The venerable restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley turns 40 years old in August. Their founder, Alice Waters, started the famous Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley which became a nationwide model for educating children the importance of food. According to their site:

This fall, the Chez Panisse Foundation will become
The Edible Schoolyard organization.
Together we will build a national curriculum for
Edible Education in the school system.

Pretty cool! They’ve got a lot of great events: speakers, fairs, and of course, food! The free event on  on 8/27 at the UC Berkeley Art museum looks like fun for all ages. Check out their website for more information.

Last week, I stopped by in Berkeley to check out a restaurant called Amanda’s Feel Good Fresh Food. Started by a passion entrepreneur, Amanda West,  her restaurant is a bright, energetic fast food joint serving healthy  food at great prices. Her food includes natural meats, local and organic food where possible, with all items compostable. My favorite items were the homemade sodas (try the ginger ale!), yam fries and the organic Napa salad. Since I am vegetarian, (I had the homemade veggie burger) I didn’t try the meat burgers, but my friend Barak loved the special California burger (a chicken burger with avocado). Most items were $7 or under.  Check out this restaurant! It’s located right next to the  downtown Berkeley BART station near the corner of Center and Shattuck (2122 Shattuck Avenue,Berkeley).

What an excellent idea! A festival benefiting local food co-ops and farmers in the Bay Area serving great, local food. I see some of the best restaurants, beer and ice cream vendors all on carts.

This event has even been highlighted in the New York Times!

Highlighting some great gastronomic pleasures:

• The Creme Brulee Cart
• Roli Roti
• Tim Luym From Poleng Lounge
• Straus Family Creamery
• Amanda’s Feel Good Fresh Food
• Kara’s Cupcakes
• Ici Ice Cream
• Fentons Creamery
• Bi-Rite Creamery

Located at Jack London Square in Oakland this weekend 8/28-8/30. See their comprehensive schedule.

I was fortunate to see a sneak preview of Food Inc a couple weeks ago at a special Yelp event in San Francisco. After the viewing, there was a Q&A session live with Michael Pollan and Robert Kenner. I was so excited to see the movie and listen to the panel. Here are some reactions from Yelp Elites.

In a nutshell, you will feel inspired to be careful what you buy and eat. I became vegetarian almost 20 years ago after watching a movie like Food Inc after watching the meat processing scenes. Those with quesy stomachs may want to not watch, but those with a foodie and green interest will want to see this film.

Famous foodies Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) are featured along with forward thinking social
entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms’ Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms’ Joe Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

Here’s an interesting fact among many found in the film (and in Omnivore’s Dilemma if you’ve read the book)–Corn products include: ketchup, cheese, Twinkies, batteries, peanut butter, Cheez-Its, salad dressings, Coke, jelly, Sweet & Low, syrup, juice, Kool-Aid, charcoal, diapers, Motrin, meat and fast food.

Hmm, you’ve gotta wonder what’s in your food sometimes before you eat it. Many thumbs up for this movie!

Calafia Cafe and Market recently opened in Palo Alto’s Town & Country center. I was able to eat there on Sunday night, where the tables were actually all full and busy. The ambiance had a nice zen feel with thought through details of design using green materials. The waitstaff was amazing and very attentive (perhaps because we had an adorable newborn baby dining with us). Charlie Ayers, the head chef, was the executive chef for Google for many years.

For vegetarians, I thought the food was excellent. I had their special “hearts” salad, made of hearts of palm, beets (get it? heartbeat), and greens. My main course was a tofu lentil loaf with mashed potatoes and fresh herbs, with swiss chard. My friends shared a pizza, and a turkey burger with fresh cut fries made from scratch.

I would totally recommend this place; this is the kind of restaurant we need more of –fast, easy, healthy and organic. Charlie Ayers, their head chef definitely understands the need after cooking at Google for many years.

My fiance and I took a nice tour of the store-sparking new floors, clean and brightly lit, with tons of fresh organic produce. The ready made food in the deli and hot foods, soup and salad bar were a lot better than I expected for a local market. We picked up some organic raspberries, an organic fennel and pinenut salad as well as a tofu salad to go. I would definitely come back here!

Our real stop was for dinner at a restaurant in Half Moon Bay called Chez Shea. This was my second time eating at this downtown restaurant on Main Street. Almost all of the food is sourced locally and organically. The taste is extremely fresh and clean with global flavors. The first time I ate here, I tried their Indian curry and rice. In my most recent visit, I tried their chile renno with an organic beet salad to start. All of the food was fantastic! My fiance Vivek and I feel that this restaurant is a total find in the area–rated up there with some of the best organic restaurants in San Francisco. Come check it out!

Here’s my head to head comparison:

Flavor: Harmony frozen yogurt wins. They offer Straus organic yogurt, with flavors like plain, mango and raspberry. Fraiche is good too, but Harmony wins by a slight edge with more unique flavors of yogurt.

Variety: Fraiche wins. They offer fresh real yogurt as well as frozen frozen yogurt. Their sauces include creative options like ollalieberry and varieties of granola and even handmade mochi.

Organic: both win! Both are organic and believe in investing in green and healthy food.

This is my favorite salad. Beets with avocado and grapefruit. Recently its recipe was featured in this month’s Sunset Magazine.

Zen like, relaxing atmosphere. Upstairs is a yoga studio.

Above is their signature dish, a rich cauliflower dish in a cast iron pot. Very creative and rich. However it was a little too creamy for my taste.

Although this doesn’t look the prettiest, this fresh farm egg was to die for. Similar to the type of egg yolk described by Michael Pollan’s Omnivore Dilemma, this yolk was a bright orange yellow and very rich.

All in all, this is an excellent find in downtown Napa. Creative vegetarian food, with great service and a relaxing feel. I’m definitely coming again.

Ubuntu is located on 1140 Main Street in downtown Napa.

In the midst of my own wedding planning, I checked out some interesting organic and green wedding ideas in the Bay Area. One place that I really liked was a restaurant called Barndiva in the beautiful town of Healdsburg.

The owner, Lukka Feldman, gave us a nice tour of the city and offered to host an all inclusive wedding with organic, local food and drinks. The restaurant is a beautiful restored barn with an outdoor garden. It is one of the few restaurants featured in Michelin from the Bay Area. Don’t miss this place for drinks at night if you are in Sonoma wine country.

Ono Gelato Company in Paia. Fresh, local organic gelato. I had a Kula country strawberry gelato. Choose from local fruits like coconut, persimmons, mango, kiwi and more.