The Exploratorium’s new digs boast stellar water views. Photo: Amy Snyder

The museum cafe, long a place of soggy sandwiches and mediocre meals, is getting a makeover in the Bay Area. Case in point: The recently reopened Exploratorium in new digs at Pier 15 in San Francisco, which offers creative fare tied to the mission of the museum, known for its interactive exhibits and playful approach, designed to encourage curiosity and experimentation.

Think seawater cocktails. Honeycomb with almonds and apricots. And living or fermented foods.

Visitors have three eating options: The 200-seat Seaglass restaurant, complete with panoramic views, a glass-topped raw bar, and open kitchen, which serves up familiar, family-friendly fare like tacos, pizza, and sandwiches — albeit with a sustainable pedigree — along with more adventurous eats such as marinated sardines, batter-fried green beans, and kelp salad with quinoa. There’s even a local riff on Welsh Rarebit (that’s gussied up grilled cheese to the uninitiated.) A full-bar serves cocktails promising a taste of the sea and in-vogue drinking vinegars known as shrubs. Near the museum’s Embarcadero entrance, the Seismic Joint offers take-away chow such as a chickpea-battered fish fingers, various spins on clam chowder, salads, and sandwiches. Mobile food trikes (built by Luigi Oldani and crew of CRO Cafe) roam the floors, peddling espresso Thanksgiving coffee, baked goods, and Strauss organic soft-serve ice cream.

The culinary duo behind the Exploratorium’s restaurant menu features acclaimed chef Loretta Keller of Coco500, a perennial Chronicle Top 100 restaurant, and her Coco500 partner, catering operations manager Clay Reynolds. The pair, who previously partnered with Charles Phan of Slanted Door fame to run The Moss Room at The California Academy of Sciences, have teamed up with Bon Appetit Management Company, known for its emphasis on scratch cooking with sustainably sourced ingredients, for the Exploratorium’s edible enterprises to form the Curiosity Catering Company.

Keller talked with BAB about her plans to feed people well and offer a side of education at the Exploratorium.

Clay Reynolds and Loretta Keller join forces at the Exploratorium. Photo: Gayle Laird

What got you excited about creating food for the Exploratorium?

What resonated with me about this project was a sense of place. The Exploratorium moved from this dark, cavernous space to a venue 800 feet over the water. Place is both a subject to explore and engage with at the Exploratorium. For me that means something in terms of food but also as a human being.

The environment and human experience, that’s everything to me. The importance of farming and where our food comes from is a very familiar mantra in the Bay Area. When you spend as much time as I do as a professional inside the food industry here you can get to a point where you’re in your own zip code. It can become precious and you can lose sight of the fact that our work is not done.

More than any other reason to be involved here, the museum offers a new and incredibly creative, intelligent and organic opportunity to do work on environmental consciousness, sustainability, and awareness around food and the planet. The Exploratorium is a great way to shake things up and have people engage with an exhibit in a hands-on way. That’s where the learning begins.

Is that where the honeycomb comes in?

Yes. The honeybee is in peril so by serving the honeycomb I’m hoping to help people stop and think and connect the bee with the almonds and the apricots — that’s why those things are always going to accompany the honeycomb. We want it to be a real exhibit and educational model that people will become intrigued by and realize how endangered bees are, which means your almonds are endangered, and all your stone fruit is endangered, and a whole way of eating is at risk. Bees are struggling with so many things right now; they’re overworked and experience bee jet lag. Bees want to winter in Florida, but instead almond growers in California pay exorbitant prices to have them flown or trucked here and put to work to meet demand. California is the biggest producer of almonds in the world, something like 70 percent, and people just take that for granted.

Japanese chef Sachio Kojima, who developed fervent fans for his sushi over the years, heads up Seaglass’s seafood and fermentation section. Photo: Gayle Laird

How are you incorporating living and fermented foods into the menu?

We are so lucky to have master chef Sachio Kojima, who had his own popular restaurant, Kabuto Sushi A&S, on Geary for more than 20 years, come on as our director of fermentation. He’s making seaweed and kelp salads, with kelp gathered from Marin, Mendocino, and Monterey counties, we’ll have algae on the menu too. And from our pickling program, we’ll offer traditional Japanese pickles, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

Visitors to the Exploratorium’s Seaglass restaurant can order from a raw bar full of sustainable seafood.
Photo: Gayle Laird

Where does sustainable seafood fit in?

We are doing an ocean bar, serving sushi, sashimi, and oysters that Sachio oversees as well. It’s all West Coast, Monterey Bay Watch-sanctioned seafood.

