Last week we did our first Wild Kitchen A La Carte. We’ve been doing prix fixe dinners for about three years now, and I wanted a chance to try something new, as well as give an opportunity for folks to come who hadn’t come to our other dinners. It was a great. We only took reservations for parties of 6 or more, and even with that we had about double what we could handle.We fed 160 people each night, and everyone seemed to have a great time.  We had hot towels for people who just sat down, and free mulled wine for those who were waiting. I love hot towels, it makes me feel like I’m really being welcomed and taken care of. There were a few hiccups as with any restaurant opening, but it got me really excited to expand the dinners into other projects Ive been mulling over.

We had a few problems. It rained on the first night for the first time in about 4 months, which seemed like a curse, but in the end I think worked out for the best. We probably got fewer walk-ins that night, so got a chance to get our heads around the new model. The other was the health department, who seems to have re-caste me as public enemy number one on the food scene. Even though this was the most legit dinner we’ve ever done: All the food was prepped and cooked in a restaurant, and then was served in the same restaurant, which was permitted to serve food, they had a problem. Because I didn’t turn in a certain form (I won’t bore you with the details, but really just a formality), they called the owner of the space and threatened to show up at my dinner with the police and shut us down. Amazing over-reaction. In the end the form was turned in, and the dinners happened, but the whole experience makes me wish more and more that DPH’s would work with us to help support the creative food community in SF, rather than seeing it as a problem.

But on a brighter note, we may be taking over the space where we had the dinners, renting it out as a shared-use kitchen, and opening as a pop-up space for other chefs to come in and have their way with the public. More on that soon, but for now..PICTURES! Enjoy, and hope to see you at our next dinner.

Iso

photos by Andria Lo

Just a quick post today, then I’ve got to get to the kitchen to do some more recipe testing. Our next Wild Kitchen is going to be an a la carte affair. Eight dishes, order what you want. No reservations for parties under 6. Possible accordian player outside to entertain the line.  We may also do takeout, but that’s undecided at this point.  It’s going to be something new for us. I’m excited. I’m trying to get this menu as dialed in as possible, so it will be smooth the day of. You can’t plan for everything in food. Something is always going to happen that you couldn’t have possibly seen coming. Someone won’t show up, someone will get hurt, a food order won’t come in because a truck broke down because it hit a pothole that was supposed to be fixed the day before but the construction worker just found out his wife had been cheating on him so he didn’t come into work. But that’s what makes it exciting, and what makes you feel at the end of the night that you’ve really been through something with the people you work with.  Every night is an rapids course that you work hard to manage, and when you come out the other side in one piece, there is a tired bliss.

This is our first in a series of guest posts by our great new intern Sophie Silverstein. Enjoy!

One might assume that New Zealand spinach is around a fourteen-hour plane ride away. Fortunately, ForageSF is here to tell you how accessible the spinach from down under really is (along with its history and a slew of other fascinating information). We hope and assume that if you’ve been poking around our website you have some interest in where your food comes from, and perhaps how you can minimize the intermediaries between you and the delicious treats you put in your mouth. If that’s the case, then take this opportunity to learn about your local landscape, which happens to include (drum roll, please) New Zealand spinach.

The story goes that Captain Cook, an explorer from Britain popularized New Zealand spinach when he documented its existence and used it (cooked and pickled) to fight scurvy on his ship. Prior to Cook, the indigenous people of New Zealand rarely used the spinach as a leaf vegetable. New Zealand spinach made its way to the United States in the second half of the eighteenth century when Joseph Banks, botanist and explorer, brought the seeds of the plant back to Kew Gardens in Queens, New York. For two whole centuries this species of spinach remained the only naturalized vegetable hailing from New Zealand and Australia. This spinach is not only extraordinary in its history; it also trumps similar veggies and plants in its durability.

New Zealand spinach, also known as Tetragonia tetragonioides and “everbearing spinach,” will survive what most plants will not; be it draught, bugs, salt or unruly soil, this succulent plant is a forager’s dream. While it is a durable plant, it prefers warm regions and well-drained, sandy soils that are rich in organic matter. You can spot this species of spinach by its triangular leaves, vibrant green color, lengthy stalks and its tendency to grow low to the ground. The tops and bottoms of the succulent leaves are covered in what resembles tiny water droplets. You can also look out for its yellow flowers and small, horny, pod-like fruits. While the spinach we are looking for is wild, “Cook’s cabbage” is also commonly used as a decorative plant for ground cover. No matter how you’re getting a hold of your spinach, there are many ways to enjoy it. Try this recipe.

