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Tradition
& Authenticity: Suzanne's Cuisine
Home, Sweet (Basil) Home
Ojai Sustains Itself on Rainfall
Bon Appetit to Locals: Eat Well
TRADITION
& AUTHENTICITY
By Tracey
Ryder
Chef
Suzanne Roll of
Suzanne's Cuisine
Photo by Carole Topalian |
The dining
experience at Suzanne's Cuisine begins the moment you walk
through the front door. First, you are greeted and ushered
into the lush but cozy room in exactly the same way you would
be welcomed into the home of a favorite relative or friend-you
are offered a seat, asked about your day, and offered a drink.
If you are a regular, the exchanges are specific and personal-and
always on a first name basis. If it's cold outside, the fireplaces
will be burning-both inside and out on the terrace-and either
setting makes you want to curl up, relax, and stay awhile.
If you
pick up any food magazine these days, you'll read page after
page about how professional restaurateurs from all over the
country are spending ungodly amounts of money, time, and energy
trying to give their customers this kind of experience. It's
become the norm for restaurants seeking a high ranking in
the Zagat Survey to have a staff of marketing and public relations
professionals on hand to make sure the word gets out-and stays
positive. Indeed, the restaurant business is competitive and
keeping that edge can be tricky. It does take a lot of hard
work and energy, but it also takes having a clear vision,
consistent food and service, and a solid sense of knowing
who you are, which is exactly how Suzanne Roll achieves her
success.
An excellent
home cook who lived in France, did some training in a Michelin
two-star restaurant there, and is Italian by heritage, Suzanne
is what diners wish every restaurateur would be: tremendously
talented, in love with food, and entirely authentic. Before
she ever opened the doors of her restaurant (12 years ago
this November 1st), she knew exactly what kind of restaurant
she wanted to have. "I wanted a place people could come
back to over and over again-where the menu was varied and
the food was simple and delicious-with the kind of food you
would want to eat everyday."
As our
conversation continues in this vein, we have a laugh over
a recent article in the Los Angeles Times that represents
the antithesis of Suzanne's philosophy about food. The author
describes a multi-course meal he recently experienced at a
highly rated restaurant in France where one course consisted
of a couple of pieces of stale popcorn and another was cotton
candy-all to the tune of around six-hundred dollars. "That's
not the way I want to feed people at all. Good food is not
contrived, it's straightforward. It just doesn't make any
sense to me why someone would want to do that. I want people
to remember my food because it tasted good, not because it
shocked them." And, after twelve years, it's safe to
say, she's achieved her goal. Gourmet magazine calls her food
"the food of love," and she consistently maintains
a high rating in the Zagat Survey without a staff of marketing
professionals on the payroll.
Perhaps
the best quality of this chef is that she understands food
from the ground up, meaning she is entirely at home with the
European tradition of having a restaurant be connected to
a garden, a vineyard, and to the local farmers. Grapes grown
at her ranch have been turned into some of the finest California
Syrah ever made (Roll Ranch Syrah, made by Adam Tolmach of
the Ojai Vineyard). And if you've ever wondered why this tiny-framed
woman drives such a big pickup truck: it's for her trips to
the farmers' markets she makes twice a week-Wednesday in Santa
Monica and Saturday in Ventura. She buys produce from farmers
she's known and loyally supported for years and admits that
when she first opened the restaurant, she had no idea there
were produce vendors who delivered to you instead of you going
to buy it direct from the farmer. "I had no idea that
restaurants had their produce delivered to them. The thought
just never occurred to me. If you didn't go and pick it [the
produce] out yourself, how could you know what you were getting?"