We missed the herring run this season but we’ll be serving herring next Spring. And we’ll serve anchovies in season too; these are really the last of the commercial fisheries within the bay. People have to understand that their choices are becoming so limited with regards to fish. There are very few wild fish that are sustainable. So we’ll be serving what people think of as bait and also serving whole fish. That starts a conversation in the U.S. because most people here are not used to seeing a whole fish or bait on a plate.

Sea grapes add a salty kick to cocktails at the Exploratorium. Photo: Loretta Keller

What about seawater and its connection to the new space?

My partner Clay Reynolds wanted to serve filtered seawater to drink, but the technology isn’t quite there. And then we wanted to run the dishwasher on seawater but it became clear that that was a whole project on its own. But the Exploratorium is using seawater to heat the building, which is quite extraordinary.

We’re using seawater in a cocktail. It turns out that the health department doesn’t recognize seawater as a consumable, so we’re not allowed to serve seawater per se. But there are kelps available that contain seawater, and there’s a Monterey County kelp called sea grape, that we add to our signature martini, which tastes great with a little bit of seawater. So we’re garnishing the drink with this kelp whose buds are full of seawater, when you burst them in your mouth you get a nice jolt of salt.

We’re including seawater in other ways in the restaurant too. The multi-hued glass tiles are based on a museum exhibit called “Color of Water.” To create the piece, a fixed-position camera took time-lapse photos of the bay, the color variations are caused by sunlight, tides, and microorganisms.

The piece in the dining room called “Thermal Mixing” also demonstrates the dynamics of the bay: It’s a triptych of panels of colored water of different temperatures that swirl like giant mood rings on the back wall. “Icy Bodies” is an exhibit where fragments of dry ice are pushed into a tank and spin around like comets across a sheet of water below a glass-topped bar. All these are nods to one of the most extraordinary places on the planet for moving water.

What role does food play at the museum?

By and large, with few exceptions, the food served at museums in this country is like prison food, just terrible. All this money was being spent on creating the new Exploratorium, which is a gift to residents and visitors of San Francisco, and so it’s critical that the food match the museum and its surroundings.

First and foremost we want to serve healthy, well-prepared fresh food to the museum goers, that’s our mandate. The challenge within that framework is to build in education, implicitly and explicitly, about sustainability. I get to be creative and think outside the box. We plan to do corn education tied to an exhibit and blind wine tastings at our adult nights. At the Exploratorium it’s not about looking at stuff, it’s about interacting with stuff. There’s an intimacy here that provides a direct way to get to people’s minds. And food has always been a great platform to reach people because it is so intimate and it’s a necessity; people have to eat every day. There aren’t that many mediums that offer that.

Details:

The restaurant is open during regular museum hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm; Wednesday evenings until 10pm; every Thursday evening adults only (ages 18 and up) 6pm-10pm. It caters primarily to museum guests, but the public can access the restaurant from an exterior entrance.

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco tape the sixth episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED.
Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area’s sixth episode of Season 8 airs on Thursday May 16 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website provides restaurant information not specified on the show and you are free to share your opinions on the restaurants featured. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine (and spirits) tips with each episode.

The sixth episode of Season 8 features these restaurants: Hunan Home’s Restaurant (San Francisco), Radius Restaurant and Café (San Francisco) and Guerilla Café (Berkeley).

Fun in the greenroom after taping the sixth episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Lyrics Born autographs Leslie’s foot. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Watch Leslie Sbrocco share her Wine Tips about Santa Barbara County Wines:

View more Wine Tips at Check, Please! Bay Area.

Chef David Lawrence in the 1300 on Fillmore kitchen. Photo courtesy of 1300 Fillmore

At events like SF Chefs, we’ve noticed again and again that chef David Lawrence has culinary offerings that stand out. His “Soulful American” bites with roots in England and Jamaica include such dishes as shrimp grits and white grits with pesto, and organic skillet fried chicken, with an upscale twist. Lawrence’s plates tend to demonstrate how the deep South can cozy up with fresh California produce, using classic French technique.

