Truffles: Napa and Sonoma Counties may be a hot spot for black truffle cultivation. Photo: Janna Waldinger/Art & Clarity

There is no food on earth that inspires obsession like edible wild mushrooms and the Holy Grail of these are truffles. Out of the thousands of species of truffles, two are prized above all others: the white truffle (Alba madonna) and the black Périgord truffle.

Truffles cost more per ounce than many narcotics. They are auctioned off in markets in France and Italy or traded in back alleys. They are then shipped to chefs around the world who shave them over dishes like pasta or risotto in thin, aromatic slivers for well-heeled patrons. The white truffle costs up to $3,600 a pound and has not been successfully cultivated. The black Périgord truffle, named for a region in France but often called “a black diamond” costs up to $2000 a pound has been successfully grown in truffle orchards since the 1800s. Currently, wine producing regions in New Zealand and Australia are also planting and now harvesting black truffles and over 20 other countries have truffle orchards in the works.

Sonoma and Napa may very well be the next major truffle producing regions. This is due to the American Truffle Company. This business was formed by Robert Chang, an engineer from South Bay, and Dr. Paul Thomas, a mycologist from the United Kingdom. They set out to match the science of truffle cultivation with the ideal weather of California wine country. They are working to convince vineyard owners to plant orchards of trees inoculated with truffle spores. The interest is considerable: their town hall meetings in Napa have been sold out and standing room only. One orchard has been planted, four more contracted, and many other grape growers are considering it.

This year they hosted the Third Annual Truffle Festival in the town of Napa on January 18-21 where they rolled out their vision of truffle cultivation. Currently, most black truffles are grown in Europe, but Dr. Paul Thomas explained that black truffles like a climate with winters that range from 30 to 50 degrees and then very sunny summers: California wine country weather. The company provides young oaks and hazelnuts with roots that have been inoculated with truffle spores. They then give support through climatic reports, soil amending tips and irrigation advice.

Robert Chang, co-founder and director of the company, assured future truffle orchard investors that truffle orchards are 7 to 12 times as profitable as vineyards and that the price of truffles will never drop on the world market. This is in part due to the fact that truffles have a very short shelf life, so the less time they have to travel, the better. Robert claims that their business model helps to allay cynicism. “We offer scientific support in exchange for a share of the harvest. And if growers desire, we will help market the truffles.”

Michelin chefs gather to prepare the Truffles & Wine Dinner at La Toque
left to right: Marco Gubbiotti of La Bastiglia in Spello, Italy; Nico Chessa of Valentino Restaurant in Santa Monica; Robert Chang, Managing Director of American Truffle Company (producer of the Napa Truffle Festival); Ken Frank of La Toque in Napa; and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Photo: Faith Echtermeyer

The Truffle Festival helps the company to develop markets with chefs and create more knowledge and demand for truffles among diners. While vineyard owners who would be potential truffle growers needed a little convincing, diners did not. Every event sold out and visitors huddled around a pizza oven at Silver Oak Winery and watched chef Dominic Orsini shave truffles over sheep’s milk ricotta pizza. Later, he served a truffle luncheon, including black truffle and chicory salad with a quail egg croquette.

At Robert Sinskey Vineyards, visitors toured the first truffle orchard planted in Napa, now just a little over a year old. Early adopter Robert Sinskey, who farms biodynamically, admits,

“It’s a gamble. But so are grapes. I might have a truffle orchard one day, or maybe a shady grove to graze my sheep.”

Rico the truffle hunter with his owner, Bill Collins, a psychologist who works with depressed veterans in the San Francisco Bay area. Rico goes with Bill to work and is also a therapy dog for soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Photo: Maria Finn

It takes approximately five to seven years for a truffle orchard to start producing, and the one at Robert Sinskey Vineyards was planted in 2010. So to demonstrate how dogs sniff out truffles, a black truffle from Italy was buried into the ground so that Rico (short for Enrico Bacio il Tartufaio) the truffle-hunting dog could display his skills at finding it. Rico was born in Italy and is a Lagotto Romagnolo, a breed of water dog that dates back to Etruscan times. Truffle hunting pigs have fallen out of favor because they dig for and eat truffles with such gusto farmers have been known to lose digits when interfering. In Italy they have been outlawed because they damage the tree roots. And so Rico was a celebrity at the truffle festival.

Truffle sniffing dogs are critical to the operation. The best way to know a truffle is ripe and ready to harvest is from the aroma that it gives off. Any harvested before or after this aromatic time will have very little value. Black Périgord truffles contain the chemical compound androstenol, a sex hormone that beckons animals to it. Once unearthed, a truffle only has a short shelf life. According to Ken Frank, owner and executive chef at La Toque,

“After four days, it loses 25 percent of its aroma and flavor. Over the next four days, another 25 percent. And you can’t store truffles,” he explained. “Truffle oil and truffle salt is all chemically made. It’s a steroided-out version of them and a palate killer. Their fleeting nature is an element that makes them special. The art to cooking with truffles is to keep it simple, and let their perfume shine. The challenge is cooking with them and not just shaving them onto stuff.”

Truffled Mascarpone Crepe Cake with Sherry Brown Butter Sauce Prepared by Deborah Yee-Henen, La Toque, and Nicole Plue, sideshow by Nicole Plue Photo: Faith Echtermeyer

This was the bar set for the Saturday night, Truffles and Wine dinner at La Toque Restaurant. Michelin Star Chefs created a truffle-tasting menu that included Fagotelli of Four story Hill Farm Sweetbread and Black Truffle by Michael Tusk at Quince paired with Pinot Noir by Robert Sinskey Vineyards. Even the dessert featured with a truffled mascarpone crepe cake with sherry brown butter sauce by Deborah Yee-Henen at La Toque and Sideshow by Nicole Plue.

Just made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg and shaved truffle. Photo: Maria Finn

On Sunday, Beringer Vineyards hosted a cooking demonstration with Nico Chessa who brought the spirit of his native Italy in the dishes he prepared, like the just-made Kurobuta pork sausage with truffle soft polenta and poached egg. At this lunch, I spoke with Gretchen and Dale Demmin, who traveled from Virginia wine country. They planted a truffle orchard on their farm in collaboration with the American Truffle Company. Gretchen had recently retired from the Army where she worked as a microbiologist. “Mushrooms are the next place we will find an antibiotic or cure. I’m convinced of this,” she explained. “I used to grow medicinal mushrooms, but it just got so hot where I lived, I need to grow underground mushrooms. So I’m making the transition from medicinal to luxury.” Also at the lunch was prospective truffle farmer David Mahaffey, winemaker and partner at Olivia Brion. “A truffle orchard is the sizzle on the steak,” he said “If I can grow world class Pinot Noir with truffles adjacent to them, that’s a great match, and a great story.”