Other
things come from her ranch too-eggs, figs, and other ingredients
she adds to seasonal dishes on the menu. I think of her food
as being "high quality, homemade." It's innovative
while remaining unfussy. Just try any of her original creations
to see what I mean, such as Seasonal Seafood on a Bed of Homemade
Sauerkraut with a Dill Beurre Blanc Sauce. This dish has roots
in the Alsace region of France, and has been personalized
and perfected by Suzanne. From her Italian roots comes Bucatini
with Marinara Sauce and Uncle Angelo's Favorite Meatballs,
one of my all-time favorite dishes. It's what I order when
I'm not sure what I'm in the mood for-far beyond a basic "spaghetti
and meatballs" kind of meal, this dish transports and
comforts me (and I swear, contains some secret ingredient
that makes me crave it over and over again).
Suzanne
Roll and Sandra Moore, the mother/daughter team behind
Suzanne's Cuisine, in their restaurant's garden. Photo
by Carole Topalian |
The other
side of the equation for what makes a restaurant successful
is less obvious to the diner. It's all the things that go
on behind the scenes: finding and training the staff, managing
schedules, dealing with budgets, timelines, booking events,
paying bills, etc. In short, it's called "running the
business." At Suzanne's Cuisine, these tasks are handled
exquisitely by the restaurant's co-owner, Sandra Moore (also
Suzanne's daughter). Just like her mother, Sandra cares deeply
about quality, community, and good food; however, she spends
her days holding a laser beam focus on the details that make
this restaurant run smoothly. Sandra earned an MBA degree
in Chicago before returning to Ojai to help her mother launch
the restaurant and uses her education well. She has all the
qualities of a great CEO-extremely focused, observant, and
a consummate professional, while at the same time being easy
with a smile, kind, and generous of spirit. This shows up
every time you visit the restaurant. Most obviously, perhaps,
in the way each staff member seems to genuinely enjoy their
job. Donna, Caroline, Jose, and all the others-the service
they give is impeccable-and they all embody the same gracious
spirit as Sandra herself does.
In a time
where 85% of all new restaurants fail within the first year,
it's no surprise that Suzanne's Cuisine has beaten the odds.
We're especially lucky they have been able to thrive in a
town as small as Ojai. If you ask either of these talented
restaurateurs to tell you the secret of their success, their
answers are immediate-and opposite. Sandra insists it's her
mother's food, while Suzanne adds: "None of this would
be possible if it weren't for Sandra."
Suzanne's
Cuisine
502 W. Ojai Avenue
Ojai, CA 93023
(805) 640-1961
www.suzannescuisine.com
Open for
lunch and dinner everyday except Tuesday.
Indoor and Garden Dining
Full Bar
Reservations Recommended
HOME,
SWEET (BASIL) HOME
By Camille
Sears
Everyone
has at least one comfort food, that favorite dish that makes
us forget all the surrounding chaos, pressure, and problems.
For many of us, including me, that comforting meal is flavored
and scented with basil. The instant I detect its presence
I relive soothing memories of family dinners, of herb gardens,
and momentarily, life feels more serene. For solace, that
sense of home, I need basil.
"Basil,"
by Carole Topalian |
But it's
more than that. Basil, like few other foods, also extends
and links our sense of space (home) to our sense of place
(where we live). In many parts of the world, basil is used
to enhance not just what we eat; it is also integral to characterizing
the regional cuisine. It's no coincidence that many basils
are named after a particular place. Genovese, Napoletano,
Thai, Peruvian, and other basils bring to mind not only specific
flavors, but also the geography and foods of the areas where
they are grown. How can one eat pesto (of course made from
basilico di Genova) and not think of Liguria? In essence,
the kitchen is essential to our sense of home and local foods
help define our sense of place.
My first
true awareness of basil came when I was nine, while spending
the summer in Messina, Italy. To me it seemed that basil was
growing in all conceivable spots-in vegetable gardens, tucked
in flowerbeds between gardenias, and, of course, in the mandatory
pots on windowsills and balconies. This is the town where
Lisabetta da Messina (from a story in Bocaccio's 14th century
Decameron) once grew the "goodliest basil from Salerno"
in a large pot, watered by her tears. In Messina, as in much
of Italy, basil is ubiquitous for a reason-every afternoon
we enjoyed pasta with fresh tomato-basil sauce. And each time
I helped my aunts pick basil, or when I tasted it during supper,
I felt like I never left home.
