The Vision: A Sustainable Restaurant

Creating a restaurant from the ground up is an ambitious endeavor in itself. To base the theme of such a restaurant around locally produced food, good land stewardship, and preserving social tastes is even more grand. Stu Stein, owner of Terroir (pronounced, tεʀwaʀ, in French) shares his philosophy and vision. Director’s Journal I was having coffee not too long ago with a friend, and she asked if I knew about the cookbook, The Sustainable Kitchen, and the guy behind it, Stu Stein. I liked the title, and what I would think would be the idea behind the title: bringing sustainable practices into an everyday kitchen. This is something I wanted to do, not just for me in my simple quest to becoming greener, but to live in a way that became natural, and second nature, to my family too. It was the way I was living back in the 70’s and 80’s, but somewhere along the way, I got further away from it. I thought this might be a way to revisit that way of cooking and preparing meals and snacks. When I got home I researched the book and Mr. Stein; what I discovered was a man working toward bringing the sustainable way of living into everyday life. Upon checking out his website, I found he was building a restaurant, literally from the ground up. Wow. That had to be a lot of work. I’ve lived through a kitchen remodel, and that was stressful enough, but a whole building, a whole concept? That got me thinking and wondering, and, again, I wanted to know more. I was also interested in seeing what his cookbook offered. So, between teaching classes and creating a new restaurant, he demonstrated one of his favorites, Dungeness Crab and Fuji Apple Salad with Curry Mayonnaise (watch how2). Lots of good stuff in it, and not so hard to make. Well, I admit, I put the mixer to work when it came to making the mayonnaise. This was another one of those items I used to make all the time from scratch, but stopped years ago. The flavor of homemade mayonnaise is so different from that of the general store-bought kind. It took me back. Enjoy the show, learn how to make a great dish, and check out the new recipes. I’ve been remodeling the site, so to speak, let me know what you think! I even got the gumption to go in front of the camera…scroll through Food News. Can you find me?

Cooking Up A Story | August 18, 2008

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