Category Archives: Going Green and Sustainable

The Amazing Story Behind Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate

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Little squares of Maui Ku'ai Estate chocolate -- with a big story.
Little squares of Maui Ku’ai Estate chocolate — with a big story.

It’s one thing to make exquisite farm-to-bar estate chocolate.

It’s a whole ‘nother thing to donate 100 percent of net profits to Maui charities and non-profits.

Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate succeeds on both those fronts.

The artisanal chocolate company was founded by Dr. Gunars Valkirs, a Maui resident and retired biotech entrepreneur, who was the inventor of the first fast and sensitive pregnancy test.

Agriculture is in his heritage, as Valkirs’ father was a farmer in pre-World War II Europe before moving to San Diego, where he maintained a lush citrus orchard.

Inspired by his father, Valkirs started experimenting with planting cacao trees at his Kapalua home. Before long, he was leasing 50 acres of former sugarcane fields in Maui. Today, his farm, which marked its first harvest in spring 2018, encompasses about 7,000 cacao trees.

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A New Snack From Leftover Beer-Making

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ReGrained Smoked Sea Salt and Pepper Puffs.
ReGrained Smoked Sea Salt and Pepper Puffs.

Berkeley’s ReGrained is all about re-purposing.

Particularly when it comes to spent mash left over from beer making, that is.

UCLA fraternity brothers Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz were avid home-brewers who got the idea a few years ago to take that oatmeal-like mash with a nutty, malty flavor and turn it into nutritious energy bars.

After their ReGrained bars became a hit, they tinkered with more products that would highlight the mash, high in fiber and protein, that normally would be discarded or composted by breweries.

The result is their new ReGrained Puffs, a crunchy puffed chip snack that has the airy crispiness of shrimp chips.

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Check In For A Dose of Wellness At the Stanford Court Hotel

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Presenting the "Maude,'' made with rooftop honey at the Stanford Court Hotel.
Presenting the “Maude,” made with rooftop honey at the Stanford Court Hotel.

San Francisco’s Stanford Court Hotel is buzzing — in more ways than one.

Last year, the Nob Hill hotel added an apiary to its rooftop terrace just outside its Seven Stills restaurant. Now, it’s reaping the sweet rewards of those bee hives — from honey that’s accenting fun offerings on the menu.

I had a chance to try a few recently, when I was invited as an overnight guest of the hotel.

The restored, 3-ton penguin statue by Beni Bufano graces the entrance.
The restored, 3-ton penguin statue by Beni Bufano graces the entrance.
Depictions of horses owned by industrialist Leland Stanford decorate the lobby.
Depictions of horses owned by industrialist Leland Stanford decorate the lobby.
The night-time skyline view from one of the rooms.
The night-time skyline view from one of the rooms.

Take a seat at the bar or one of the tables in the restaurant that’s open to the lobby to order one of the specialty cocktails ($15 each) that are all named for movies that were filmed in San Francisco.

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A Prodigal Son Returns — To Boonville

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Grass-fed beef tartare with tomatoes and fiddlehead ferns at the Boonville Hotel restaurant.

Grass-fed beef tartare with tomatoes and fiddlehead ferns at the Boonville Hotel restaurant.

BOONVILLE, CA — If there ever was Wine Country royalty, Chef Perry Hoffman and his family are it.

His grandparents, Don and Sally Schmitt bought an old stone building in Yountville in 1978, and transformed it into a charming destination restaurant, before weighing several offers to sell it in 1993. They famously chose Thomas Keller, who went on to turn the French Laundry into a Michelin three-star establishment revered the world over.

Hoffman’s mother founded a Napa Valley florist company that has supplied blooms to the French Laundry for decades. His grandparents went on to restore the Philo Apple Farm that’s now run by Hoffman’s aunt, who also manages the lovely Farmhouse Mercantile store in Boonville.

Across from that store on sleepy main street, Hoffman’s Uncle Johnny has operated the Boonville Hotel for 31 years. It’s where Hoffman got one of his first jobs in the kitchen after high school. It’s where he fondly remembers tasting for the first time both Caesar salad and aioli.

Chef Perry Hoffman's return to the place it all started for him.

Chef Perry Hoffman’s return to the place it all started for him.

So in January, when Hoffman — once the youngest chef in the country to win a Michelin star when he headed Étoile at Domain Chandon in Yountville in 2009 — returned to become chef-partner at the quaint roadhouse built in 1860, it marked more than just a new job. It poetically signified a life coming full circle.

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Sustainable Seafood Watch Food Truck, A Call to Action, and More

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The Monterey Bay Aquarium rolls out its new Seafood Watch food truck. (photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

The Monterey Bay Aquarium rolls out its new Seafood Watch food truck. (photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Seafood Watch Food Truck Takes To The Road

“Eat. Drink. Save the Ocean.”

That’s the philosophy behind the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s new Seafood Watch Food Truck.

Like other food trucks, it serves up delicious fare. But it goes beyond that to offer three items that use either vegan ingredients or U.S. West Coast rockfish that garners a “Best Choice” ranking for sustainability in the Seafood Watch Guide.

The aquarium has teamed with San Francisco’s Little Green Cyclo to create the menu. You have your choice of taco ($5), butter lettuce wrap ($5) or banh mi sandwich ($8.75) filled with rockfish cooked with chili lime, tamarind or Cajun seasonings. The taco and lettuce wrap also can be filled with the vegan option of butternut squash with kale and candied walnuts.

A sustainable rockfish taco. (Photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

A sustainable rockfish taco. (Photo courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

The truck will be out and about in the Bay Area through September. Look for it at Presidio Twilight in San Francisco, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 1; at the Shuck Yeah! National Oyster Day event in San Francisco, noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 3; at the Stern Grove Festival in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 4; and at Noise Pop’s 20th Street Block Party in San Francisco, noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 17.

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