Changing the World One Mushroom at a Time

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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.

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Patxi’s to Open in Campbell, Unique Chefs of Compassion Event & More

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Time for deep dish. (Photo courtesy of Patxi's)

Patxi’s Opens This Afternoon in Campbell

Get ready for some deep deep dish.

Patxi’s Pizza, which specializes in Chicago-style deep dish pies, is opening its seventh Bay Area location at 4 p.m. today, 1875 S. Bascom Ave. in Campbell in the Pruneyard Shopping Center.

What’s more, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Nov. 21, the Campbell locale will hold a grand opening with complimentary samples.

The first Patxi’s (pronounced pah’-cheese) opened in Palo Alto in 2004 by William Freeman and Francisco “Patxi” Azpiroz, who previously worked at the legendary Zachary’s Pizza in Berkeley. The restaurant features four types of pizza (stuffed, pan, thin, and extra-thin), as well as three types of dough (regular, whole-wheat, and a new gluten-free one).

The new Campbell location has special meaning for Freeman, too. “I have deep roots in the Campbell area –my family has farmed land here for a century, and my dad grew up on a walnut and apricot farm on Lawrence Road,” he said in a statement. “So this is a real homecoming for me.”

Exec. Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez of Parcel 104 picks his ingredients from the food pantry. (Photo courtesy of West Valley Community Services)

Chefs of Compassion

So many chefs are used to cooking with every gourmet product at their disposal.

But what happens when four Bay Area chefs are charged with making a showstopping dish from ingredients found only in the West Valley Community Services food pantry?

You’ll find out if you attend the “Chefs of Compassion Cooking for a Cause” fund-raising event, 5 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Addison-Penzak JCC of Silicon Valley, 14855 Oka Road in Los Gatos.

Executive Chef Chris Schloss of Cin-Cin Wine Bar in Los Gatos; Executive Pastry Chef Carlos Sanchez of Parcel 104 in Santa Clara; Executive Chef Jay Essadki of Morocco’s Restaurant in San Jose and Mountain View; and Executive Chef Nanci Wokas of Cooking with Class will each be preparing one of four courses at this dinner, which will help fund West Valley Community Services hunger and homeless programs.

"Breakfast for Dinner'' by Carlos Sanchez of Parcel 104. (Photo courtesy of West Valley Community Services)

Yours truly will be one of the judges, charged with picking the winning dish, along with Tracy Lee, founder of Dishcrawl; Sheila Himmel, former Mercury News restaurant critic; Linda Zavoral, Mercury News travel editor; and Abby Schwartz, South Bay manager of Yelp.

Tickets are $100 per person.

Chef Daniel Humm Returns to Campton Place for One Night

Chef Daniel Humm of New York’s Eleven Madison Park is returning for one evening to the establishment where he got his start — Campton Place in San Francisco.

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A Dip That’s Wicked Good

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Caramel meets mustard in this great dip/spread.

Two words: Caramel. Mustard.

You might wonder how those two things go together. But in the hands of three chefs, who created this addicting dip/spread, caramel and mustard go together so well that you wonder why nobody thought of doing this before.

Their Rhode Island company, Wicked Natural, makes Caramel Mustard, which tastes like it sounds — as if someone stirred sharp mustard into sweet, gooey caramel to create a whole new taste sensation.

Recently, I had a chance to try a sample jar, courtesy of the folks at King Arthur Flour, who also sell the condiment on their Web site.

This rich, creamy, candy-like spread with a noticeable piquant backbone would be fabulous as a dip for pretzels, stirred into a vinaigrette, spread inside a grilled cheese sandwich, or used to coat chicken before dredging in breadcrumbs.

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Easy Peasy

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This dish really is easy peasy.

Especially because I cheated by using frozen peas, which allows you to make this simple side salad any time of year.

“Sweet Green Peas & Feta” is from the new “Kokkari: Contemporary Greek Flavors” (Chronicle Books) by Chef Erik Cosselmon and food writer Janet Fletcher, of which I recently received a review copy.

The famed San Francisco modern Greek restaurant, Kokkari, makes this dish only in spring, when fresh peas are at their sweet peak along California’s coast.

But I tried it with thawed, frozen peas with great success. It lets you skip the shelling and blanching of fresh peas, too, so that this dish comes together in a snap of the fingers.

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Just in Time For Thanksgiving — New La Brea Bakery Stuffing Mixes

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Hard to believe I made this from a mix, huh?

Just before Thanksgiving rolls around, I usually leave a cut-up French baguette or Italian loaf out on the counter to dry to make my own bread stuffing for the big day.

I’ve never been one for stuffing from packaged mixes.

But when I came across one that carries the name of La Brea Bakery, I just had to try it.

After all, La Brea Bakery is the Los Angeles hot spot founded by Chef Nancy Silverton that started the whole artisan bread craze in Southern California way back in 1989. If anyone was going to make a packaged stuffing mix worth bragging about, it ought to be a bakery so famous for its fabulous breads, right?

The mixes come in two varieties: “Focaccia Stuffing” and “Harvest Bread Stuffing.”

They are exclusive to Williams-Sonoma. Each box is $14 each or $24.95 for both. And each mix makes enough to feed 10 to 12 people.

La Brea Bakery's new stuffing mixes.

I decided to break open a box of the “Harvest Bread Stuffing,” of which I recently received a sample, to taste test.

Inside, you’ll find three bags containing croutons (a mix of cracked grain bread, rosemary sage cornbread and country white), pecans, and dried cranberries.

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