Upriver in the Sierra foothills, farmers grow olives and grapes.“I think of it as an amazing market basket, fed by the two major rivers - the Sacramento and the San Joaquin - that flow through the Central Valley, California’s primary producing area.” “The Bay Area is a great growing ground,” says Somerville. In addition, several times a year, Somerville joins forces with Wendy Johnson, head gardener at Green Gulch, and together they run workshops on growing and cooking vegetables, organic gardening and the changing seasons. What the restaurant can’t get from Green Gulch, it sources from an extended family of growers and organic farmers’ markets. Year-round it provides the restaurant with seasonal produce, from chard, leeks and winter squash to flowering herbs - a myriad of fresh garden edibles tended with care. Green Gulch Farm in Marin county, less than an hour north of the city, is a residential Zen community and bountiful organic farm. The Food Illustrated layout of my Greens restaurant story. For example, crostini with warm cannellini beans and wilted Green Gulch chard flavored with olive oil, garlic and sherry vinegar. On the menu, they simply describe the dishes as they are. That’s what we are, but we don’t talk about it,” says executive chef Annie Somerville. “Nowhere will you see the word vegetarian or vegan. Similarly, the restaurant does not proselytize vegetarianism. The Zen influence runs deep - but in the true Zen spirit of understatement, it is imperceptible.
In a city that regularly ranks as one of the world’s top restaurant destinations, Greens is both legendary and unique.
Hear the gentle hubbub of contented dining. Feel the freshness of the bread as you pull it apart. Inhale and delight in the delicate scent of virgin olive oil simmering with fresh herbs and garlic - a hearty ragout in progress. Feast your eyes on a salad that marries fresh ripe figs with Kodata, Mission and Calmyra olives, melon, watercress and creamy goat’s cheese. Dip your spoon into a bowl of butternut squash soup and delight in the delicate harmony of lightly caramelized onions and apple confit blended with a hint of calvados. This story was first published in Food Illustrated magazine, London, with photography by Richard JungĪ visit to Greens in San Francisco is a celebration of the senses. Mexican fan palm (Washingtonia filifera) bears persistent dead fronds in a beige, dry petticoat while the California fan palm (Washingtonia robusta) grows taller and tends to be less hardy to winter cold.Greens Restaurant in San Francisco has an outstanding reputation for fine produce and creative food. Canary Island date palm (Phoenix canariensis) and the true date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) grow, but don't expect fruits if the summer heat doesn't last long.
In the more southern reaches of West Texas, dally in the tropical exotic look by planting palms in clusters or singularly as a focal specimen. The mountain cedar (Juniperus ashei) and Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica) make excellent hedgerows or screens. Aleppo pine (PInus halepensis) doesn't grow nearly as large as the ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa). Needle or scale-foliage trees that produce cones provide year -round screening, shade or block winds. Most people want thornless Osage oranges (Maclura pomifera), and its large round fruits are either thought of as decorative or messy lawn litter.