Since opening in 2007, Lawrence’s restaurant, 1300 on Fillmore, remains a draw for Sunday gospel brunch crowds, as well as those looking for a group dinner or bar snack–the fried chicken or skillet catfish; meaty ribeye; variety of grits and even warm chocolate beignets with coffee soda are almost begging to be shared. Lawrence, a London native, is 1300 on Fillmore’s executive chef and managing partner. He has cooked for royalty and was formally trained in the culinary arts at Westminster College. In 1982, Lawrence joined England’s most celebrated and honored culinarians, Albert and Michel Roux, who were definitely considered “celeb chefs” there and were the chef-proprietors of the world-renowned Le Gavroche and the Waterside Inn (at that time, both three-star Michelin restaurants). Lawrence cooked his way through five of their famous restaurants and became a sous chef, in four short years. In 1986, Lawrence became chef de cuisine at Interlude Restaurant in London, which gave him the sweet chance to make meals for none other than the Prince and Princess of Wales; Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon; and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

He left for the U.S. in 1988 in a kismet vacation moment that led to chef de cuisine work with a former Le Gavroche chef named Kurt Graising who was opening 231 Ellsworth Restaurant in San Mateo. Lawrence next landed at the (ornate and beautiful) Carnelian Room and Cityscape restaurants in San Francisco, respectively. While at Cityscape, he created the Chefs for Kids program, which raised thousands of dollars for the Tenderloin After School program. Lawrence is also generous with his time for various local charity events. We caught up in person recently to find out more about his culinary style and career. His comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Bay Area Bites: Can you tell us about your successes & goals?
Lawrence: The restaurant just celebrated five years of business last October. When we opened the restaurant, it was all fanfare and then the economy crashed. We survived but had to cut back and there was no sous chef, and no general manager. My wife Monetta White and I did all that. We we’re able to do so with the support of the city and the people who came in. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved. Now I’m looking at expanding.

Our gospel brunch is on Sunday. For Easter, we decided to try something different, and keep our hours to the daytime and not open at night. I saw hordes of people walking back up to Pacific Heights as they left brunch. Then when I went to Safeway, I saw a line of people, and there were families and kids walking down here. I remember when we first came here and Monetta lived at Bush and Fillmore. Back then, no one went below Bush Street.

Bay Area Bites: What are your best selling menu items…and your favorites?
Lawrence: For the best seller, it’s always the fried chicken. When I walk around and go out, people say that fried chicken is the bestseller. It is so funny because I come from Europe and have worked with Michelin-starred chefs. I have no complaints but my claim to fame is chicken. I just turned 50 in February, and it’s, “Wow, I’m 50 and known for fried chicken.”

I am the most proud of dishes like shrimp and grits and fried chicken. The shrimp and grits dishes really got me to look at this cuisine and what we do. Monetta is from Mississippi and we’ve been together for 19 years. We have a similar thing in England where I am from that is cornmeal porridge: sugar, nutmeg, and spice to make it nice and creamy. I cooked the grits more or less the same way and decided to do it without the sugar. Slowly but surely, people became interested and back then, no one was doing this.

Bay Area Bites: As a chef and businessman, what would you like to be known for?
Lawrence: It’s a fine line doing both. I’ve seen many amazing chefs open restaurants and crash. I’ve seen many mediocre chefs succeed because of their business acumen. As a chef, you have to cook what your customers want instead of what your ego wants. It’s about getting that balance. With the restaurant’s earlier days, I had foie gras, lamb, and rabbit and it was great for me but I couldn’t sell it. I never wanted a hamburger but I put one on the menu because people want it. It’s about finding the fine line between your own ego and what makes sense and sells. That way, you can hopefully still enjoy what you do.

Bay Area Bites: Guilty pleasure?
Lawrence: My thing is chocolate HobNobs. You call them cookies, and I call them biscuits. I don’t buy them because I can’t eat just one.

Bay Area Bites: Where do you live?
Lawrence: We live right above the restaurant. The commute is awesome. I love it. If I get five minutes for myself, I can go upstairs. It gives me just enough time to recharge my batteries. I can pop down if someone is here and wants to say hello, which is the least I can do if they have come all this way to eat at my restaurant. 1300 is my love and will be my love for the rest of my life.

Related Information:

1300 on Fillmore
Address: Map
1300 Fillmore St.
San Francisco CA 94115
(415) 771-7100
Facebook: 1300 on Fillmore
Twitter: @1300onFillmore

1300 on Fillmore was featured on KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area in 2012.
Watch the restaurant segment from the show:

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco tape the fifth episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED.
Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area’s fifth episode of Season 8 airs on Thursday May 9 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website provides restaurant information not specified on the show and you are free to share your opinions on the restaurants featured. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine (and spirits) tips with each episode.

The fifth episode of Season 8 features these restaurants: Bocanova (Oakland), Willi’s Wine Bar (Santa Rosa) and The Rotunda of Neiman Marcus (San Francisco).