Truffles for sale at the Oxbow Marketplace. Photo: Maria Finn

The final event took place at Oxbow Marketplace in Napa, where crowds swamped vendors that each interpreted the truffle in their own way. Ca’ Momi Enoteca had truffled pizza, The Model Bakery served mushroom-truffle bread pudding, Pica Pica Maize Kitchen offered truffled yucca fries and Gott’s Roadside made truffled Niman Ranch sliders. And there were also truffles–both black and white, for sale by the ounce. Visitors all stopped to sniff the truffles: earthy, fruity, musky. Some found them irresistible and wanted to take home their own delicious black diamond.

The writer, Maria Finn, attended this event as a guest of the American Truffle Company.

Curry Without Worry feeds approximately 250 every Tuesday night at the UN Plaza.

My neighbor, Catherine Lyons, would often stop by with a big bag of day old pastries from La Boulange Bakery. Almond croissants and palmiers, even a day old, are still quite good. After eating myself into a carb and sugar coma a few times, I started waving her away. “You are a terrible person,” I would yell at her, but quickly cave in to something sugary.

As it turned out, she wasn’t such a terrible person. These day-old pastries were bound for Curry Without Worry, a small non-profit organization that she volunteers with. The group provides a free dinner at the U.N. Plaza near the Civic Center every Tuesday night. Despite the baked goods set out for dessert, it’s one of the healthiest meals around. Volunteers ladle out rice, and then top it with a nine-bean soup, a specialty from Nepal, along with curried vegetables, spicy achar, or tomato and timur chutney and homemade whole-wheat flatbread.

Shrawan Nepali serves bowls of nine-bean soup to the volunteers in the test kitchen before they all head out to serve the food.

The founder of Curry Without Worry, Shrawan Nepali, has shoulder length salt and pepper hair, brown eyes that sparkle like he’s about to break into a smile, and a lightness to him, as if he seems to defy gravity. He played drums and sang while the food was served and then took breaks to walk around and shake hands and thank people for coming. They feed approximately 250 people in San Francisco, and 300 in Katmandu, Nepal every Tuesday night.

Kerry Adams, a man waiting in line, told me, “Not only is the food here healthy and tasty, but Shrawan and everyone else working is so polite that you walk away with good manners. And if you want, you can volunteer.”
Shrawan’s last name is Nepali, which is given to children who grow up in orphanages in Nepal. He had little self-pity when it came to his fate, and explained, “The orphanage was wonderful. We were like a family where I had 50 brothers.” While in the orphanage, he met volunteers for the Peace Corps who sponsored him to come to the United States for college in North Carolina. After earning a degree in economics at Warren Wilson College, he moved to San Francisco and started working as an accountant. He then earned an MBA from Lincoln University, which was once based in San Francisco, but is now in Oakland. While he was doing well financially, he felt that he was missing his purpose in life and he wanted to make a difference in other peoples’ lives. So he started the Ama Foundation in 2001 in order to open an orphanage in Nepal. It is now home to 50 orphans in Katmandu.

He also loved to cook, and so bought the restaurant, “Taste of the Himalayas” in San Francisco. Then he decided that he wanted to give back. “I want to show my gratitude to this beautiful city.” As well, he was shocked that even here, people went hungry and ate from garbage cans.

“I read that one out of five adults in San Francisco go hungry. And one out of every four children are in danger of hunger here,” he said. “Coming from a developing country to a world class city like San Francisco, this surprised me.”

With a group friends and a sympathetic security guard who worked at the UN Plaza, he served his first meal in December of 2006 to about 50 people. Currently, to comply with health codes, he rents a commercial kitchen to prepare the food, but then sets up under a tent at 5:30 pm every Tuesday night, rain or shine. A long line has often formed by the time the volunteers start serving.

Shrawan estimated that about 60 percent of the people fed were homeless, and 40 percent students, city workers and tourists or travelers.

“This is a great way for the have’s and have not’s to interact,” he explained. “They wait in line together and enjoy each other’s company. And I play soul pleasing music. It’s a healing experience.”

The people waiting in line were diverse. Some looked like they had been down on their luck for some time, and carried their belongings in a cart, while others wore sporty ski jackets and hand knitted hats; some were handicapped and others wheeling bikes. A few carried to-go containers for shut in family members.

Alisha Pelton certainly did not look homeless. She was in her early twenties and had a healthy glow.

“I live nearby, and with high rents and student loans to pay off, I don’t have much of a budget left over for food,” she said. “So I often meet friends down here for dinner on Tuesdays.”

It also has made it onto the backpacker circuit and a young, international crowd lined up for curry. Gisel Mociño, a student visiting from Mexico City, explained that while she really liked the curry, she still kind of missed the street food in her hometown.

Mayek Querales (left) and Gisel Mociño (right) are college students visiting from Mexico City.

While most of the diners seemed very content, there were a few suggestions, like a man who yelled out to Shrawan, “If you served iced chai with this, that would be the bomb!”

Rafael Pizarro, who lived in an SRO not far from the UN Plaza gave his take on it, “I live on a fixed income, so this is really helpful. Not too far away from here, some nuns are serving sausages. So you can choose this vegetarian meal, or meat one. Some people do both.”

My neighbor Catherine Lyons ladling achar over the curry, rice and nine-bean soup while Shrawan Nepali chats with people in the background.

The winter night grew chillier, and volunteers continued to ladle out nine-bean soup. Scents of coriander, turmeric, cardamom and bay filled the air. Murmurs of “thank you” and responses of “namaste” were passed between patrons and volunteers. The line grew shorter, but still people were beckoned by the music and warm food. My neighbor Catherine ladled achar or tomato chutney onto people’s plates.

“I think that we are so fortunate and that everyone should give back,” she said. “I volunteer here because food is fun for me. And I love the music.”