When talking
about Italy, it's hard to not think of basil. The obverse
is also true. But while Italian varieties are near the top
of the list, many basils are associated with other areas,
including France, Greece, Spain, Asia, the Middle East, and
Mexico. Each area has its own basil varieties, and the differences
among regions and types can be striking.
But what
is it that makes each variety distinct? Why not grow just
one and forget the rest? Yes, I remember the days when only
one variety, called sweet basil, was available on the seed
rack. While very good, sweet basil doesn't have the intense
floral spice and licorice qualities of the Genovese basils
(there are quite a few different Genovese strains). Sweet
basil has less anise flavor than Napoletano, and for spice,
I prefer the small-leaved bush types. And then there are the
scented basils, such as cinnamon, lemon, lime, and clove.
Each of these qualities plays directly into regional cuisine,
whether one is making pesto, sauce, or flavoring any number
of dishes. No single basil can fill all these myriad requirements.
Even though
I've grown dozens of basil varieties, I'm always on the lookout
for new experiences in flavor and fragrance. Whenever I see
a basil plant, I instinctively reach out and pick a leaf to
smell and taste. Almost always it ends up being a familiar
strain, however, the exceptions are forever etched in my mind.
One of those wonderful days was in September 1979. I was walking
through student gardens in Davis when I came upon two basils
I'd never seen before. Both were cut very low, almost mowed,
and as soon as I ran my hand over the leaves I knew this was
great stuff. One of the varieties was lemon basil, with an
aroma equal to the best melissa and lemon verbena, yet with
a hint of spice; the other, a Thai basil with the strongest
blend of licorice and spice I'd ever encountered.
A student
couple had brought these two varieties from Thailand as a
way of maintaining a sense of home in a new place. Thankfully,
I was given a few seeds from each of these basils, and their
descendants are today growing outside our kitchen door. I
still favor that Thai basil given to me in 1979 over newer
types such as Siam Queen or Thai Magic. It's difficult to
imagine a single plant with more fragrance and flavor.
Reflecting
back on my college years, I realize that I wasn't much different
than the Thai students. Arriving at school, one of the first
things I did was to get my own campus garden. I then planted
herbs-feverfew, costmary, mints, savory, and basil. Especially
basil. It was my way of bringing home with me, and I've repeated
this ritual in every house I've lived in.
Basil
is at home in America, the Orient, the Middle East, the Mediterranean,
Latin America, Africa, and even Australia. And wherever basil
is grown, it somehow finds its way into the provincial cuisine.
By paying attention to the local ingredients favored in each
region, we come to understand that food, as much as anything
else, defines a particular sense of place. It makes me wish
we had an Ojai Basil to share with the world.
Even though
many basils are identified by place, some types don't seem
to have a point of origin. One of these orphans is a fragrant
medium-leaf variety I found for sale at a hardware store more
than 20 years ago. It was labeled with no description other
than "perennial." I'm still not sure where it comes
from, but in quality and appearance, it is similar to the
pungent, white-flowered Cuban and Puerto Rican basils. I've
been maintaining this extra-spicy variety with cuttings and
seed, and maybe someday I'll discover its home. In the meantime,
I use its indispensable flavor in any way I can.
And by
nature, some basils are, well, territorial. Since my roots
extend to Sicily, I was sheltered from experiencing pesto
until I was an adult. I recently teased a dear friend, una
donna Italiana Nordica, about the delicious green paste and
whether she would consider using basilico Napoletano instead
of traditional Genovese-to meet me halfway geographically.
With a grin she replied, "Um… we can't go there."
I laughed too, knowing why there exist so many varieties of
everything we grow, and that this diversity is the key to
regional cuisine.