Watch Leslie Sbrocco share her Wine Tips about Wines of Washington State:

View more Wine Tips at Check, Please! Bay Area.

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco tape the fourth episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED.

Check, Please! Bay Area’s fourth episode of Season 8 airs on Thursday May 2 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website provides restaurant information not specified on the show and you are free to share your opinions on the restaurants featured. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine (and spirits) tips with each episode.

The fourth episode of Season 8 features these restaurants: Pompei’s Grotto (San Francisco), Lillie Mae’s House of Soul Food (Santa Clara) and SPQR (San Francisco).

Host Leslie Sbrocco and guests from Check, Please! Bay Area relax in KQED’s greenroom

Watch Leslie Sbrocco share her Wine Tips about Napa Valley Wines:

View more Wine Tips at Check, Please! Bay Area.

The Third Annual Coffee Ride

It’s officially a yearly caffeinated tradition; my friend Pamela Palma and I led our 3rd Annual Coffee Ride through the streets of San Francisco yesterday. Close to 50 other coffee-loving cyclists met us at 10AM at Stanza Coffee Bar, our first stop in the Mission.

Everyone filled up their coffee mugs and fueled up with pastries to jumpstart their 30-mile jaunt around the city. By adding more miles and hill climbs, we had designed a more challenging route for this year’s group — including a scenic mid-ride stop on Twin Peaks.

I’d be visiting all of the spots on our schedule for the first time, so I was really excited about exploring these latest additions to the city’s ever-evolving coffee community. And several folks mentioned that they’d be biking in areas or checking out cafes they hadn’t heard of before; it’s always a pleasure to introduce our fellow cyclists to new destinations as well.

Co-organizer Pamela Palma

Stanza serves up an eclectic selection of coffees from around the world as well as some unique domestic offerings such as Blacksmith Espresso from Quills Coffee in Louisville, KY.

Along with their sidewalk seating and tables in the main cafe, they also have a lovely patio out back for their patrons.

At about 11AM, we headed east towards the Bayview / Hunters Point neighborhood. Tucked away on Yosemite Avenue off of 3rd, Trouble Coffee now has a second outpost in another remote locale. It radiates the same quaint charm and vintage decor as its Outer Sunset predecessor and most of its popular menu items: thick-sliced buttery toast topped with peanut butter, cinnamon or Nutella and and fresh baby coconuts. Giulietta Carrelli, Trouble’s irrepressible owner, was manning her cozy coffee nook solo. She greeted our large, thirsty crowd by solemnly announcing she’d be ‘making no lattes’ as she’d survived a rough mountain bike crash just the night before. “Just drip coffees for all of you — and tons of toast!” she said with a mischievous grin. But as her shop’s motto is, “We serve guts and honor,” she graciously prepared one of her delicious lattes upon request.

Energized with Trouble, it was now Twin Peaks time. We wound our way through the various neighborhoods of Crocker Amazon, Balboa Park, Monterey Heights and St. Francis Wood to reach the top.

After taking in the gorgeous views of San Francisco from the summit of Twin Peaks, we headed west towards the Pacific Ocean. Situated just above the Sutro Baths and the Cliff House, Lands End Lookout Cafe is nestled inside the relatively new visitor center that opened last spring. While the Peerless Coffee they brewed didn’t earn glowing reviews from our finicky group, the sandwiches, soups, salads and warm cookies consumed during our lunch stop received plenty of compliments.

Eager to leave the chilly seaside fog and return to some sunshine, we were luckily welcomed back into the warm weather in the Marina when we arrived at Dynamo Donuts’ cute little kiosk on the eastern edge of Crissy Field.

Unfortunately, by the time our group showed up, they were all out of donuts. So Pamela and I made an executive decision to skip the last two cafes in North Beach — Beacon and Reveille — and get our sugar fix at Stella’s Pastry and Cafe for tiramisu and other Italian delights.

Relaxing in North Beach with cappuccino and an assortment of desserts was a fine way to end our long day of caffeinated adventures. We’ll be back in the East Bay next spring for ride number four!

You can see additional photos from the ride in my Flickr set.

View 3rd Annual Coffee Ride! in a larger map

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco tape the third episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED.
Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area’s third episode of Season 8 airs on Thursday April 25 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website provides restaurant information not specified on the show and you are free to share your opinions on the restaurants featured. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine (and spirits) tips with each episode.

The third episode of Season 8 features these restaurants: Maverick (San Francisco), Izakaya Yuzuki (San Francisco) and Souk Savanh (Oakland).

Watch Leslie Sbrocco share her Wine & Spirits Tips about Sake:

View more Wine Tips at Check, Please! Bay Area.