The goal for Curry Without Worry is to continue to feed the needy in San Francisco, and in Katmandu, where most of the people served are street children and the elderly and handicapped. In San Francisco, it takes an estimated $1.00-$2.00 to feed each person, and in Katmandu, the cost is 50 cents. So this holiday season, please feel free to volunteer on a Tuesday evening or donate money to them so they can continue to feed people.

Information:
Curry Without Worry
Twitter: @CurryWoW
Facebook: Curry Without Worry

Last year something was missing from Thanksgiving festivities in the Bay Area–Dungeness crab. Crabbers were on strike, holding out for $2.50 a pound from buyers. Finally, they settled at $2.25 a pound, but the well-loved crustaceans did not arrive in time for Thanksgiving. Fortunately, that was not the case this year. A price was agreed upon, $3.00 a pound and crabbers hit the high seas; these tasty creatures are now showing up in grocery stores at prices that range from $5.99-$8.99 a pound and in restaurants with a wide range of dishes and price points.

This season, fishmongers are reporting that most Dungeness crabs average 1.5-2.3 pounds each. Photo Credit Martin Reed

Rocky Burns used to skipper the fishing vessel AL-W for the Dungeness season and now works at the online sustainable seafood company i love blue sea. He explained that the Dungeness crab fishery is sustainable due to three main components, or the 3 S’s as he calls them: Sex, Size, Season. “We throw back all females, and any males under 6 1/4 inches wide so they can reproduce,” he said. “As well, Dungeness shed their shells, or molt, at different times of the year, and which makes them delicate and susceptible to injury, so we don’t fish them during molting season.”

The AL-W returns to Pier 45 to offload Dungeness crab. Photo Credit: Martin Reed.

Rocky explained that another element that makes them sustainable is they are caught with baited traps. These are designed to let smaller crabs and bycatch escape unharmed. Bycatch are other creatures that make their way into the traps that are not the intended catch.

So you can feel good about that Crab Louie that you are enjoying; fishermen are getting a fair price and while they are expecting a light season catch-wise, the crabs are coming in large and healthy right now. Yet there is danger lurking on the horizon for these delicious creatures. While the crabs are caught between 3-40 miles offshore, they spend a great deal of their lives in estuaries. Juvenile Dungeness crabs lose their shells as they grow, this process of molting helps them to grow new, larger shells. During these periods, they head into the San Francisco Bay for protection. They hide out in the eel grass and eat fish, mollusks, and other crustaceans before heading out to the deep waters. At times they even seek protection in clamshells.

So the threat to them does not necessarily lie in the fishing of them, but rather the health of our estuaries, which means restoring habitat along the shore and keeping the bay clean. According to the non-profit Save the Bay we can help the health of the bay through every day activities like not using plastic bags, (they claim to be first at getting a plastic bag ban passed), and make sure your garbage–cigarette butts and Styrofoam containers don’t blow into storm drains. In addition, what you put on your lawn and garden impacts the bay. Natural filters such as wetlands and marshes have been paved over in most cities. As a result, pollution–such as pesticides from lawns and gas leaks on roads gets washed straight into the bay. A great source for learning more about how to reduce ocean pollution by making your lawn and garden runoff less toxic can be found at Surfrider Foundation’s Guide to Ocean Friendly Gardening.

Another fear is increasing ocean acidification due to carbon emissions. Dr. Tessa Hill of UC Davis stated in an email, “Ocean acidification threatens the success of many organisms with shells, such as mussels, clams and oysters. Those animals provide habitat for many other organisms, so there will be a cascade of impacts through estuaries and the ocean. Estuaries are susceptible to both ocean acidification and climate change, which means they may experience changes in temperature, pH, and salinity in the future.” So this means that reducing our carbon emissions are critical when it comes to preserving Dungeness crabs.

So let’s protect our estuaries and in the meantime, enjoy the season’s bounty. Here are some places to find Dungeness:

SAN FRANCISCO
Retail: Whole Foods Market/ Franklin & California Streets are selling Dungeness crab for $7.99, and they crack and clean them.

Restaurant: Prospect Restaurant is serving calamari stuffed with fresh Dungeness crab with ginger and shitake mushroom with spicy roasted kabocha squash, shishito pepper and mandarin relish. $15.00

List of Crab-Friendly San Francisco restaurants from 7×7

EAST BAY
Retail: At Rockridge Market Hall fishmongers at Hapuku Fish Shop Dungeness crab. Buy them live or cooked, cracked or cleaned. $8.99 a pound.

Restaurant: Comal Berkeley is making Chilpachole de Jaiba, a spicy Dungeness crab soup with lentils. It’s part of a five-course meal at $45.00 per person. (The Chilpachole de Jaiba is a $3.00 add on.)

NORTH BAY
Retail: TwoXSea is the seafood retail store located inside Fish Restaurant in Sausalito. They are selling Dungeness for $6.99 cooked, $7.99 cracked and cleaned.

Restaurant: Picco Restaurant in Larkspur is making filet mignon with Dungeness crab, crispy potatoes and a crab butter sauce made with crab roe. $56.95. As well, they are serving hand rolled tagliatelle pasta with crab, scallions, chilies tossed in a sauce made of crab shells. $23.95

SOUTH BAY
Retail: 99 Ranch Market in Mountain View is selling live Dungeness for $5.99 a pound.

Restaurant: Hong Kong Restaurant in Palo Alto (650) 251-9062 is serving Salt & Pepper crab for $24.00.

PENINSULA
Retail: Princeton Seafood Company near Half Moon Bay is buying them right there at the harbor and selling them for $5.99 live and $6.50 cooked and cleaned.

Restaurant: Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is serving whole Dungeness crabs with drawn butter and garlic bread ($24.00) as well as a Dungeness Crab Roll with spicy remoulade sauce and a choice of fries or cole slaw ($18.50) And for another winter tradition, you can watch Mavericks Surf Contest from their dining room or patio.

The second annual National Heirloom Exposition took place in Santa Rosa on September 10-12. It was a celebration of the imperfect, the unexpected, and many people attending it learned that sometimes the most blemished fruit has the sweetest flavor. There were squash with warts, spiky cucumbers and “Cannibal” tomatoes. A display showed off Hopi Blue corn, Rainbow Inca corn, and Seneca Blue Bear Dance corn. Genetically modified corn, well, it was not welcome at the table.