New Zealand spinach’s shoots and leaves can be foraged and enjoyed cooked or raw, just like the spinach (Spinacia oleracea) we all know and love. We must forewarn you that New Zealand spinach is high in oxalic acid, making its raw consumption a bit of a prickly, acidic challenge. Another option is sautéing or blanching the leaves, creating a taste that may be more tame and familiar. This robust plant has made its way to North America and thrived here; some might even say it has become an invasive bugger. Those who have discovered it recognize how delicious and versatile those pretty diamond leaves are. If you’re interested in encountering some wild New Zealand spinach as well as an unimagined world of foraged flavor, join ForageSF for one of our walking tours around the bay area. So who’s ready to dive in and take a bite?

These blog posts are an attempt to chronicle the creation of something that is totally new to me, a large, physical, brick and mortar shared use incubator kitchen. As this process continues I’ll be writing here about what stage we’re at, what problems we have, and how we solved them. This is all an attempt to help along those who want to create a similar project, while at the same time letting people know where we’re at in the process.

Money:

The biggest problem with building a 10,000 sq ft incubator kitchen is that it costs lots of money. Money on a scale that I don’t generally think in, and to get that kind of money, fundraising is in order. We’ve decided we’re going to do this in three ways:

Investors:

We are lucky to live in an area with people who have money. It’s as simple as that. Silicon valley blesses us daily with filled seats at our events, lines down the block for food trucks, and soon, a great space for small businesses to help get started. So far I’ve been approached by a couple investors who are interested in being a part of the project, and have started working with an advisor who is big in the angel investor scene.  I’ve found that whenever I’m starting something new, mentors are essential. There is no point in beating your head against the wall looking info up online, when someone willing and knowledgable is a phone call away. It’s amazing just how willing and interested people are in helping out, all you need to do is ask.  We are still a ways off from locking down investment, but I imagine that about 3/4 of the money will come from this avenue. Finding investors is no small feat, but we are talking to people we know first, people who they know second, and people we think might be interested third. Especially in such a food-centric town, you’d be surprised who wants to be involved. My advice for people looking for investors is to make a list of people you think might be interested and get in touch. The worst they can say is no.

Kickstarter:

We’d be stupid to ignore kickstarter. It’s a great platform for people looking to create something. If you’re trying to raise money for something that you think people are interested in being a part of, kickstarter is a great avenue.  The secret is a good video. Something that really draws people in, and lets them know how passionate you are about the project.  In kickstarting a business, there is some concern from the kickstarter.com crew about projects that are not art-centric.  I’ve heard that most projects get approved, but pitching it as not just a business, but that you’re creating something with some other value can’t hurt.  Another note is never use the word “invest” in your video or anywhere in your pitch. The SEC considers what your getting through kickstarter a donation, not an investment, so they’re sticklers on that point.  We are currently working on a video that I’m excited about that will hopefully be out mid January.  The rewards we’re going to offer are going to be things like classes, kitchen time, boxes of goodies from vendors who are using the kitchen, etc.  I want people who invest to really see the fruit of what they’re helping to create.

Fundraisers:

This project is about creating a space that people use to create something that makes them proud. Simple as that. Whether that’s a jar of jam or a jam making business. We want to get this idea out to as many people as possible, while at the same time letting people be involved in a way that’s more tactile than donating online. In the next several months we’re going to be planning tons of events. Movie nights, dinners, potlucks, scavenger hunts, etc, and partnering with the folks we’ve grown relationships with over the years throughout the city. We don’t want this to be a kitchen that just people who know about forageSF frequent, but folks of all stripes.

We’re also interested in having part of the funding come from “community shares”. Small(er) sums of money from individuals, that will buy them a small share in the business, akin to Claires. It’s a small restaurant in Vermont that was started by getting $1000 investments from members of the town. In exchange they were given a certain amount of meals free when the space opened. I love this concept. That the people who want to use a space help create it.