Yet still,
it's OK to experiment with flavors. I often make tomato-basil
sauce laced with a mix of four of my favorite varieties: Genovese,
Napoletano, True Thai, and Puerto Rican. The result is a wonderful
blend of spice, licorice, and floral fragrances. And by remembering
where each of those basils comes from, I can enhance my sense
of home with someone else's sense of place.
Find
Basil Recipes here
OJAI
SUSTAINS ITSELF ON RAINFALL
By Emily
Thacher
Digging
a well by hand. Henry Friend hoisting a bucket of soil
and rock from the hole, someone else is in the hole filling
the bucket. On the left is the pile of rock and dirt that
had thus far been excavated.
- from the Thacher Family Archive |
It is
difficult to describe all the aspects that set Ojai apart
from other places in Southern California. One feature unique
to our Valley is that it does not import water as most towns
and cities in the region do. Thus far, Ojai has sustained
itself with the water that presents itself in the form of
rain. It may sound odd to say so, as it only rains a few times
a year, but indeed, with the exception of the imported bottles
such as Evian and Arrowhead, all of Ojai's water comes from
local rain.
I recently
had the opportunity to view maps overlaid with diagrams of
the pipelines that some of the local water companies use to
convey water from one end of the Valley to the other. There
is a whole heck of a lot of unseen water moving around underground,
only appearing when an orchard gets irrigated, a hose is opened,
or a toilet gets flushed. Water sustains this Valley; both
urban and agricultural areas rely on it. We should all be
aware of where our water comes from and take responsibility
to ensure there will be enough during dry spells.
Since
the very early days of California settlement, Ojai has been
known as a water source. In the late 1700s, the missionaries
in Ventura built a stone aqueduct from San Antonio Creek to
the mission in Ventura. The Buenaventura Mission and subsequent
city of Ventura continue to rely on the Ojai Valley watershed;
they currently have wells in the Ventura River and use water
from Lake Casitas. The Valley has continually been an exporter
of this precious liquid resource to our coastal neighbor.
For the
past 130 years Ojai residents have devised various methods
of storing rainwater in the Valley. With settlement of the
Ojai Valley in the late 1800s, multiple water companies were
formed. These companies harnessed water from streams and artesian
wells and siphoned it around Ojai in canals and pipelines.
Wells were arduously dug by hand and lined with rock, and
water was pumped up with diesel engines. The precious molecules
of hydrogen and oxygen were stored in everything from reservoirs
to barrels. Water was such a valuable commodity during Ojai's
early days that it was sometimes stolen right out of the reservoirs
at night.
The general
consensus of those involved with water sales and crop irrigation
at the time was that "too much water was lost during
the rainy season." Advances in technology during the
1930s allowed for the drilling of deeper wells, which helped
ease the lack of water but soon led to groundwater depletion.
"People today don't know what water shortages are,"
says my grandfather, Elmer Friend. "The Valley was practically
pumped dry" during the droughts of the 1940s, in which
Ojai's own groundwater basin was severely depleted.
During
that period there was a great movement to improve Ojai's water
storage. In 1944 money was approved to build a dam on Matilija
Creek, and the Matilija Dam was completed in 1948. Not until
the long drought ended with winter rains in 1951 did the reservoir
behind the dam fill. A pipeline from the base of the dam to
the East End of Ojai could move water by gravity flow at a
very low cost. Large basins were built in the East End along
the northern edge of San Antonio Creek to fill and allow for
groundwater recharge, replenishing the aquifer that had been
drawn down by the intense use of wells. (These recharge basins
were later used as flood control retention basins, eventually
filled with silt, and have since been abandoned). The famous
floods of 1969 again filled the Matilija reservoir, but this
time with silt and debris, reducing the storage capacity.
The dam currently holds 500 acre-feet of water and is slated
for removal within the next decade.
The early
'50s brought a new movement to improve the water supply. Locals
wanted to take responsibility for their own water supply,
rather than to rely on large and costly state water projects.
