably, knowledgeable about where their food comes from – a result of interaction with producers at farmers’ markets and the fact that restaurants routinely highlight the provenance of food on their menus. They also live in a fertile part of the world with a climate conducive to producing quality ingredients.

The focus on suppliers is not new. Its local pioneer was Alice Waters, owner and executive chef of the legendary Chez Panisse restaurant and café in Berkeley, who, along with her peers and protégés, has been interpreting farm-to-table cuisine for years, providing shout-outs on her menus to all her favoured producers.

Chez Panisse was also one of the first restaurants to proclaim unadulterated fruit a more than suitable dessert option. It has been featuring a simple offering – whether a single peach from Frog Hollow orchard in Brentwood or a bowl of Sparkling Red nectarines – on its menus for several years. Last month’s café menu listed a bowl of Pixie tangerines from Churchill-Brenneis Orchard and Medjool dates priced at $8.

In January, Todd Kliman, the food and wine editor of Washingtonian magazine, pondered on National Public Radio’s Monkey See blog: “Do we really need to know the provenance of an egg?” And more to the point: “Shopping is not cooking.”

Russell Moore, chef-owner of Camino in Oakland, agrees that there is a way of writing menus that can make them seem like shopping lists. He and his partner Allison Hopelain don’t put producers on the menu. “There isn’t a bigger supporter of farmers than me,” he says. “But ultimately it’s about customers liking the food.” Moore only serves organic or biodynamic wines and doesn’t touch refined sugar but neither of these facts is conveyed to diners. “I don’t want to come off as holier than thou,” he says.

A backlash against showcasing suppliers doesn’t seem likely. For those who live in one of the gastronomic capitals of the world, there is profound satisfaction in knowing that the lamb chop you are about to tuck into was not only raised humanely but done so on local pasture land by a farmer whose name you recognise.

There is no doubt that producers have taken on minor celebrity status. Chefs on both US coasts are discovering goat meat from sources such as Niman’s BN Ranch and Marin Sun Farms. Chef-owner Daniel Patterson at Coi in San Francisco is serving it with “sprouted beans, seeds, nuts and wheatgrass”.

Thomas Keller, owner of French Laundry in Napa and Per Se in New York, likes to highlight the fact that he uses yogurt made by Soyoung Scanlan at her Andante Dairy in Santa Rosa for his yogurt sorbet with a cream scone, sour cherry and proprietor’s blend tea foam. And Boulevard, one of San Francisco’s most venerated restaurants, is proud to proclaim that the quinoa used in its quail stuffed with duck merguez is from Rancho Gordo, a producer whose heirloom beans have become so well-known they have spawned a blog and a book.

They may not appear on his menu, but Moore at Camino is happy to name-check several producers he holds in high regard, including Annabelle at La Tercera, “whose chicory and shelling beans are superb”. Just don’t go to Camino any day soon expecting to eat chicken. If Soul Food Farm isn’t sending Moore its “spectacular” fowls, they’re off the menu. “We haven’t served chicken since November,” he says.

www.pizzaiolooakland.com
www.caminorestaurant.com
www.chezpanisse.com

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Who’s hot in California

Coffee
Ritual Roasters, along with Blue Bottle and Four Barrel, represent the new breed of San Francisco “artisanal micro-roasters”.

Chocolate
Scharffen Berger is closing down its Berkeley factory, so the mantle for best chocolates has been passed to Recchiuti in San Francisco. Also winning plaudits are edible chocolate boxes from Emeryville’s Charles Chocolates; and truffles from Oakland’s Sôcôla.

Dairy
Cream-top organic milk in distinctive glass bottles from Straus Family Creamery in Marin; French brothers David and Benoît de Korsak bring the concept of terroir to their creamy Saint Benoît organic yogurt made in Sonoma County; goat milk, yogurt, kefir and cheese from Sonoma’s Redwood Hill Farm.

Meat
Ducks from Liberty Ducks in Sonoma; lamb from Napa Valley Lamb Company and Cattail Creek Ranch; chickens from Mary’s Farm in Fresno, Hoffmans in the San Joaquin Valley and Soul Food Farm; quail from Wolfe Farm in Brentwood; goat meat from BN Ranch and Marin Sun Farms; guinea hens from Grimaud Farms in Stockton; hormone-free rabbit from Devil’s Gulch Ranch; pigs from River Dog Farm in Capay Valley.

Produce
Vegetables and herbs from Star Route Farms in Marin, Chino Ranch near San Diego and Cannard Farm and Greenstring, both in Sonoma; spring garlic from Full Belly Farm in Capay Valley; gold cipolini onions from Dirty Girl Produce in Santa Cruz; heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo in Napa; shelling beans from La Tercera in Bolinas; Frog Hollow Farm’s signature Cal Red peaches available at the Ferry Building Marketplace, San Francisco.

Cheese
Soft-ripened Mt Tam from Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes; goat cheese from Petaluma’s Andante Dairy; award-winning cheddar from Modesto’s Fiscalini Cheese Co; raw-milk San Andreas sheep cheese from Bellwether Farms; Original Blue from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company.

Preserves
British expat June Taylor shows Californians how to make fruit butters and lemon marmalades at her workshop in Berkeley (www.junetaylorjams.com). Newer arrivals include Blue Chair Fruit, whose artisanal preserves are served at Oakland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen for breakfast; and Loulou’s Garden in San Francisco.