The heirloom “Cannibal Tomato” is actually an eggplant. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

If fact, GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) were enemy #1 at the Heirloom Expo and Proposition 37, which would require food manufacturers to label all foods with genetically modified ingredients on this November’s ballot, was a much talked about issue. An organizer of the festival and manager of The Petaluma Seed Bank, Paul Wallace told me:

“Heirlooms have been here since the beginning of time. Anyone can take one of these seeds, plant it, and grow food. But not with GMOs. These companies have patented nature and cut us off from growing our own food. Genetically modified foods have only been around a few decades. We still don’t know if it could cause health problems. If people want to eat GMO food, that should be an informed choice.”

Heirlooms predate 1950, when hybrid plants first started to be used widely by industrial farms. Heirlooms are open-pollinated, which means that birds, bees, wind, and other forces of nature help with their breeding process. They can be traded at seed swaps, or saved and stored from year to year. They tend to be considered costlier for commercial farmers, as some may have smaller yields or can be too delicate for shipping. This is why they are often grown by boutique, organic farms, and cost more in the stores, but are a favorite among backyard gardeners.

Blush Tomato by Fred Hempel. Photo: Fred Hempel at Baia Nicchia.

By crossing two or more varieties of heirlooms, plant breeders, farmers and gardeners can search for their version of the perfect tomato. Fred Hempel, owner of Baia Nicchia, is an organic farmer and plant breeder. He has been working with the company Seeds of Change along with chefs around the San Francisco Bay area to develop varietals, like the Blush tomato. He explained that these are not hybrids, but actually “heritage” tomatoes. “These have all of the traits one expects in an heirloom,“ said Fred Hempel said. “They are open pollinated, their offspring will be very similar to them, but they are not 50 years old.”

In fact, some tomatoes people commonly refer to as “heirloom” are also heritage, like the Green Zebra. This was developed by Tom Wagner of Everett Washington by crossing the genes of four different heirloom tomatoes. He introduced it in 1983, and so in spirit these might be heirlooms, but really, they are as he calls them, “Heritage.” The Indigo Rose, or blue tomato was recently bred by Jim Meyers and graduates students at Oregon State University. They crossed wild tomatoes with domestic ones and came up with blue-hued beauties that have the nutrients of regular tomatoes, along with anthocyanins, which also produce the healthy pigments in red wine and blueberries.

Heirloom squash. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

Indigo Rose, Blush and Green Zebra were NOT genetically engineered; rather, they were created through classical plant breeding techniques, which often means crossing wild and domesticated plants for genetic diversity. This is important, as then this diversity allows for a greater range of adaptation, especially when climate change is an issue. This can take years of work, and lots of uncertainty, as growers are working with the perimeters of nature and can’t control which genes are precisely passed down to the offspring. So there may be a year of mishaps, feral cousins, and then honing in for generations on the perfect tomato. Currently, Blush, Indigo Rose and Green Zebra seeds are for sale, and can be grown by home gardeners. Over time, they may be introduced into the pantheon of heirlooms.

Many of the tomatoes seen in grocery stores are hybrids, which means that they are genetically 50 percent each parent plant, one generation old, and though it’s possible to save the seeds and plant them, the offspring probably won’t taste as good. Many of these have been bred to look like a “perfect” tomato and have a long shelf life, but often lose flavor. The parents are often trade secrets, so farmers have to keep coming back and buying seeds. Since many have been bred for cosmetic purposes, how they taste is far less important. In fact, a recent study in Science Magazine explains that by breeding the dark green spots out of tomatoes, they in fact have less sugar and flavor.

But don’t confuse hybrids with genetically modifying a plant. Genetically engineering, or modifying means that breeders select specific traits that they want in a tomato, and insert the genes that will code those traits into the plant. The gene does not have to be from the same species. The original goal of these was to reduce diseases in crops and create greater output. This seemed like a great idea.

Heirloom vegetables are prized for their uniqueness, rather than uniformity. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

However, many countries have come out against the use of GMOs in food production and agriculture because they felt there were unacceptable risks to the environment and human health. These countries also considered GMOs unfair to farmers and unsustainable. While genetically modified tomatoes did appear in 1994, they disappeared just four years later. Very few food items we might find in the produce department are genetically modified. The most common genetically modified crops are corn and soybeans and these are used in processed foods and fed to livestock on industrial farms.

Recent studies have shown that green parts on tomatoes increase their sweetness. These have been bred out of many pure red tomatoes found in grocery stores. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

Over time, the company Monsanto has become almost synonymous with GMO, and the plants they have genetically manipulated are their intellectual property. They are usually not available to home gardeners, and when grown by farmers, it is illegal for them to save seeds to plant again. In fact, if seeds from a neighboring farm or backyard garden cross-pollinate with your crop, Monsanto can charge you for patent infringement. One of the most famous cases brought against a farmer by Monsanto is the case of Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser who was sued by Monsanto. Listen to his story.

These signs are often found at farmers’ markets and health food stores. The country will be watching what California decides. Photo: Maria Finn

This November, the rest of the country will be watching California as we vote on Proposition 37, to decide if Genetically Engineered (GE) food products should be labeled. Right now, the organic farmers are considered the Davids against the corporate Goliaths. But the mood at the Heirloom Expo was optimistic.

Governor Jerry Brown decreed September “California Wine Month.” So start sipping.

Though Californians tend to celebrate local wines year-round, Governor Brown has declared September to be wine month. In his proclamation, the governor cites the many great things the wine industry brings to California, from the beauty of wine regions, the jobs created and revenue generated, to the industry’s commitment to sustainability. According to Gladys Horiuchi with the Wine Institute, this month “Is a way for people to really feel part of the harvest. You can get out to wineries and smell the grapes being crushed and be part of the excitement.”

Wondering about wines from Santa Clara or Livermore? Try over 60 wines from all over California on Saturday, Sept. 22nd at the Ferry Building.

To celebrate, California Wine Institute has organized a California Wines Road Trip main event this Saturday, September 22nd at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. If you’ve wanted to sample wines from the Sierra Foothills or Santa Barbara, this is great opportunity. There will be over 60 wines to taste, representing wineries from 14 regions around the state.

Cheese, charcuterie and other snacks will be served at California Wines Road Trip event.

Owners of the vineyards will be there, and local cheeses and salumi will be served.
September 22nd 2:00-5:00 pm
$35 per person Purchase tickets
Ferry Building Marketplace, Grand Hall
San Francisco, CA.

