Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, September 14, 2019

7

JUST FOR YOU!

Mountain View News Saturday, September 14, 2019 

TABLE FOR TWO by Peter Dills

thechefknows@yahoo.com


ARBOUR

Open for well over a year now I can’t say it’s the New Kid on the 
Block!! Recently I visited Arbour on South Lake Street, before the 
Smitty’s, Del Frisco’s, Crocodile Café and Paul Martin’s, there was 
Burger Continental and The Chronicle, that was pretty much it for 
food faire on So Lake . 

Before I get into the menu the scene is typical of any modern built 
from ground up restaurant, beautiful bar area, open kitchen, a 
nouvel feel to it . Certainly this not say that the other restaurants 
on Lake don’t have their space looking sharp, but there is a feel to 
The Arbour that might make you think that you were dining in 
Napa if you didn’t know any better, so much similar butt so much 
different, ready sports fans… Spoiler alert, there is no television, 
no Big Screen anywhere to be found at The Arbour, and I get it!! 
This series place with a real focus on the food, imagine that! Chef 
Ian was the youngest pastry chef in the US with a Michelin Star 
while at Patina, now those are hard to come by. I know Ian and his 
wife aren’t going to like this, but do yourself a favor, call first and 
make sure he is there, it makes the night so special with the owner/
chef comes by and says hello and his charm is the signature of the 
restaurant. And if you hold your breath and say M-I-S-S-IS_S-P_-I 
, you might get him to make his signature dessert the California 
right at your table, looking to score points with the one you love? 
This a deal closer, but wait Johnny there is more we haven’t even 
gone over the food yet.

My dad used to say pictures tell a thousand stories and I am glad 
this article includes the dishes that I tried. Start off with a couple 
of cold appetizers ( appetizer: Defined as a small portion to 
stimulate the desire to eat) first up is the Seafood Salad, yep that 
is the name crab, shrimp and shellfish with parsnips and meyer 
lemon vinaigrette, side note if you like lemonade . Meyer lemons 
are the best. Next up was the Bison steak tartare, Fresno chili stamp 
served with puffed bread, I mentioned that just before I was born 
that parents lived in Germany and tartare was very common, Chef 
Ian of course was familiar with European eating habits, next up 
from the hot appetizers was the Tagliatte, crumbled pork sausage 
, rapini light chili flakes and san Joaquin gold cheese, from the 
entrees menu the Butternut Squash agnolotti, then a taste of the 
Sea Bass. My assessment was two thumbs up, only problem is there 
are dishes that I didn’t get to, and so badly want to return for the 
Beef Chili and the Heritage Pork Chop. Amusing to me that the 
menu doesn’t offer descriptions but what I had was so good that I 
can’t wait for my return. 

527 South Lake Ave. Pasadena

Notable Notes: Valet Parking/street Parking. Full Bar , reservations 
suggested. Menu changes so go to website www.thearbour.com


CHRISTOPHER Nyerges


SECOND EDITION OF CHRISTOPHER’S “FORAGING 
CALIFORNIA” NOW AVAILABLE.

[Nyerges is the author of many books, and has been teaching self-reliance classes since 1974. He can be reached at www.
SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.]

 

One of my great loves life-long has been the study of ethno-botany, the 
way people have used plants for food and medicine throughout history.

My first book on the subject was published in 1978, called “Guide to Wild Foods,” which 
is still being published, with all color photos.

About seven years ago, I began writing books for Falcon Guides, my first one being “Foraging 
California: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in Califor-nia.” 
The book is arranged by botanical families, with my commentary on which fami-lies are 
nearly or entirely safe for consumption. I learned ethno-botany from Dr. Leonid Enari, 
who I call the greatest botanist that nobody knows! Living under light Nazi oc-cupation 
in his home Estonia, he saw firsthard how the effects of war cause hunger, deprivation, 
and death. He earned a PhD in botany and chemistry, and moved to the U.S. after the 
war to teach.

Dr. Enari closely assisted me with my first book, and I have followed his guidance ever 
since in the way that I present the information about how to identify and use wild plants.

“Foraging California” includes mostly non-native plants, because these so-called weeds 
are routinely killed off by gardeners and farmers using weedwhackers, plows and poisons, 
and yet most of the common weeds are good food and medicine. Some of the “invasive” 
plants turn out to be some of the most nutritious plants in the world, such as lamb’s quarter 
(poor man’s quinoa, and a rich source of minerals), purslane (highest plant source of 
Omega 3 fatty acids), and dandelion and its many rela-tives. These are all described in 
“Foraging California.”

The latest edition of the book includes 18 more pages, and a section on Mushroom identification, with only a few of the most common, 
easy-to-identify mushrooms includ-ed. 

I also added more pictures of people in 
this second edition, mostly while processing 
or gathering some of the wild 
foods, such as the processing of acorns 
into an edible flour. There is a nutritional 
chart showing that acorns are 
indeed a quality food.

I include prickly pear cactus in the 
book, as well as a nutritional chart 
showing all the essential and non-essential 
amino acids that are contained 
in the pads, or nopales, of this common 
cactus. Often regarded as a “poor 
person’s food,” in fact, the prickly pear 
is a superfood!

Though “Foraging California” is primarily 
a book about edible plants, there 
are some other uses mentioned, such 
as medicinal uses, and plants used for 
soap or rope. Also, since many of the 
plants listed are fairly widespread, I’ve 
heard from people from other states 
who find the book useful there also.

As many of you might already know, I 
conduct field trips to show people how 
to identify plants in the wild, and in 
some cases, how to prepare them into 
meals. In this second edition of “Foraging 
California,” you’ll get a chance to see many of the most common plants we see on our field trips, and glimpses of how they are 
processed. It’s fairly well-known that I like nettle, for food and tea, and that it’s usually very easy to obtain a year’s supply in fields or 
lawns where the plant is despised. I collect about 10 gallons of the nettle plant annually, and I mostly dry it for use later.

 

If I have any book readings and signings for this new book, I will mention it in this col-umn. Otherwise, probably the easiest way to 
get a copy is to ask at your favorite bookstore, or just order a copy on Amazon.


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