Category Archives: Going Green and Sustainable

The Good Life at LYFE Kitchen in Palo Alto

A drizzle of pomegranate balsamic vinegar makes this flatbread something extra special at LYFE Kitchen.

After seconds, thirds, perhaps even fourths on Thanksgiving, you’re probably in need of a less indulgent meal that does a body good.

Look no further than the new LYFE Kitchen in downtown Palo Alto, which opened in October.

LYFE (Love Your Food Everyday) serves up healthful food made with no butter, cream or GMOs. No dish is more than 600 calories and all are less than 1,000 mg in sodium.

The food may be lean, but it’s not mean. Not when it was created by James Beard Award-winning Chef Art Smith, a former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey; and Chef Tal Ronnen, an expert in vegan and vegetarian cooking. It’s healthful fare that never tastes too virtuous or leaves you wanting.

The project is a collaboration by Founder Stephen Sidwell, an investment banker; CEO Mark Roberts, formal global president and COO for McDonald’s; and CCO Mike Donohue, former chief communications and external relations officer for McDonald’s. They wanted to show that fast-casual food doesn’t have to be bad for you. Indeed, if the concept proves popular, they hope to open more LYFE locations.

If the crowd last week when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant is any indication, LYFE appears to be a hit.

The light, bright space was constructed with recycled and eco-friendly materials, including bamboo floors, teak tables, LED lights, and a bench and drop wood ceiling fashioned from vintage high school and college stadium bleachers.

How many fast-casual places grow their own herbs on-site?

There’s even an herb garden wall just inside the entrance that supplies fresh chervil, spearmint, lemon balm, chives, basil and marjoram to the restaurant.

The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The calorie count and sodium level is listed for each dish. There’s also a variety of vegan-friendly options, as well as a selection of California wines on tap. And the highest-priced dish is only $11.99.

Order at the counter, then find a table. You’ll get a geolocation device to put on your table so a server can find you to deliver your food. It may be fast-casual, but you don’t have to pick up your food at the counter or bus your table when you’re done. Moreover, LYFE goes the extra effort to serve the food quite attractively on contemporary plateware, as well as with real cutlery and glassware. No plastic baskets or paper cups here.

Whatever you do, start with a refreshing “Cucumber-Mint Cooler” ($2.99). It’s like spa water, but muddled with cucumber pulp to give it more flavor and body.

How pretty is this cucumber-mint cooler? And it has only 47 calories.

Grilled artichokes with lemon aioli ($3.99) brings two artichoke halves, expertly trimmed and nicely charred with a velvety, bright-tasting mayo sauce.

Read more

Changing the World One Mushroom at a Time

Nikil Arora proudly shows off the oyster mushroom kit he helped develop

If you’ve ever doubted the power of education to inspire, just consider University of California at Berkeley grads, Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez.

Classmates at the Hass School of Business, Arora, 24 and Velez, 23, were on their way to lucrative careers in investment banking and business consulting after graduating two years ago. But they turned their backs on that after listening to a visiting lecturer talk about how poor, malnourished women in Columbia and East Africa were growing mushrooms in coffee grounds to supplement their diet.

Instead, they maxed out their credit cards to start their own business. Their Oakland-based Back to the Roots turns mountains of discarded Peet’s coffee grounds that would have ended up in the landfill into gourmet oyster mushroom kits now sold at Whole Foods and on the Back to the Roots Web site for $19.95 each.

Mushroom kits in their special display case can be found in all Whole Foods.

In the process, Arora and Velez have created an innovative enterprise that even prompted Business Week to name them among the most promising social entrepreneurs in the United States.

Read more

What is Portland, Ore.? (Part II)

Pinot Noir grapes on the vine at Ayres winery.

What is Portland?

One of the finest wine regions around…

If you love Pinot Noir, especially ones with an earthy roundness in the style of Burgundy, you will go crazy for these made in the Willamette Valley.

I know I have. And it’s a love affair that’s lasted many, many years already.

Thanks to Travel Oregon, a group of food bloggers, including yours truly, recently was invited as guests to explore Portland’s famous wine region, which is considered the birthplace of New World Pinot Noir.

It was my first time to the glorious Willamette Valley, which sports 20,000 acres of vineyards, most of it Pinot Noir and almost all of it grown on  hillsides to avoid frost.

With 425 wineries, the Willamette Valley is as verdant and picturesque as the Napa Valley, but with a less touristy and corporate vibe. It’s still affordable, too, relatively speaking. While you practically have to be a neurosurgeon or Google employee #5 to afford to start a new winery in Napa, in the Willamette Valley, that dream is still accessible for regular, working-class folks with a bit of bank.

Read more

What is Portland, Ore.? (Part I)

A trip to Portland wouldn't be complete without a stop here.

What is Portland?

It’s where I had my first newspaper internship way back when at the Oregonian…

It’s where I learned it wise to carry an umbrella two out of three months that summer because that’s just how much it rains there…

It’s a pioneering eco-conscious city known for its great public transportation system, including free streetcar and bus rides in the downtown corridor…

And of course, it’s a region blessed with spectacular homegrown produce, world-class Pinot Noirs, incredible microbrews, legions of food carts long before it became trendy, and a vibrant restaurant scene any city would envy…

Thanks to Travel Oregon, a group of 25 food bloggers, including yours truly, recently was invited as guests to wine and dine our way through Portland.

Here are some of the tasty highlights:

A trip to Portland has to include a stop at Voodoo Doughnut, right?

Get in line behind the sign. And there's always a line, even late at night.

Trying to decide which one to order...

The one I had to have. Can ya blame me?

This doughnut shop is known worldwide and its wacky cruellers have even been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.”

Read more

Chez Panisse 40th Anniversary Public Lunch on Maiden Lane, Oyster Time & More

The Alice Waters-designed T-shirt by Levi's. (Photo courtesy of Levi's)

Chez Panisse Joins With Levi’s For A Special Event in San Francisco

Make a lunch date at 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 24 at San Francisco’s tucked-away Maiden Lane (between Grant Avenue and Stockton Street) to enjoy locally sourced, organic box lunches from Chez Panisse and the launch of a cool new T-shirt collection by the iconic restaurant in collaboration with Levi’s.

It’s all to celebrate the 40th anniversary of  the landmark Berkeley restaurant.

Proceeds from the sale of the all-organic T’s will benefit the Edible Schoolyard Project, the organization that Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters established to integrate kitchen and garden education into grade-school curriculum. The T’s feature designs by such celebs as Waters, herself, as well as Sofia Coppola, David Byrne, Dave Eggers and Maira Kalman. Beginning Aug. 24, the shirts also will be available in select Levi’s stores around the country and online at Levi.com.

Read more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »