CONSUMED with Jaime Lewis

LEGENDS: Pioneering Rhône varieties and regenerative agriculture with Tablas Creek Vineyard proprietor Jason Haas

When you think of wineries that really changed the game in California, Tablas Creek Vineyard should be one of the first to come to mind. A partnership between a wine importer, Robert Haas, and winegrowers in the south of France, Jean-Pierre Perrin and Francois Perrin, Tablas Creek has been a pioneering producer of Rhone-varietal wines in Paso Robles since it opened in 1989. I spoke with Jason Haas, the second-generation proprietor of Tablas Creek Vineyard who has continued the work set out by his father and the Perrin family: to establish Paso Robles as a premier appellation for Rhone varieties, and to do so with rigorous attention to sustainability and regenerative agriculture. In these ways, Tablas Creek has been one of the first if not the very first to approach winemaking this way in Paso Robles, and well ahead of their time. Jason and I talk about his beginnings in the tech industry, his affection for ultimate frisbee, and the accolades he’s won for his writing on the Tablas Creek blog at tablascreek.typepad.com.

Website: tablascreekvineyard.com

Instagram: @tablascreek

 

LEGENDS: Novo, Luna Red and Robin’s owners Shanny Covey and Robin Covey

The concept of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients in restaurants is one most Californians are very familiar with, but in 1985, it was pretty radical. Fortunately for those of us who dine at Robin’s in Cambria, Novo and Luna Red restaurants in San Luis Obispo, owners Robin Covey and Shanny Covey didn’t know any better: it’s just the way they liked to eat. Over time they formed a shared company called the Blue Mango Restaurant Group that operates these three beloved restaurants, keeping the mandate for fresh, local and seasonal ingredients front and center at all times, and inspiring other restaurants to do the same. They’ve managed to do this through the outrageous challenges of restaurant ownership, as well as through divorcing but remaining business partners. So many of us consider these restaurants a forever-part of the local culinary landscape, and we have their creative thinking and acumen to thank.

Websites: novorestaurant.com / lunaredslo.com / robinsrestaurant.com

Instagram: @novorestaurant / @lunaredrestaurant / @robins_restaurant

Quickie, the delivery app with its wheels on the ground and its mind in the gutter

CONSUMED WITH SOPHIA PATTISON: I'm handing the mic over to my intern, Sophia Pattison, a fourth-year journalism student at Cal Poly who's interested in the flavor of the Central Coast. In her first of three mini-episodes, Sophia covers the rise of Quickie Delivery Co, a young business that delivers college essentials to students at Cal Poly.

 

MORE ABOUT SOPHIA: Sophia Pattison is a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism. She has honed her broadcasting and media production skills in San Luis Obispo while contributing to KCPR and Mustang News. Here at Consumed, she is combining her love for multimedia production while delving into the world of food journalism and embracing the vibrant culinary scene of the Central Coast

 

To learn more about Sophia and the Quickie folks on Instagram:

@sophia.pattison
@quickiedeliveryco
@willtregenza

Composer Brook Munro talks wine and music

San Luis Obispo County native Brook Munro is a composer and musician who works on his craft at night after he manages the wine club at Claiborne and Churchill Winery in the Edna Valley all day. He has scored a number of award-winning films, but his new LP "Harvest in Twelve Parts" is his first work to mix music and wine. He recorded and produced it over the course of the 2021 and 2022 harvests—listen throughout the interview because I weave parts of his tracks throughout. And on that note, headphones are a good idea for this one. 🎧

 

Episode note: I blow it in the outro by calling the record "Under the Harvest Sky," which is actually a track name from the album. Apologies!

 

To buy Harvest in Twelve Parts on vinyl, visit brookmunro.com. 

Instagram: @brookmunro

Kehoe Carbon Cookware and the legacy of durable heirlooms with Dennis and Kasey Kehoe, Los Osos

Think about the cookware you use most, and I can almost guarantee that your skillet is at the top of the list. It’s one of those workhorse tools that’s just necessary. Maybe your skillet is nonstick, or cast iron—or if you’re lucky, maybe it’s carbon steel. And if you’re extremely lucky, maybe it’s a carbon steel pan made by Dennis Kehoe. Dennis and his wife Kasey own Kehoe Carbon Cookware, based out of their home in Los Osos. I first discovered his work on Instagram, where I completely fell for the beauty and durability of the pans Dennis made. As I learned more about them, I discovered that his wife, Kasey, is also a metal head — sorry, I had to use that term — because she’s a pipe-fitter welder. Together, they’ve developed a brand of heirloom-quality cookware, and here, they explain how that happened. I got a little emotional at the end when they described their last meal. It’s beautiful.

