A new piece in today’s Chron details the relationship between chef Dominique Crenn — whose restaurant Atelier Crenn opens January 21 — and Scrivner Hoppe-Glosser of the nascent Gouge Eye Farm. It’s in Pleasant Grove, a Gold Rush-era speck on the map 20 miles north of Sacramento, and it was launched specifically by Hoppe-Glosser to provide ingredients for Crenn’s new restaurant. The kind of stuff she’s looking for, you see, won’t be typical. “We don’t want to grow things you can buy at Safeway,” says Hoppe-Glosser, and among the odd items they’ve got planted and planned are Iraqi watermelons, Muscovy ducks, and peacocks. Yes, peacocks, for meat. [Ed. note: Do we only eat the females without the pretty plumage?]
Also they’ll be taking crayfish from a nearby creek, and foraging cattails from an adjacent swamp.
Crenn tells the Chron she’s confident that San Franciscans’ palates are up to the challenge. “I’m nervous but not too worried… Well, maybe on Yelp they’ll complain they didn’t get any avocado or Sweet’n Low.”
Chef Dominique Crenn, farmer work from ground up [Chron]
Earlier: What to Eat at Atelier Crenn [Grub Street]