By a 31-1 margin, voters approved the building of a dam on
Coyote Creek. In 1956 the project of building Casitas Dam
and the diversion channel from the Ventura River began. Lake
Casitas now supplies 21,000 acre-feet per year to its customers
over an area extending from La Conchita on the coast to the
eastern reaches of Upper Ojai. Casitas Municipal Water District
(CMWD) is the only company with rights to Lake Casitas water;
other local water companies rely on wells or purchasing water
from CMWD.
1949,
The Friend family (Joni, Anne, Elmer and Aleta) testing
a new well at the Fraser Ranch on Grand Avenue. This well
is still in use today; in fact, you can buy it as the
property is for sale!
- from the Thacher Family Archive |
Conversations
I've had with locals suggest that a lot of Ojai residents
believe their water solely comes from Casitas Lake, the only
large visible water source. In fact, most homes in the Valley
acquire water from one of the multitude of local water companies.
CMWD and Southern California Water Co. are the main suppliers,
with Meiners Oaks County Water District and County of Ventura
Water supplying Meiners Oaks and Oak View respectively. Multiple
smaller water companies also exist. A majority of the Valley's
water companies acquire water from wells and use Lake Casitas/CMWD
as a backup supply. In addition, a small number of people
and farms have riparian rights, allowing them to take water
directly from streams and springs.
Many wells
in the Valley are used for both agricultural and domestic
water. As much as 6,000 acre-feet of water per year (enough
for 12,000 homes or 6,000 acres of citrus) is pumped by wells
from Ojai's groundwater basin in the East End. Southern California
Water Co., which supplies water to Ojai's downtown area obtains
most of its water from wells, and purchases the remainder
from CMWD during dry spells. When wells dry down in the late
summer, most well operators, farmers or water companies, have
a backup source with one of the many local water companies
that have access to reservoirs or riparian water rights. In
the early 1990s the Ojai Basin Groundwater Management Agency
(OBGMA) was formed to preserve and protect the groundwater
in order to maintain long-term supply for users within the
basin. Well owners voluntarily report usage to the OBGMA and
the organization keeps tabs on usage, aquifer supply, and
water quality.
Water
use in the Valley increases with every additional home, business,
and planted acre. In addition to direct rainfall, irrigated
agricultural lands must obtain about one acre-foot of water
per acre per year. (Most agricultural crops in the area need
about two acre-feet per acre per year and Ojai generally receives
half this directly from rainfall.) A single-family home uses
approximately half an acre-foot per year. If four homes are
built per acre as in a low-density subdivision, they will
use roughly the same amount of water as an acre of citrus.
Open space such as forest and agricultural land benefit underground
water storage more than urban areas as they allow for more
percolation of water into aquifers during the rainy season.
It's important
to know where your water comes from and what will happen during
a drought. Although there is much talk about water being the
limiting resource in dry Southern California, we rarely hear
of construction being halted due to lack of water. Yet this
is happening here in Ojai: CMWD currently has a moratorium
on new customers. The levels of Lake Casitas as well as our
aquifer are low. Well-users are relying heavily on the lake
as a backup supply. Some say we are heading into a 10-year
drought. If rains don't come this winter, or next, the groundwater
and lake levels will continue to drop and we will be forced
to conserve. We may even need to begin to import water, not
just Evian or Perrier for drinking but Colorado River water
for bathing and cooking. CMWD holds the right to tap into
the state water project, and will do so if forced, but at
a cost we would all have to bear.
Thanks
to those who devised our water infrastructure and have preserved
the open spaces in and around our Valley, we have a versatile
water system with its own rivers, water storage facilities,
and groundwater aquifer, thus far sustaining our water consumption.
Hopefully, with the resources at hand we can continue to effectively
serve our water needs for the next 100 years without being
forced to import politically charged water from afar.
Contact
your local water company for more information on your water
supply and methods of water conservation.
Thanks
to John Johnson of CMWD and Harry Bodell of OBGMA for reviewing
this article.