Guests and host Leslie Sbrocco tape the second episode of Season 8 of Check, Please! Bay Area at KQED. Photo: Wendy Goodfriend

Check, Please! Bay Area’s second episode of Season 8 airs on Thursday April 18 at 7:30pm on KQED 9. View other airtimes and channels.

You can watch individual restaurant segments as well as view the entire episode online. The website provides restaurant information not specified on the show and you are free to share your opinions on the restaurants featured. This season, Leslie Sbrocco will continue to share wine (and spirits) tips with each episode.

The second episode of Season 8 features these restaurants: Zaré at Fly Trap (San Francisco), Barrio Fiesta Restaurant (Milpitas) and Flora (Oakland).

Watch Leslie Sbrocco share her Wine & Spirits Tips about Whiskey:

View more Wine Tips at Check, Please! Bay Area.

Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert.
Photo courtesy of Good vs. Evil

The two rather famous best friends wore similar dark suits and their set looked like the boxing matches from the 1940s and 1950s, with one ominous lamp shining over an uncomfortable chair against a dark backdrop. It was a night that was billed as Good vs. Evil, and started out with Bourdain interrogating Ripert. One of the nicest surprises was how well Ripert was able to dish back to his pal Tony with that rather sexy French accent of his.

Orpheum Theatre. Photo: Mary Ladd

Bourdain and Ripert were in town for a short amount of time before heading to San Jose for a Saturday night show. Later tweets showed that Tony planned on hitting up a 7-11 store to find food to feed Ripert in San Jose. As for where to eat in the City, Bourdain said that he loves having a “crab with the crab fat“ at Swan Oyster Depot and Ripert responded that he wanted to go there with Tony for breakfast [which they apparently did do]. Bourdain also pointed out that the Bay Area has produce that is the envy of the East Coast.

When the talk turned to Alice Waters, Bourdain showed restraint, a gentlemanly move given the recent fire at Chez Panisse. Audience, he’s sure they would get along swimmingly if they met at a party… but do remember, he warned, that Waters chose shark fin soup as her last meal on a panel he did with her and Duff Goldman–a fact that had the audience guffawing. He appeared to have publicly forgiven Waters, as well as other famous food celebs ranging from Rachael Ray to Emeril. Ray sent him a fruit basket, and “how can I not love” someone who made a joke that Mario Batali will loan you a scrunchie if you give him a blow job—-a jab Ray made at a roast for the ponytailed chef.

Ripert got flack from Tony for letting Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, The Situation, and Snooki take their respective spots at the table at his award winning Le Bernardin restaurant. “You gave The Situation and Snooki a kitchen tour, too?” he asked, and Ripert said, “Yes.”

When pushed, Ripert said that tennis star John McEnroe is the one star he would not let dine at his restaurant. “He hurt your feelings!” Bourdain said, as Ripert sheepishly nodded under the bright interrogation lamp. Ripert later said that hipsters are allowed at his restaurant and that guests can take photos of the food at Le Bernardin as long as they don’t use a flash. Bourdain posited that hipsters are “people who are younger than us” and that Ripert felt that the founders of Le Bernardin, Gilbert and Maguy le Coze were hipsters of an earlier era.

Ripert said that he is anti-corkage fee yet also anti-bring-your own wine. He pointed out that Le Bernardin is after all a business (a fair point for any restaurant), and Bourdain said that he thought Le Bernardin had the best sommelier. Ripert waffled a bit on the bring-your-own-wine bit when he conceded that he would be open to guests bringing a great bottle of wine in, but only if they please share a glass with him.

Paula Deen is the one culinary star Bourdain will not forgive, because he is “genuinely appalled by her acts on the planet” which include hyping Southern cooking “into something it’s not.”

Bourdain gave major props to Mission Chinese Food and said that it is rare to see a San Francisco restaurant find such big and immediate success in New York. “I am sure they will take over the world,” he said. Bourdain was aware that Mission Chinese Food plans to next open in Paris, and giggled over the fact that Ripert had to run to the bathroom during his first visit to Mission Chinese, because “he couldn’t handle” how spicy the food was. Clearly Bourdain, given his far flung travels and history of eating dishes like calves brain and pig anus on air makes him the more adventurous eater. Yet Ripert aptly pointed out that Bourdain has not been a kitchen chef in fifteen years. Touché, Monsieur.

