|
Sunday,
October 21, 12:00 noon
Members $55, guests $65
TO OUR ENDLESS FRUSTRATION, where food is concerned, healthy and
natural often confront delicious and gourmet. Happily, Whole Foods
Markets are helping to put an end to this divide once and for all.
By combining the best features of an old-fashioned neighborhood
grocery store, an organic farmer’s market, a European bakery,
a New York deli, and a supermarket, all under one roof, the founders
of Whole Foods Markets have made for an extraordinary shopping experience.
And it turns out that the environmentally responsible products they
stock—organic produce, additive-free seafood and poultry, hormone-free
meats, artisanal foods from small, caring producers—taste fabulous
too. No time to cook? Don’t worry. The markets’ in-store
chefs—John Mitchell among them—are changing the face of
supermarket take-out. They use Whole Foods’ stock as the building
blocks for a range of healthful, restaurant-quality take-out meals.
Mitchell’s name sound familiar? If you follow California’s
lively food scene, it should. After graduating from the CIA, Mitchell
arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he landed a job with
Bradley Ogden’s prestigious Lark Creek Restaurant Group. He
soaked up their culinary philosophy of fresh, regional, seasonal
American food. Mitchell spent time at Lark Creek Inn, Larkspur,
and One Market, and was ultimately promoted to the executive chef
post at Lark Creek Walnut Creek. While he ran the kitchen, San Francisco
Focus voted Lark Creek Walnut Creek "Best Newcomer in the East
Bay," and readers of Diablo Magazine gave the place their Reader’s
Choice Award.
Today, Mitchell holds the title of regional chef and prepared foods
coordinator for Whole Foods’ Northern Pacific region. As such,
he draws smiles of satisfaction from both devoted granola-eaters
and discriminating gourmands who enjoy a bite to eat at Whole Foods
Market Cafe in San Francisco or stop by to take a few dishes home.
He tosses fresh organic greens with fruity vinaigrettes; coaxes
complex flavors from organic vegetables, transforming them into
vibrant soups that he dabs with tangy crème fraîche;
he pairs free-range chicken with toothsome organic grains; and he
tops desserts with fruits that burst with wholesome goodness.
The motto at Whole Foods is this: "Whole Foods. Whole People.
Whole Planet." We think they’re missing a phrase—Wholly
Delicious.
|