BON
APPETIT TO LOCALS: EAT WELL
By Jim
Churchill
From
left to right: Ismael Martin; Thacher School Headmaster,
Michael Mulligan; and Food Services Director, Richard
Maxwell
Photo by Carole Topalian |
For Thacher
School Headmaster Michael Mulligan, the penny dropped last
spring. Mulligan, a regular at the Ojai Certified Farmers'
Market, knew that the food he prepared at home-from fresh,
locally grown, organic ingredients-tasted better and left
him feeling better than supermarket-purchased food. One day
last spring it occurred to him that he could implement his
realization to the pleasure and benefit of Thacher's 350+
students and staff through his food services operation.
B.D. Dautch,
of Ojai's and Carpinteria's Earthtrine Farms, remembers, "Michael
Mulligan came by the stand (at the farmers' market), he looked
at the produce and said, 'This is ridiculous, at Thacher we
serve good food but not up to the standards of what we could
serve.' "
Food service
at Thacher School is managed by Bon Appetit Management Company.
At Thacher, Bon Appetit's person is Food Services Director
Richard Maxwell. Richard is a local boy (Buena High School,
Ventura College) who started cooking as a kid and has never
looked back. In 1997, he answered an ad from an Ojai private
school in search of a baker and soon thereafter found himself
Thacher's food service director.
Mulligan
summoned Maxwell and B.D. to a meeting. B.D. says he told
them that he wouldn't necessarily be able to give them the
lowest price. He argued for sustainable communities; that
a really low price tells you a farmer is losing money, trying
to get something for his crop; that he, B.D., wouldn't sell
at a loss but that he would be happy to sell Thacher whatever
he could.
B.D. was
preaching to the converted. This past summer, Bon Appetit
formally modified its mission statement to include supporting
a sustainable food system. The website for Bon Appetit, whose
other local accounts are Villanova Preparatory School and
Thomas Aquinas College, says, "We choose to invest in
our communities by buying millions of dollars worth of products
each year from local farmers and artisans. By buying directly
from the producers we can support sustainable farming practices
that nourish and replenish the local land rather than stripping
it. We can steer away from pesticides, hormones, and antibiotics.
And, we can be sure that the profits are kept with the local
grower, not a distant importer, and therefore reinvested into
the community."
Part of
this new mission included direction to its chefs to purchase
locally grown produce when possible.
Food service
doesn't customarily give you opportunities to lift your head
up and survey your surroundings; the problem for Bon Appetit's
food service managers with the company's directive to buy
local is that they do not have the time or expertise to know
who's growing what locally.
As readers
of this publication know, Judy Blue and I, who both sell at
the Ojai Certified Farmers' Market and both work for Community
Alliance with Family Farmers, have been working for over a
year now to create the Gold Coast Growers' Collaborative,
which enables school districts and local growers to do business
with each other by handling orders, logistics, billing, and
payments. Although we intended the Collaborative to sell to
public schools, we're not prejudiced. So the Gold Coast Growers'
Collaborative is a perfect fit for Bon Appetit's local chefs:
they're looking for locally grown, fresh, high quality produce,
and we're looking for customers.
It's a
confluence. A private school wants to serve better food. Local
growers have organized to find new markets for locally grown
produce. A food service company seeks to do business in ways
that support a sustainable food system.
As I write
this, it's too early to say how it's going to go. School has
been in session only a couple of weeks; B.D. has made a couple
of deliveries to Thacher School, and Gold Coast Growers' Collaborative
has done the same for Thacher and Villanova. I have not had
the opportunity to visit Villanova, but when I ate lunch at
Thacher the salad bar featured local cherry tomatoes, Japanese
cucumbers, broccoli, carrot sticks, purple peppers; and the
fruit table had lovely crisp local apples. The food was superb.
For more
information, I strongly urge you to visit Bon Appetit's website,
www.bamco.com.
The Gold Coast Growers' Collaborative website is www.gcgrowers.org;
and you can learn about Community Alliance with Family Farmers
at www.caff.org.
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