That’s all for now. Basically what I’ve found is that if you’re trying to create something unique, you’ve got to be creative about where the money comes from. This business will be successful, but because it’s unproven, there is no way a bank is going to give us a loan. The great thing is that instead of credit, we have an amazing wealth of folks interested in being involved, which is better I think.

We’ll be sending out info about our kickstarter and our events soon. If you’re interested in helping us organize an event or have an idea for one you think would be great, we’d love to hear it.

Tonight is a meal of firsts. The first mushrooms of the season and lamb from my first slaughter. I won’t go into the details of the lamb slaughter, except to say that it was an intense experience; a knife, a knee -that was it. It’s cliché, but the experience truly did change my relationship with the meat.  Everyone should participate in a slaughter, if only once.

The other first is the oyster mushrooms; I went out on the hunt a few days ago for the first time this season. I’d heard rumors of chanterelles, so I headed up to a piece of land a friend of mine had access to, but had never collected on. The legend goes that an old man used to forage there, and would emerge with baskets overflowing with golden chanterelles, hardly able to carry his bounty. He passed away years ago, and no one had collected there since.

For me, untouched land where mushrooms are promised is like the mystical bass tale told by fisherman: the one as big as a man. The one that is hooked but never reeled in. It makes a mushroom forager’s mouth water to think of a spot where mushrooms surround you; a spot where you rarely pass a tree without a score. These were my thoughts while driving up at dawn. The reality is rarely as abundant as the dream, but there is always something exciting to report. We’d hiked for about an hour without success when we ran into a stream with trees covered in oyster mushrooms. Dead logs standing up stained white with mushrooms. Logs across the stream covered. Once oyster mushrooms have grabbed onto a dead log they’ll grow for years in the same spot, so definitely an exciting thing to find.  This was the largest patch of oyster mushrooms I’ve ever seen; It almost seemed like someone inoculated the place years ago, given the sheer volume.

Didn’t find any chanterelles on that trip, but the oysters were more than an adequate consolation prize. So on this rainy night post foraging, I figured it made sense to thaw some of the lamb, sauté up the mushrooms, and have at it. Hope you enjoy.

You’ll need:

Shanks:

2 lamb shanks

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion – chopped

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

3 tsp chopped fresh thyme

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Cup red wine

1 Can whole peeled tomatoes

1 Quart chicken broth

1/2 lb fingerling potatoes

2 anchovies – minced

Mushrooms:

2 lb oyster mushrooms

2 cloves garlic – minced

1 Tbsp butter

Note: The number one rule that people will tell you with wild mushrooms is that you shouldn’t wash them. Of course, sometimes they have dirt that wont rub off. I wash mushrooms when I need to, and you shouldn’t feel bad if you have to either. If you buy oysters in the store, they should be pretty clean, but the wild variety often doesn’t come to us so pristine.

Mushrooms:

Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel (or wash if necessary, see above reasoning), slice, then “dry sauté,” which means cook over medium heat in a dry pan until most of the liquid has evaporated. This is how I cook all my mushrooms. It gets the moisture out before the butter hits them, so they cook rather than stew.  Remove oysters, clean pan, heat butter over medium heat, then cook mushrooms. When they start to get some good color, add garlic, and cook them until they’re good and browned, salt and pepper to taste. I find that recipes that ask to add the garlic at the beginning of cooking always leave me with burnt garlic and undercooked food. This way, the garlic gets cooked, the food is perfect, and life is good.

Shanks:

First things first: get your mise en place together. Slice onions and garlic, clean and slice mushrooms,  chop herbs – everything in its own bowl.  Take shanks out of the fridge to get up to room temperature, dice shallots, preheat oven to 300, and get your equipment together. The real stress of cooking is needing something done without time to do it, so a bit of preparation makes the process much saner (now if I could only follow this advice, I’d be set).

Once you’ve got everything ready, you’re off! Heat your dutch oven over high heat with oil for your sear. You want to give the shanks some color, and also caramelize those sugars to get a good deep flavor. Brown well, remove shanks, add onions. Lower heat to medium, cook 10 minutes until translucent, add garlic and anchovy, cook 2 minutes. Add Shanks back into the pot, along with thyme, pour over stock and canned tomatoes (it should almost cover the shanks, this added liquid will help cook the potatoes later), and white wine. Bring up to a boil, then cover, place in oven, and relax. Cook 1.5 hours, then add potatoes, topping up liquid so it’s at least 3/4^th up the shanks (with water if you’re out of stock), cover and cook a further 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender and shank is falling off the bone.  Done! Delicious! Salt and pepper to taste, serve with mushrooms and greens (I had it with bok choy, but that’s really only because that’s what I got in my CSA.  I’d rather broccoli rabe with this.) Enjoy!