This month California wineries are offering lots of ways to enjoy harvest season.

If this inspires you to get out and about in wine country, there are some great ways to experience local wines and wineries offering specials and hosting events through the month of September.

Santa Cruz:
Santa Cruz is a hot spot for small, family owned wineries that are turning out great, but hard to find wines. Pinot Noir lovers will want to go on the Private Vineyard Tours at Windy Oaks Estate Vineyards & Winery. Since you’re in the area, travel the Summit to Sea Trail and make your way from high altitude at Loma Prieta Winery to sea level, with stops at Dancing Creek and Poetic Cellars along the way.

Livermore:
Murrieta’s Well hosts a popular La Luna Fridays, where people gather to enjoy tapas, live music and wine under the moonlight from 6-9pm on the first Friday of the month.

Lodi:
Adventure into winemaking at the Lucas Winery. Every Sunday you can work with the winemakers and learn the trade, from soil types to blending techniques.

Napa:
On September 29th, Peju Winery is hosting a farm to table feast to celebrate the harvest season. Cost: $175 members/$195 non-members.

Sonoma:
The Sonoma Valley CRUSH takes places September 29-30, 2012 throughout wineries on the Sonoma Valley Wine Trail. Designate a driver and get tasting. Cost $35, designated drivers $10.

San Luis Obispo:
Sunset Savor the Central Coast, September 27-30, 2012 in San Luis Obispo County. This is a great place to try the wines of the Central Coast and sample food from the region. Prices range from $20 for chef demonstrations to full weekend passes for $150.

Oakland:
Sip, Stomp, and Play, September 29, 2012 at Urban Legend Cellars. Really, you get to stomp grapes, as well as taste wine and nosh. Tickets range from $30-$75.

Mendocino:
Parducci’s 80th Anniversary Celebration — Dinner in the Vineyard September 29, 2012 Mendocino County. $85 per person.

I had awoken at 4:30 am, dug around for my Xtra tuff boots, the footwear of choice for fishing and made my way to the Salty Lady in Sausalito. In the cool, foggy mist, I remembered a familiar feeling from my old fishing days in Alaska. Tired. But as I neared Clipper Harbor, the smells of diesel fuel from boats firing up, the sounds of the engines starting and I hurried up, as the sports fishermen were already claiming spots at the back rail. In the novel, “The Old Man and the Sea” the veteran fisherman, Santiago swears at a giant fish towing him out to sea, “Fish,” he said, “I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.” This phrase echoed in my blurry brain as I made my way through the foggy morning towards the lights of the Salty Lady.

In 2008-2009 the number of Chinook salmon returning to California waterways was so low that Fish & Game closed fishing to both commercial and sport fishing. In 2009, the number of salmon returning to the Sacramento River was only 39,500. The 2010 fish count improved slightly, and by 2011, there were 114,741 Chinook showing up to spawn in the Sacramento River. This year, they are expecting 820,000 Chinook returning to the Sacramento River, and even more bound for the Klamath River. The reasons for this vary. Many fishermen say the crash in numbers is due to too much water being taken from the Sacramento River by farmers, but Fish & Game claim it’s due to improved conditions in the ocean.

Regardless, commercial fishermen, fishmongers, chefs, and diners are delighted, but perhaps the most excited of the bunch are people who love to fish. And what’s not to love? You get a boat ride, see some wildlife, have an adrenaline spike when you hook the fish, and then delicious food for weeks. Of course, this is the ocean, and there’s always the possibility of stormy seas, fear and illness instead of delight, no fish, and well, worse can happen, as anyone who has read Seawolf, the San Francisco Bay classic shipwreck tale by Jack London, could tell you. Though it has been some time since shipwrecked people were rescued and then enslaved by seal hunters.

But we were an optimistic crew. For weeks people had been catching their limits—often before noon, as rumor has it, and the boats came back early. Gunard Mahl, of San Francisco had been out the week before. Not only did he catch his limit, but he also spotted over 15 whales, including a blue whale, among many gray and humpback whales. The only person not brimming with enthusiasm was the skipper, Tak Kuwatani, who warned us that the fish run had tapered off and they only caught four the day before. “Remember,” he said. “This is fishing.”

The man fishing next to me, Jonathan Van Bourg from Inverness, commented, “Then we can just eat the bait. I love anchovies.”

The deckhands, Eric Horne and Anthony Largo, gave us instructions. Keep our bait fresh, no scratches. Take your time when you get a bite, don’t get too excited. “Remember, today you might only get one chance,” Eric said. “Don’t blow it.”

Eric Horne, deckhand on the Salty Lady, gives orientation.

We headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge, the water mostly calm with a few swells, the morning fog settled around us. Sandy Kaplan was out fishing with her father, Madison Kaplan. She had been asking him to take her out for the past five years. “There weren’t any fish,” he explained. “They are back, and she’s starting high school in the fall. It seemed like a good time.” Christopher Hart, a thirteen year old from Pasadena, who convinced his father to take him out, spotted the first porpoise swimming alongside us. We drank coffee, the queasy among us kept their eyes on the horizon, and we finally made it Duxsbury Reef off Bolinas. Other charter boats were already there, hopefuls out on the deck, soaking their lines.

It took Sandy Kaplan five years to get her father to take her out salmon fishing.

We dropped our hooks and then waited. And waited. Checked our bait. All of us out here in the cloudy drizzle, different ages, backgrounds, most from the San Francisco Bay area—all really excited that the salmon were returning. The night before a friend had asked me, “Really, you’re doing this just for food?” It’s hard to explain fishing to those who don’t do it. Yes it’s food, but you caught it yourself, on a boat. I had spent eight years in Alaska, working on commercial fishing boats and for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. There is no animal I admire more than Wild Pacific salmon and nothing quickens my heart like a fish run.

When I worked on a salmon seiner with an all female crew, we’d hold a spot in front of the stream for the season opener to begin. Around us, salmon occasionally broke the surface of the water, and landed back on their sides. The effect of these jumpers on the fishermen is much like songbirds on house cats. It stirs their primitive hunting instincts and every fiber of their beings twitched with anticipation to go after them. There was an intersection between these creatures and ourselves, our own primal pulse coming into tune with nature.

And then there’s eating the fish, pulled straight from the water, its soul still in it and almost nobody has touched it but you. This is a gift the ocean gives us and it’s important to brave the elements to remember that.

