{"id":1258,"date":"2017-08-17T23:52:34","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T23:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/food\/restauration-continues-to-push-farm-to-table-eating-using-north-long-beach-urban-garden\/"},"modified":"2017-08-17T23:52:34","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T23:52:34","slug":"restauration-continues-to-push-farm-to-table-eating-using-north-long-beach-urban-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/food\/restauration-continues-to-push-farm-to-table-eating-using-north-long-beach-urban-garden","title":{"rendered":"Restauration Continues to Push Farm-to-Table Eating Using North Long Beach Urban Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Photos by Asia Morris.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first of many to come, Restauration held a dinner party at Organic Harvest Gardens Wednesday night to celebrate their nearly six-month-and-counting relationship with the North Long Beach-based farm space. Restauration\u2019s Executive Chef Philip Pretty and co-owner Dana Tanner introduced the farm and also announced future plans to the press and a slew of loyal patrons, family and friends in attendance.<\/p>\n

Set to the sounds of the The Mimosa Jazz Band<\/a>, guests toured the 1,000-square-foot farm space, sipped sangria and enjoyed oxtail doughnuts, crab deviled eggs, bloody mary oyster shots and later sat down to enjoy a four-course menu starting with a harvest tomato salad, warm octopus Caesar salad, continuing on to a succulent pork tenderloin and finishing with a banana nut cake and s\u2019mores.<\/p>\n

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The Oxtail Doughnut appetizer.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the sun began its descent and the surrounding trees became silhouettes, it became difficult to believe we were in the middle of a busy urban area and at the convergence of two major freeways. The sounds of the cars faded away to the clinking of silverware and murmurings of satisfaction as guests bit into tomatoes and other foods grown mere yards from their plates.<\/p>\n

Roderick (Rod) Dodd and Adam Romick, two University of California Certified Master Gardeners, established Organic Harvest Gardens in 2012. Their main farm is located next to the 91 freeway and Los Angeles river trail, hidden away behind an apartment building. Just when you think you\u2019ve gotten lost, the dust in the air kicked up by nearby cantering horses clears to reveal a somewhat secret paradise.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI came down here and I was blown away, and it\u2019s right here in the city,\u201d Pretty said, still expressing a bit of the surprise he\u2019d felt when first setting eyes on the site. \u201cI\u2019ve been here [Long Beach] my whole life and I never knew this stuff existed, so when I came up the first time I was like, \u2018This is gold, I\u2019m getting in.\u2019 And as soon as I got in, there were eight plots, I took seven of them. From that point on, we\u2019ve been adding more and more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ingredients tended by Organic Harvest Gardens and used daily by Restauration include herbs such as lavender, mint, sage, parsley, dill and purslane (one of the best tasting garnishes, Pretty said) to long neck squash, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, corn, peppers and even watermelon. Located offsite is also a greenhouse, where the harvest gardens team grows microgreens for the Retro Row eatery.<\/p>\n

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Executive Chef Philip Pretty in the farm space.<\/em><\/p>\n

The restaurant visits the garden three times a week and the garden staff drops off produce twice a week, Pretty said, allowing Restauration to source more than 50 percent of its produce from Long Beach. Sometimes it\u2019s a 12-hour work day, but what makes such dedication worth it, is leaving a legacy of culinary creativity behind, only using the best ingredients with the most sustainable practices, as well as setting an example for their team of cooks.<\/p>\n