I’m breaking up with my bank. Now, don’t think it’s anything that she did, lord knows she’s been good to me. 24 hour customer service, flashy website, free bill pay, even an iphone app! You really couldn’t ask for more. Sam, my banker at 16th/mission, is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Always takes care of fees for me, and helps me out whenever I visit. Every time I walk into that venerable institution I’m greeted with a smile.

The problem is, we don’t agree on one thing, what they’re doing with my money.  Although they’re really just holding it for me, the reality is that they use it more often than I do. Every hard won dollar I make, from a dinner, created with 14 hour days of planning, prepping, foraging, and cooking, they invest in for profit detention centers. For a wild food walk, whose very purpose is to help people get more connected with their local environment, to know what is edible around them, they invest that money in…I don’t even know. I had to google that first example, because the reality is that I have no idea where my money goes.

I spend my life focused about food. Where I get that food, how I cook it, what I think about it, and at the core of those thoughts is a sincere belief that local food is better food. It’s better for many reasons that if you’re reading this post you probably already agree with, but I think one of the most important reasons is that through a robust local food system, we can create a robust local economy. An economy of people doing something they love, and helping each other out along the way. That’s what its all about. That’s what local is about. That’s what the Underground Market is about. It’s the center of all the ideas I have.

It’s time we realize that food isn’t the only area that we need to focus on. If we want to build something real and lasting, we need to look at who holds our money, and what they’re doing with it. Sure, convenience is nice, but at least for me, I can’t ignore the rest of it anymore.

Today is Bank Transfer Day. Join millions from around the country and transfer your money out of global banks and into local credit unions, run by locals, for locals. I put my money in San Francisco Federal Credit Union, but here are some links to a couple others to peruse.

SF Fire Credit Union

Patelco Credit Union

Provident Credit Union

If you want to take it one step further, there is going to be a protest to support Bank Transfer Day today (Saturday), at Justin Herman Plaza (right across from the ferry building) at 3pm. Hope to see you there. If you checked out the protest or transferred your money, let us know in the comments section or on twitter.

I recently downloaded The French Chef. The cooking show Julia Child created.  I know, it’s a bit cliché to talk about Julia Child, but up until this week, I’d never actually seen an episode of one of her shows. I’d seen clips, and the Saturday night live spoof, but never one from beginning to end.

They have names like “The Potato Show”, and the “The omelette Show”, where she’ll spend 30 minutes going over 5 or 6 ways to cook something specific. What’s really interesting is that it almost feels like she’s introducing these things for the first time. Which she probably was. Teaching Americans how to cook cook lobster or pan flip eggs.

Beyond the food, the production of the show is also great. No cuts, almost nothing pre-prepared, she just plops the food down on the plate, without much if any concern for presentation.  She drops things, she loses her glasses, says things constantly like “If no one is watching, you can do…..”.  It feels so much more real than an episode of Rachel Ray, and really makes me wish shows were more like that now.  It seems cooking shows now work so hard to be perfect, that it becomes more of a voyeuristic exercise than an educational one. Sure, the food looks good, and they never make any mistakes, but I think people are intimidated by that. Flaws are what connect you to a person, bring them down to earth.  I was going to write out one of her recipes, but it wouldn’t do the video justice. Enjoy:

In the last post, I talked about the process of formulating the idea for our kitchen, what programs we would include and why.  In this post I’m going to talk about the model we’re considering for membership.

When deciding on the membership model for our kitchen, we tried to address two problems:

1. Money: It’s expensive to build-out a space that serves the needs of professional food makers, and it’s expensive to operate it.  Much like the Underground Market, we want this to be a space that is accessible to as many food producers as possible, while being a sustainable business.  We are going to look for grant funding to ensure we can serve low-income producers, while we build a workable business model that serve the entire Bay Area food community.