“If I catch one,” Jonathan said, “I’m eating it raw. I’m having all my neighbors over for sashimi.”

“I want eggs to brine,” I said. “And I may freeze some for winter.”

“But it’s so much better fresh,” he argued.

“Yeah, but they’re big. And salmon lasts for quite a while,” I said.

Hector’s fish on board.

While we were having this argument, a shout came from the stern of the boat. “Fish On!” We ran back and cheered on Hector Hurtdio from Santa Rosa, as he wrestled in a king salmon. He held his cigarette clenched between his lips and though it did get a bit dampened during the struggle, it never extinguished. When Eric got the net under it and it was pulled aboard, we all cheered, and Hector threw his hands into the air and yelled, “Thank you God!”

It was a beauty. About 15-18 pounds, bright silver and fresh as can be.

“Everybody, get on gear,” Eric yelled and we scattered for our poles.

It got quiet again and some people dozed. We looked out for porpoises and seals. Spied on the other boats. Checked to make sure our bait was fresh. I think I may have prayed for a salmon, and it was almost answered. My neighbor Jonathan was dozing off on deck, when Anthony, the deckhand, ran past me and lunged for his pole as the line was ripping out to sea. Jonathan awoke from his catnap, chased Anthony down the side and reeled in a salmon. We cheered. Another beauty, upwards of 15-16 pounds. People congratulated him. “The fish caught itself. I was sleeping,” he explained.

A freshly caught California Chinook

Another man landed a fish. I let my bait soak and talked with the captain, Tak Kuwatani, who had been running fishing charters for 60 years in the region. “Best year I’ve seen in 16 years,” he said. “But something happened this week. There’s krill, that’s what I look for with the sonar.” I watched us pass over a school that glowed red on the screen. “Water warmed up, salmon don’t like that. But next run will start again. We’re just in-between.”

Later, I spoke with Hector, and he told me that this was his second fishing trip this year. On the first one, everyone caught his or her limit, except him. He caught nothing. Someone gave him a fish head. “I took home, made soup,” he said. He shrugged. “But I just knew I had to catch one. So I came back out. And I did.”

Old Time Monterey Commercial fishing boat passes by The Salty Lady.

The great thing about returning home to the San Francisco Bay area after a summer vacation, is not just that you’re returning to a great place, but it’s possible to stretch out the spirit of the trip through food. When I returned from Italy one summer, I assuaged my hunger at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market with fresh figs and a porchetta sandwich. After coming back from India last summer, the pangs I felt for masala dosa were easily mollified at Dosa. And this summer, I went to Hawaii for the first time, to the island of Maui for a week’s worth of warm tropical waters, star filled skies, Mai-Tais at sunset, and fresh seafood and kalua pork. So what to do upon returning to San Francisco to cure these post island blues? I headed to the luau at the Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar.

Admittedly, I did not go to a luau in Hawaii, as these looked like resort affairs that sat 700 people, which never bodes well for the food quality. However, there is a subtle yet important difference between touristy and kitsch. The Fairmont’s Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is a sort of surreal, Hollywood re-imagines Polynesia, and then tucks it into the basement of a luxury hotel in San Francisco. Which, in fact, it is. This room had once been The Terrace Room, site of a 75-foot indoor swimming pool built in 1929, where Olympic swimmers trained and Hollywood stars like Ronald Reagan and Helen Hayes swam laps.

The floating boat on the “lagoon” in the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

Following World War II, when American soldiers returned from the South Pacific sporting tattoos and carrying carved totems and crafts, Polynesia became romantic, exotic, and the scowling totems of far off gods a little menacing, yet somehow sexy. And so tiki bars entered their golden era. In 1945, The Fairmont San Francisco hired Mel Melvin, a set director from Metro Goldwyn Mayer to lead the transformation of the Terrace Plunge into the Tonga Room.

Arriving at the Tonga Room, I was greeted with a synthetic lei, and then stepped into a huge, dark room sparkling with strands of multicolored lights, walls covered in tribal patterns, and in the middle of a swimming-pool-turned lagoon, a small boat sporting a deejay traveled back and forth. There were even sporadic tropical thunderstorms, complete with thunder and lightening.

Tropical cocktails at the Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

I met three friends there—two of them, having lived in Hawaii before, claimed it was their favorite bar in San Francisco. They were shocked I had never been to the Tonga Room. But for me, it was missing the magical elements of Hawaii. The warm breeze that wraps around you, the rainbows that appear just past the sugar cane field after a flash rain, the galaxies of stars, impossibly bright in the dark sky—in fact, the room actually made me sadder. So I had a Mai Tai. Rum is always a good drink for vacation nostalgia—mixed with a little fruit juice, it’s an instant taste of tropical. While it wasn’t made from Maui gold pineapple and Haleakala Rum, it wasn’t bad. And the little umbrella cheered me up.

Slicing pork for the luau. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

I’ve never been to a luau before, but I knew it involved pork. Many of the restaurants in Hawaii served “kalua” pork, which traditionally is a whole pig, slow roasted in an underground pit. Lo and behold, I rounded a corner and there was a whole pig–a huge one, with crispy skin, tender flesh, and a little bowl of pineapple chutney next to it. The buffet was Pacific Rim, with curried macaroni salad (which is a staple at plate shops in Hawaii), fried jasmine rice with pineapple, coconut and a bit of SPAM, and lemongrass-fennel crusted basa with yuzu cream. They also had touches of their traditional Chinese menu, like pork buns, spring rolls, and snap pea and oyster mushroom dumplings. I looked around at the tables full of diners—families, young couples, groups of friends, all wearing leis, sipping drinks garnished with pineapple and cherries and I wondered if they had honeymoons in Hawaii, had vacationed in Tahiti, done a tour of duty in the South Pacific, or just wanted to try something new.

Pacific Rim buffet at the luau. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

A traditional South Pacific band started playing and beautiful hula dancers, hips in harmony, hands and arms swaying a melody, elevated the festive atmosphere. I started to appreciate this experience for what it was, not just try to recapture Hawaii. After all, San Francisco is a Pacific Rim, multicultural city. It’s a place of natural beauty, amazing food, and even a Tonga Room. I was sitting with friends who were talking about the next trip they wanted to take to the islands. But they claimed that they wouldn’t move back. Everyone agreed. Hawaii is a wonderful vacation, but we love living here.