One exclusive that Bourdain and Ripert shared with us at the La Cocina meet and greet: they filmed in the mountains of Peru together for Bourdain’s Parts Unknown show on CNN. The series debuted Sunday and viewers can see the friendly pair doing a variety of activities that sound potentially interesting. “We were looking for cacao beans and cooked chicken together, which is a departure for the show,” said Bourdain. “Eric kept telling me, ‘one more mountain’ while I was stumbling around” on their way to find cacao. Bourdain rolled his eyes and laughed as he continued with, “He’s from the Pyrenees, where there’s yodeling and he’s pretty used to all those hills.” Ripert laughed and nodded at this.

They showed a comfort and ease with each other that continued through the meet and greet, where they signed everything from books to body parts while digging into a big plate of La Cocina treats. La Cocina Executive Director Caleb Zigas said that the after party event came about when Bourdain’s production company, Zero Point Zero contacted him. Proceeds from the meet and greet went to La Cocina and Zigas said the party provided an avenue for the La Cocina businesses who have brick and mortar locations. The two hundred or so guests in the green room gawked and took photos of Bourdain and Ripert, and a line snaked around the room for the chance to get autographs.

Inticing Creations baker Kelly Zubal crafted a stunning cake in the shape of a duck press for Bourdain and Ripert. She said that it took her three hours to make and she even brought an edible pen with the hopes of getting a signature on her sweet treat. Zubal confirmed with Bay Area Bites over email that, “Bourdain couldn’t believe I made a duck press and wrote ‘best cake ever’ on it. It now has a place on my cake display area at my cake studio.” Sounds like Bourdain was acting more good than evil to us.

We wish this one was televised, too: Alice Waters, Martin Yan, Joanne Weir, Virginia Willis, Nell Newman, Rick Bayless, Thomas Keller, Charles Phan, Joel Riddell and Irvin Lin were among the folks who took the stage for Tuesday night’s 2013 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) awards ceremony in San Francisco. Oakland Food Connection and food incubator La Cocina were also honored. IACP’s professional awards are widely viewed in the food world as something of a gold standard for cookbooks, food writing, digital media and culinary tours. The awards marked the closing night of the organization’s 35th annual conference, which went with a “Dirt to Digital” theme this year.

Check out the full list of award finalists and the grand list of winners. While the awards ceremony stretched out over a few hours and was oddly lacking any form of culinary nourishment (there were definite rumblings after the ceremony about that), it offered quirks, songs and even a few dick jokes courtesy of Libbie Summers, whose Salted and Styled blog won for Best Culinary Blog. On the other end of the spectrum, the evening kicked off with all guests looking up and saying “thank you” as a dedication to publisher Peter Workman, who passed away just this week. It was also emotional for Lifetime Achievement Award winner Alice Waters, who gratefully accepted her prize and joked in her speech that while she cannot farm, “I am a picker,” which got the audience laughing–wise words from the founder of Chez Panisse and the Edible Schoolyard. Waters also professed her admiration for cooking teachers because: “I cannot teach.” She immediately went on to acknowledge IACP attendee and stalwart Darina Allen, whose Ballymaloe cooking school she visits every year (for her birthday).

When Charles Phan won in the Chefs and Restaurants cookbook category for his “Vietnamese Home Cooking” (co-authored with Tasting Table Senior Editor Jessica Battilana), he confessed that he did not have a speech but had enjoyed some bourbon to presumably get warmed up. Phan thanked Battilana, his agent and wife, Angkana. “My wife made sure I turned the book manuscript in, so I wouldn’t have to return the book advance money to Ten Speed Press.”

“Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, received the award for Cookbook of the Year, and Marion Nestle garnered a prize in the Food Matters category for her weighty tome, “Why Calories Count: From Science to Politics.” The deeply satisfying sugar-rush images in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook garnered an award for Food Photography and Styling, and the Dining Around with Joel Riddell radio show won in the Long Format Audio category. The team at Chronicle Books may still be celebrating given their author Diane Morgan won for her book, “Roots: The Definitive Compendium with more than 225 Recipes.”

Culinary Tour Operator of the Year went to Copita chef Joanne Weir, who shared that as a child, she told her father that she wanted to be a bus driver, so that she could drive a bus on every road in the world. Her confession seemed to scare him a little. Weir dedicated her prize to him because he passed away last year. Food blogger Irvin Lin won the Best in Show prize for his photography, and he asked the IACP crowd to “hire me, I’m available,” a sentiment which was echoed by the next winner.

The conference itself is that rare chance to possibly figure out how to eke out a living doing things in the culinary field–it can be exciting but also daunting in the number of possibilities it presents. There were various declarations for members to support each other and that each one “stands on the shoulders” of those who have come before and after them. That may sound hokey and like general conference speak yet three people we spoke with found these pronouncements to be inspiring.