2. Access: We didn’t want this to be a place only for professional cooks.  The Underground Market has shown that there are thousands of people who want to be involved in other ways than as producers.  There is so much more to do with food than simply have a professional business focused on it.   People want to be part of this, and we’re excited about that.

To solve these two problems we came up with the membership model below.  Rather than sell hourly kitchen rental time, accessible only by professional cooks, we’ve created a new system we’re hoping resonates with the public.  Our membership will be tiered to interest for professionals and non-professionals.  If you’re interested in using the kitchen 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, there is a level for you.  If you’re interested in using a professional kitchen to can the tomatoes from your backyard a couple hours a month, there’s a level for you.

If you’re really just interested in staying involved, taking classes, coming to parties, watching movies on the rooftop, there’s a level for you. In this way, we can have a lot of really interesting stuff going on, allow people who are interested in being involved a road to entry, while generating income to allow us to offer kitchen rental to beginning entrepreneurs at a reasonable rate.  The levels listed below are still up for revision, but that is the general outline of how the space will be run.  If you have any feedback on this model, please let us know. It’s not set in stone, so if there is anything you would like to see in the space when it opens, we’d definitely like to hear it. Please feel free to comment on this post, or fill out this short survey.

Community membership

• First dibs on classes, events, talks, community events, – 2 days prior to public notice the members will receive an exclusive newsletter allowing them to be the first group to access these offerings

• Allows entrance to the Underground Market (which charges a fee for entry)

Community kitchen-users

• 4 hours month of shared kitchen time included 1-2 designated days a week (Sunday and Wednesday 6-10pm – timeframes pending)

• Additional 10 hours month of kitchen rental at a reduced rate

• 10% off all classes and events

• Will also encompass above community member services

Community kitchen-devotees

• 10 hours month included

1-2 designated days a week (Sunday and Wednesday 6-10pm)

• Additional 10 hours month at a reduced rate

• 20% off classes

• All above community kitchen-users services

Professionals

• Start-up/concept development/low-income program participants

• Still testing the market, making less than $500/month, or not yet generating sales

• One to two people on crew, allowed in the kitchen

• 10-25 hours a month of kitchen time

• Subsidized hourly kitchen rates

• One day a week for kitchen time (8 hours)

• Consulting services built-in through programs/grants

Start-up/concept development/moderate-income program participants

• Testing market, making less than $500/month, or not yet generating sales

• One to two people on crew in kitchen

• 10-25 hours a month

• Subsidized hourly kitchen rates

• Will use the kitchen approximately one-two days per week (8-16 days per week)

• Consulting services built-in through programs/grants

Start-up/production development

• Vetted concept, generating consistent sales

• 4 shifts per week or approximately 32 hours a week of kitchen time

• Two to four person crew per shift

• Consulting services built-in through programs/grants

Graduates/Long-term fixed

• Vetted concept, generating consistent sales and growing rapidly

• 4-6 shifts per week or approximately 40 hours a week of kitchen time

• Tenant may sign 6-24 month lease

• Cost/month fixed – 40 hours per week

We’ve been busy over here, trying to push everything along. We’re in the midst of getting the market back open (soon my friends, very soon), figuring out this commercial kitchen business, and all the while, cooking food. It’s nice to have a job with variety.  I’ve been spending the last couple days recipe testing for the Eat Real festival next weekend.  We are going to do fried smelt with pickled baby veggies, and a new creation, wild boar chips (like potato chips, but with pig).  Unfortunately I dont have any food porn worthy pictures of either of those, so I thought I’d share some media from Wild Kitchen dinners past.  Here is a video that was shot at the last meal, and below are some delicious pictures for your enjoyment. I’m off to prep day for this weekends dinners, if you’re interested, I believe there are still a couple tickets available for Friday, and can be purchased here. Hope you’re all having fun.

photos by Ramin Rahimian

In the second installment of our vendor video series with partner High Beam Media, we bring you Sidesaddle Kitchen.  Hear about her philosophy that you shouldn’t think about whats not in food, but what is in it.

Watch the video, then donate to her Kickstarter campaign. Sidesaddle has been a vendor for over a year at The Underground Market, and now she’s trying to take it legit, with all the fancy permits required.  She makes amazing desserts, and deserves our support.  Help her get there.

Forage SF Vendor Profile: Sidesaddle Kitchen from High Beam Media on Vimeo.