Eating Out

Eating out is a tricky affair if you want to stay sustainable. You have to find some way to cleverly ask the waitstaff, without insulting them, where the meat came from. You have to order the correct portions or bring your own take out box, all the while beating back over eager waitstaff. You have no idea whether they recycle or compost back there. Finally, because restaurant standards of sanitary are dictated by law, they err on the side of safety which inevitably means more water wasted, less reuse (can you really keep those bones for tomorrow to make stock?), and more. According to Green Your, "[r]estaurants consume more energy per square foot than any other US industry—over 2.5 times the average commercial building; use large amounts of water; and produce an average of 50,000 pounds of trash a piece per year."

But Pumpkin adores eating out (or perhaps she adores not cooking), and sometimes there are occasions that need to be celebrated. Such as PASSING THE CA BAR!! So although she was treating me, I insisted on finding a place to suit our needs. It had to be cheap but sustainable. A seeming conundrum.

Then I found Careme 350, a California Culinary Academy student run restaurant. It seemed fitting to end my educational career with fine food prepared by students. And indeed the food was fine. I wish I remembered the fancy names but basically I had a mussel appetizer, steak entree, and double cream creme brulee dessert. While there were some minor setbacks, such as a runny creme brulee and over salted fries, I loved the entire experience and would highly recommend it to people who don't get hung up over the small things. We left extremely full and a little smarter since the professor chef was so willing to ask us questions about our meal and the dessert bar was a lesson right in front of us.

Best of all, they got to practice without wasting the food and we got to eat on the cheap and possibly sustainable. The waiter (a hospitality student), said that my steak was sustainably grown, but I think he might have been fudging it since they advertised that the fish was sustainably caught but nothing else. Either way though, the food didn't go to waste and we supported an institution that gives back to their community and will produce future chefs of the world. A profession I truly believe makes the world a better place. And for just $17/5 course meal too. Sweet.

Other yelp reviewers complained that the entire affair took 2 hours, but I was happy to slow down. It occurred to me one day that most of my lunches for 2 can be under an hour, and dinner at an hour. It made me sad that this was how often I got to see certain friends. When you go out, you are certainly paying enough to enjoy yourself, so why not do it? If a movie is $10 for 2 hours, then dinner should be at least 2 as well. So enjoy ourselves we did, cracking jokes, talking about whatever it is we talk about, eating in small bites, and really critiquing the food.

Oh we took Pumpkin's pork leftovers home in their box but the bread disappeared too fast to save. Work in progress. They became a delightful lunch the next day for me, supplemented with napa cabbage. Perfect!