Dancers and band at the Tonga Room. Photo: Marla Aufmuth

The next luau at The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is scheduled for October 31. The cost for this one was $55 per person with Happy Hour cocktail prices from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.

The Fairmont Hotel’s Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar
Address: Map
950 Mason Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
Phone: (415) 772-5278
Hours:
Wed – Thu: 5pm-11:30pm
Fri – Sat: 5pm-12:30am
Sun: 5pm-11:30pm
Facebook: Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar
Twitter: @TongaRoom

If all commercial fishermen used the methods of Kirk Lombard, sustainability would be a non-issue. He goes for lesser know species using the most sporting methods possible. He hand-tosses a net, Hawaiian style, for smelt, he poke-poles for monkeyface eel, and catches red crab with a fishing pole and snare. He shares his maritime adventures and knowledge of the bays edible intertidal zone in his “Sea Forager Tours.”

On the Saturday morning that I gathered with 20 some other people near the lighthouse on Yacht Road in the Marina neighborhood of San Francisco. He warned us early on that the Advil he had taken that morning might wear off at any moment. The previous week he had repeatedly buried fish hooks into his hands, and then, when deep diving into mudflat after horse neck clams, he had infected the wounds.

Kirk Lombard shows students how they could survive a catastrophe by foraging seawalls.

But he powered through the pain and showed people edible limpets that “taste like abalone” and warned them that they “must be willing to risk their lives for them, as they were gathered where waves crashed.” He baited up a crab snare with squid and showed how to fish for them—only red crabs are keepers in the bay, but like most fishermen, he wasn’t going to reveal his prime fishing spots, only his wisdom on how to catch the critters.

A Dungeness crab that is legal size-wise, but you can’t keep these crabs if they are caught in the bay.

While demonstrating casting for crab and telling anecdotes and natural history of the regions waterways that needed a bit of fact checking—like there are so many sea lions because there are no natural predators in the area. Um, great white sharks? But fishermen are known for their spirit of rugged adventure, and Lombard has this in spades.

Kirk explains how you want to remove a horseneck clam from the mud in “all its phallic glory” as he put it.

He is the only fisherman commercially harvesting monkeyface eel, which is labor intensive and not lucrative. He claims it, “keeps me in beer money,” as well, very few fishermen go after red crabs in the bay, as he does, because they “will break you fingers with their claws and admittedly, there’s not a huge market.” He also takes nets out and fishes for surf smelt with a hand tossed net and night smelt with an A-frame based on Native American fishing methods.

Kirk shows the A-Frame fishing net he uses to catch smelt.

He has yet to be granted a commercial fishing license for using his hand tossed net for herring fishing, and hopes to soon as he is helping to bring back these underappreciated forage fish to restaurants in San Francisco.

Developing our tastes for these fish would also be a boon to sustainability. Small or forage fish in Northern California include squid, anchovies, smelt, sardines and herring. Herring is the last commercial fishery in the San Francisco Bay, and these fish are used exclusively for their roe, which is shipped to Japan. The bodies are used as bait or sold to fishmeal companies.

While the fisheries in California are managed, reports are coming out from other regions in the world that these small fish, which are a critical part of the ocean’s food chain are being wiped out. These fish are primarily being made into fishmeal.

The tour culminates with an exciting demonstration poke poling for monkeyface eels.

According to the Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force report that was published this year, 90 percent of forage fish are used for agriculture, fish farms and nutritional supplements. According to their report, in 2006, 88.5 were made into fish oil and 68.2 percent of fishmeal was used by the aquaculture industry, i.e., salmon farms. When feeding farmed salmon, 3 to 10 pounds of these small forage fish are needed for every one pound of farmed salmon that’s produced. So instead of eating farmed salmon, we would all be better off if we ate these little fish.

More and more, innovative chefs in the San Francisco Bay area are serving up forage fish and adventurous diners are in for a treat.

NOPA in San Francisco serves Fried Little Fish, dill, and chili lime aioli. (These “Little Fish” are smelt caught by Kirk!)

Poggio in Sausalito is serving bruschetta with marinated sardines and a pea and mint puree on bread cooked over coals. As well, they are serving calamari over squid ink pasta.

Bar Tartine in San Francisco has herring escabeche on the menu.

Comal in Berkeley has a chilled calamari salad with marinated butter beans, roasted pasilla peppers and zucchini.

Bouche in San Francisco is serving sardines with grapefruit, mint and marinated vegetables.

Sardines with grapefruit, mint and marinated vegetables by Bouche. Photo: Quan Pham Photography

A fourteen pound California Chinook/King salmon from i love blue sea wrapped in branches from a bay laurel tree. Photo: Martin Backhauss

Now there’s a new trend burgeoning, which I am calling “gill to adipose fin,” or using the whole fish. This summer, California is enjoying a strong Chinook salmon comeback. For a fishery that was closed from 2008-2009, and had tepid seasons in 2010-2011, this is a relief for fishermen and boon to salmon lovers. While Chinooks can get very large, averaging 8-20 pounds, buying fish whole and using the entire animal is much more cost effective and environmentally friendly that just making a few prime fillets. As well, you’ll throw creative, multi-course dinner parties, or have meals for a week.

John Fink of The Whole Beast prepares his grill at Dogpatch Wine Works. Photo: Martin Backhauss

An event at Dogpatch Wine Works with John Fink of the Whole Beast, provided a great primer for how to do this. According to John, “Cooking an entire fish means the flavor from the bones and skin are all there.” That night he prepared a beautiful 14-pound California Chinook procured from i love blue sea.

He wrapped the king in branches from a bay laurel tree that helped to protect it while roasting. As he cooked, he gave tips on fire building, and ways to prepare all parts of the salmon.
1. Make a fire with mild wood, like oak, almond or alder. Start the fire early so you have a good bed of coals to work with.
2. Let your fish come up to temperature before preparing, maybe pull it out of the fridge for 15-20 minutes in warm weather, in foggy and cool, leave it out for an hour. This will help it cook more evenly.
3. Take the fish outside to scale it, as it can get messy. He then salts the skin twice. The first time he salts aggressively and lets it sit for 15-20 minutes, then rubs it clean. This is to pull out the moisture so it will get crispy; then he re-seasons with salt, fennel powder (seed toasted and ground), black pepper, and porcini powder and let it sit for three hours. After this is grilled, it’s the best “chip” you will ever have.