 

Website: kehoecarboncookware.com

Instagram: @kehoe_carbon_cookware

Lab-grown meat at the intersection of tech and ethics with Dr. Deb Donig, Cal Poly and UC Berkeley

Here’s one of the great benefits of having a podcast: at any time, you have a perfectly acceptable excuse to ask someone over to chat. And that’s exactly what I did here. Dr. Deb Donig is Assistant Professor of English Literature at Cal Poly and a Lecturer at UC Berkeley’s School of Information in the Master’s in Data Science Program. She is the co-founder of the Cal Poly Ethical Technology Initiative and the host of “Technically Human,” a podcast where she talks with major thinkers, writers, and industry-leading technologists about the relationship between humans and the technologies they create. So what does this have to do with food, you ask? Professor Donig’s specialty is the intersection of ethics and technology, and she has a deep and abiding interest in the concept of so-called “clean meat” or lab-grown meat. She also has the philosophical chops to think critically about what this kind of technology could mean for humanity—as you’ll hear in this interview, I marveled at her critical thinking prowess and ability to hold multiple truths at once. 

 

Website: debdonig.com

Podcast: Technically Human

Food system repair with Shakira Miracle of the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network

Shakira Miracle is the executive director of the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network, an advocacy organization that seeks to close the food system loop, promoting access, equity, connection and creativity within the local food economy. Shakira drove up from Santa Barbara to share the exciting work she’s doing with the agency, and to chat about what makes networks like Santa Barbara’s so important. We also talk about Dr. David Cleveland, a previous guest on this podcast who is a respected researcher in Santa Barbara, and an integral part of why the Food Action Network exists. To see his studies and to listen to his episode on the Consumed podcast, have a look at the show notes below.

Studies authored by Dr. David Cleveland:

• Local food hubs for alternative food systems: A case study from Santa
  Barbara County, California, "Journal of Rural Studies," 2014
• Operationalizing local food: goals, actions, and indicators
  for alternative food systems, "Agriculture and Human Values," 2015
• How does food localization contribute to food system
  sustainability? Peer-reviewed letter in "Frontiers In Ecology and the Environment," 2015

Website: sbcfoodaction.org

Instagram: @sbcfoodaction

My Friend Mike’s Mike Radakovich talks pizza

In the middle of Covid, in a not-so-obvious part of San Luis Obispo, a pizza place called My Friend Mike’s opened up. In its history, the building off Broad Street had been a Lemos Feed & Pet Supply, as well as a tire shop. The windows are also mirrored so you can’t see in, but when I walked inside to pick up a couple beautiful pizzas made by Mike Radakovich and his team, I was surprised at how warm and inviting the interior is. It feels kind of like a clubhouse with excellent wood-fired pizza and a killer international wine list. So I asked Mike on the podcast, and because it’s tiny San Luis Obispo, we know pretty much all the same people. So, warning: this episode bandies about lots of names of folks you may or may not know. Try to hang in there. And by the way, check the show notes for the link to the Theatre Stories sketch on Saturday Night Live. In the episode I said it featured Christopher Walken, but it was actually John Malkovich.

Website: myfriendmikes.com

Instagram: @myfriendmikes

Theatre Stories on SNL

Hot Vegan Takeout with Matt Martinez of Ziggy’s, SLO and Paso Robles

For years, whenever I’ve driven down California Boulevard in San Luis Obispo, I’ve stared at a neon sign that reads: Hot Vegan Takeout. It’s so fun and blunt and punk rock, and it perfectly encapsulates what’s going on at Ziggy’s Vegan Takeout. In case you’ve never eaten there, this is not a hippie crunchy vegan restaurant—there’s definitely a place for those in the world, but this ain’t one of em. When you walk into Ziggy’s, you’re immediately hit by the excellent soundtrack, the menu of vegan-friendly traditional foods like burgers, fries, and soft-serve, and the extremely young, hip person behind the counter. (Or is it just me? Am I just getting older? I don’t know. What I do know is Ziggy’s is really onto something, and I loved chatting with one of its owners, Matt Martinez, to learn about the restaurant’s success, and his role in it. 

Website: eatziggys.com
Instagram: @eatziggys

The Paso Robles Distillery Trail and FarmsteadEd with Lynette Sonne

In 2014, Lynette Sonne founded FarmsteadEd, an organization whose goal is not just to get people to buy locally made products, but to see the small farms and ranches where the goods are grown and made. This is what’s called “agritourism,” and it has its spiritual home in Italy, where staying overnight on a farm and experiencing its culture up close bonds visitors to the work being done there in a special way. I had met Lynette several times in the past, and knew that FarmsteadEd had developed a SLO County Farm Trail for visitors to use, but I really saw her efforts up close during the 2023 Open Farm Day, wherein small family farms along the trail opened their gates to the public. That day, my son and I made tea in the garden at Niner Wine Estates, tasted olive oil at Olea Farm, learned about the honey-collecting process at Sierra Honey Farm, and swooned over lavender at Hambly Lavender Farm. Recently, Lynette’s also taken on the role of Executive Director with the Paso Robles Distillery Trail, so she knows a thing or two about the food and drink landscape of the Central Coast. 

 

Websites: pasoroblesdistillerytrail.com / farmsteaded.com

Instagram: @farmsteaded / @pasoroblesdistillerytrail