Many attendees shared with Bay Area Bites that the chance of learning from so many different people doing interesting things is one of the main draws of shelling out $750 to $950 to register for the full conference—that’s on top of the $280 it costs to initially join IACP. Off the record, we were told that IACP is in the midst of something of a revamp and that costs and programming issues have been noted if not yet changed. These folks said that they attend as much for the learning sessions on, say, the meaning of restaurant reviews in the era of Yelp to getting a lowdown on sourdough or video content strategy. The coffee breaks are also highly valued and networking even happens in the bathrooms. Yes, really.

Kale salad and eating local may remain a big trend, but IACP attendees see much, much more at play in the food world. We asked some notable thought leaders to answer a few questions in person:

• What is this conference about for you?
• The theme of the conference is Dirt to Digital; what does it mean to you?
• How does the theme translate to the food industry?
• What did you learn about in the workshops and what are the clear trends that emerged from the conference?

Here are insights from Corby Kummer, Danielle Gould, Sandor Katz, Joanne Weir and Sarah Copeland. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Corby Kummer is a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine. Known as “the dean of food writing,” Kummer’s 1990 Atlantic series about coffee is a benchmark for excellence in long-form food writing. He is the author of “The Joy of Coffee,” based on his Atlantic series, and the recently published “The Pleasures of Slow Food.” Kummer is the recipient of three James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.

Kummer: This conference is about seeing people who are following food issues on the level of the home cook. It’s about how the things that we in the media are interested in and write about play out in real life and the home of a consumer.

IACP has always been the most connected to the real world of any group because it’s people making their living as culinary professionals. They are in touch with sustainability, farming and local issues. I thought the conference was brilliantly named “Dirt to Digital” because online is where all of the IACP members need to be marketing themselves and their products.

With social media, no one yet knows how to master it but everyone’s trying to learn. IACP has always been at the forefront of practical and real world applications. That’s a unique role because being so smartly focused attracts the most interesting, lively and active people in the food world. And I’ll take any opportunity to connect with them.

Danielle Gould is the Founder and CEO of Food+Tech Connect, a media company and network for innovators transforming the business of food. Through news and analysis, events, and custom research, Gould helps companies of all sizes drive innovation and understand how information and technology are changing the way food is produced, distributed, and consumed. She is also a founding member of the Culinary Institute of America’s Sustainable Business Leadership Council and is a regular contributor to Forbes.

Gould: This is my first time at IACP and they invited me to talk about food and tech trends and hackathons as a model for food innovation. Our panel touched on the opportunity and the medium, as well as how to demystify technology. It is also about helping people understand the knowledge and the challenges that are out there. We’re trying to empower people to put that knowledge out there where they’re collaborating with designers and developers to solve that problem. I travel the whole country and spread the gospel and learn about how people are thinking. It’s about using technology to help solve problems, spread messages and improve business models and just accelerate innovation that’s happening on a small scale.

In the past, a book would take you two years and a product would take 18 months. For a food producer or chef, that means that it takes awhile to market things. Technology offers opportunities: now you can self-publish that cookbook in close to real time, and get feedback on your product.

“Dirt to Digital” is at the heart of what food technology is. You’re looking across the supply chain, and food is interconnected. It is a system, and that goes to the consumer. A lot of times when people think of digital, they think of consumers. Emerging trends and what role technology is for each trend is a part of that. Technology is very broad and means so much to so many different people.

I just love learning how people respond to technology and food and how they use it. The other major takeaway was a lot of the panels weren’t very popular or not as sexy but were about funding. Everyone’s having trouble making money in the food space.

Sandor Ellix Katz, “one of the unlikely rock stars of the American food scene” according to The New York Times, is a self-taught fermentation experimentalist. His books “The Art of Fermentation” and “Wild Fermentation,” and the fermentation workshops he has taught across North America and beyond, have helped to catalyze a broad revival of the fermentation arts.

Katz: I’ve never been to IACP before. I don’t think of myself as a culinary professional. The work that I do is demystifying and sharing skills with people who aren’t necessarily culinary professionals. The highlight for me has been to meet people whose books are influential. [Katz was sitting with Bruce Aidells when we caught up with him and Aidells shared the table with us while we caught up.]

Aidells: What’s good sauerkraut without good sausages?

Katz: A kraut — quesadilla is my fast food, and I make it with Pepper Jack. That’s one of my standard meals.