John Fink used to be a commercial fisherman in Alaska, and here he tells fishing stories while working the grill. Photo: Martin Backhauss

4. The Eggs: Most commercial fishermen gut the fish on the boat for freshness, so to procure these, you’ll have to catch your own fish, buddy up to sport fisherperson, or request these from your local fishmonger. Salmon eggs are fabulous brined or smoked and served in a traditional “caviar” style with crème fraiche and toast or sprinkled on raw oysters. Either way, they make a great appetizer.


Salmon Caviar with crème fraiche, dill, red onion and served on rye toast. Photo: Martin Backhauss

5. Salmon heads and bones are often oily and take on a very strong flavor, so they aren’t used for soup stocks as commonly as milder whitefish. However, John once worked in a kitchen with a butcher from the Philippines who made a mean salmon head soup. He’d use tomatoes, ginger, tamarind, kaffir lime leaves, potatoes, salmon heads, and water. He’d also add the salmon belly, which many consider the best part of salmon. (Note: Always remove the red gills before using the heads, as the flavor is unpleasant.)
6. Salmon collars, the parts right under the head, are on sale at farmer’s markets for about $5.99 a pound. These underrated parts of the salmon have quite a bit of meat on them and John recommends smoking them.
7. Belly meat is often called the “cook’s treat” as it’s the fattiest part of the fish, and conventional or factory processors often remove this delicious section from the fillet. When grilling a whole fish and it becomes the richest and most tender piece. Enjoy it like a fillet, or chop it up for rich soups.


The king salmon is removed from the grill while rare. Guests nibble on the skin as it is left to sit for 15-20 minutes, until it’s brought up to mid-rare. Photo: Martin Backhauss

8. Once you’re ready to grill your whole fish, you will have to trust your instincts a bit. John turns the fish about every 5 minutes for a total of about 4 times. Don’t let it grill for 20 minutes on one side, and then the other, as it will cook too fast and fall apart. Cook it until rare, then remove it from the heat and let it sit for 15-20 minutes, until it’s medium rare; the flesh should be buttery.

Qualia wines was pouring at the event, and their Sauvignon Blanc was perfect with the caviar and salmon skin. John plated the California Chinook over wild mushrooms and leeks. He then drizzled it with a red wine reduction made with porcini and a bit of sugar. With all this rich, oily goodness, Qualia’s Syrah Grenache Blend proved perfect.

Qualia Wines Sauvignon Blanc is served with salmon skin and eggs, but their reds stand up to the salmon fillets and belly meat. Photo: Martin Backhauss

Related KQED Posts:
• The Good and Not-So-Good News About California Salmon (KQED QUEST — by Dan Brekke)

Schooners Coastal Kitchen and Bar is located in the Monterey Plaza Hotel on Cannery Row in Monterey. Photo: Marc Fiorito of Gamma Nine

This past January, Schooners Coastal Kitchen and Bar opened to an enthusiastic public. Located in the Monterey Plaza Hotel, once the site of a cannery, the dining room opens to views of the bay where sea otters drift in kelp forests and rafts of sea lions roar at one another. This restaurant used to be the Duck Club Grill, but Chef James Waller overhauled it into a no-fuss seafood restaurant with local, simple ingredients and transparency that includes an open kitchen and the menu lists where and how the seafood entrees were caught.

Chef James Waller at the grill. Photo: Maria Finn

Chef Waller got his start in seafood at fish houses on the Jersey Coast, where fishermen brought in their hauls of bluefish, clams, and scallops to feed the hungry beach-goers. When he started working in Monterey, he thought customers would insist on salmon year round, which means farmed, or Atlantic swordfish–seafood that’s not sustainable. “But I was wrong,” he explained. “People kept showing up with Seafood Watch cards or referencing their Smartphone apps from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. They were totally onboard and appreciated the extra effort that goes into carefully sourcing seafood.”

The Angry Prawns appetizers at Schooners are a favorite. Photo: Marc Fiorito of Gamma Nine

Their appetizers, like angry prawns and plank-seared scallops, make visiting this beautiful bay that much better; fresh seasonal seafood like peanut crusted mahi-mahi in orange soy butter or California swordfish with beurre rouge, romanesco and grapefruit will win over any meat-and-potato landlubber, but the buzz here is due to their chowders and stews. They have six, including two vegan options—the roasted tomato and mushroom chowders. I tried the clam chowder and it was sublime. Each chowder is made to order, and so the wine, fresh herbs, rich cream and boiled potatoes keep their separate charms; the clams are from Tomales Bay and left their shells. These elements brought together make the chowder complex, comforting and sensual all at once.

Each chowder is made to order. Here they are preparing clam chowder. Photo: Maria Finn

Not yet on the menu were sardines. These are slowly coming into vogue with San Francisco Bay area chefs, as eating smaller fish on the food chain helps keep the food chains in the ocean balanced. As well, they have far less mercury and other toxins than large fish and are very high in omega 3’s, and so are a healthy choice. Chef Waller said that he prepared them when he got them in, but admitted that these were a tough sell. “The great thing about sardines and mackerel,” he explained, “Is that they can stand up to spices and acidity. I might use harissa with them, or citrus or roasted tomato. You won’t lose the flavor.” Sardine season, coming up in June, seems like a great reason to return to Schooner’s Coastal Kitchen.

This restaurant used to be the Duck Club Grill, but last year went through a major renovation and reopened in January 2011 as Schooners Coastal Kitchen and Bar. Photo: Marc Fiorito of Gamma Nine

May 18-20, The Monterey Bay Aquarium is having their annual “Cooking for Solutions” with over 70 chefs and 60 wineries. Chef Waller and Schooners Coastal Kitchen will be participating. You’ll find them at the Sustainable Seafood Challenge with Carla Hall and other celebrity chefs. Saturday, May 19, 5-7p.m. at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa. ($150.00, available to Aquarium members only. Tax-deductible portion: $50.00)

Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa
400 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940

For reservations, call (831) 646-1706
Hours Of Operation
Breakfast: 6:30am-11:00am (12:00 noon weekends)
Lunch: 11:30am-5:00pm
Dinner: 5:00pm-9:30pm (10:00pm weekends)
Bar service from 11:00am-11:00pm (12:00am weekends)