The theme of the conference is significant. What does “Dirt to Digital” mean? I was just on this panel that was high tech versus low tech yet I don’t necessarily see things that way. I’m interested in understanding these processes in their simplicity. So that doesn’t mean you can’t use technology to have more control over the processes. It’s very empowering to see how the underlying principles don’t need equipment. If you get involved in sausage making, you can use a funnel for the casing. You can also just be there with you hands, pushing the meat through to the casing.

For cheese, you can buy nice molds, perhaps. There are elegant crocks to make things but you can also do it with a jar that’s already in your pantry. I appreciate the conference and there’s much information spreading by digital means but it may be telling people how to use their hands.

Joanne Weir is a James Beard award-winning cookbook author, cooking teacher, host and executive producer for the award-winning television series Joanne Weir’s Cooking Confidence. She is the chef-owner of Copita, a tequileria and restaurant in Sausalito. The author of 17 cookbooks, including the newly released “Cooking Confidence,” Joanne is the Culinary Editor at Large at Fine Cooking! magazine. She travels and teaches extensively around the world as well as in her studio kitchen.

Weir: This conference was so interesting because I’ve approached it differently as a restaurateur this year. I usually approach it as “I write for magazines” or my cookbooks or how to fill your cooking classes. This time I’m taking in things that are really different. I want to sit in on the reviewing and Yelping session.

I still love to see all the people I know when I come to IACP. And I love that it’s in SF and I get to share Copita–they’re going over by ferry. I did a tour on Saturday and people loved it. I’ve shared in a different way and am still excited about my restaurant.

For me with “Dirt to Digital,” I don’t know if I put the two together. Yet every single thing I do is fresh. I have an organic farm — and my next series is called “Fresh” for TV. I am always interested in digital media. The market has changed and the whole landscape is changing. My hope is it that it goes back to dirt and less digital. Is that so ‘Chez Panisse’ of me? (laughs) I do digital but food is still my passion. Perhaps next year the IACP theme should be “Back to Passion.”

IACP is pretty current on things. What they’ve done this year is now bloggers have been integrated. I left feeling in past years that I had to do so much on my own blog. I’ve always done food that is following my passion and on what brings about major possibilities for me. I attended a book session that talked about book advance spending and how book tours are back and rely on the digital medium.

My trend is always Mexican, and that comes with owning Copita. I saw the trendologist Kara Nielsen here and she said, “You couldn’t be in a more trendy thing, with Mexican food and tequila.”

I do modern Mexican food.

We used to think of Italian red tablecloths and Chianti — yet now Italian food has come a long way. One of the trends here is taking cuisines and elevating and educating around the cuisine. Thomas Keller was talking about that and I have seen that in this conference.

Sarah Copeland is the Food Director at Real Simple and author of “The Newlywed Cookbook: Fresh Ideas and Modern Recipes for Cooking With and For Each Other.” Her book, “Feast” will be published in December this year and she has authored numerous articles and recipes for Real Simple, Saveur, Food & Wine, Health, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes & Gardens and Food Network Magazine. She has appeared as a guest on The Martha Stewart Show, Good Morning America and ABC News Now.

Copeland: A lot of the conference is about relationships. I see faces from every different facet of my career and have been reconnecting and catching up on what people are doing that is new and exciting. There’s a chance to celebrate successes while hopefully helping a few people too.

On “Dirt to Digital,” one of the most challenging things of this industry from my perspective is that I started in print. That part has changed so dramatically in ten years or even five years. For most food people who are in love with food, it is very tactile how we communicate yet that is changing so much. The dirt part communicates place, smell, and touch, which are all the good things. It includes the agriculture, and the farmer. There are so many layers and it is complex with dirt. That’s how food is to me: we touch humanity and civilization, nutrition and wellness. In the digital sphere, how do you capture that? I think we are all figuring that out.

I did a panel on recipes and copyright for the conference. There were folks from Pillsbury there who were trying to figure out their contest. We also had teachers, bakery owners and bloggers. As Food Director at Real Simple, I have to be savvy and think about those aspects.

On almost every panel I ask, ‘What’s the best panel?’ This year, everyone is focusing on video. I worked at the Food Network — and yet this industry has been print for so long. With Hungry and YouTube and different avenues, it’s just so video-focused. The trailer for my first book is a minute and a half but my next one will probably be half that, to seventy-five seconds. My new book ‘Feast’ from Chronicle Books is coming out in December and I’ve learned a few things that I’ll do differently. I am coming away from the conference with the feeling that there is room for every voice and every talent. If you are generous, they will help you, too.