[Scpg] A Community Kitchen Simmers in Goleta Independent May 5-12 2011

Fri May 6 07:37:14 PDT 2011

A Community Kitchen Simmers in Goleta
Crookston and Gomez Open Goodland Kitchen

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/may/03/community-kitchen-simmers-goleta/

In some ways, it might seem as if the new 
Goodland Kitchen and Market has a Tom Sawyer 
"come paint my fence" scam going, what with 
interns signing up for 10-hour-a-week shifts for 
10 weeks and no pay. But when Sawyer's fence was 
finished, there is little doubt it failed to 
taste as good as the food at Goodland. And 
Sawyer's friends probably didn't then go off with 
their new wealth of knowledge to better the 
world, for as the Goodland's Web site reads, 
interns "learn how the food choices they make on 
a day-to-day basis affect their local community."

"Really established restaurant people were a 
little more skeptical of where we are and what we 
were doing," said Julia Crookston, one of the 
co-owners, of their Old Town Goleta shop, "but 95 
percent of the people say, 'Where have you 
been?'" Co-owner Melissa Gomez asserted, "The 
quality of the food we've been preparing would be 
very different without the people wanting to get 
involved on a volunteer basis. But in turn, 
they're learning business skills, project 
management, and culinary craftsmanship."

Crookston and Gomez believe they might be just 
the fifth community-supported kitchen in the 
country; perhaps the biggest is San Francisco's 
La Cocina-that's the charity Traci Des Jardins is 
cooking for on Top Chef Masters. But unlike the 
nonprofit La Cocina, Goodland Kitchen is out to 
rethink economic models. "We're going to have a 
sustainable, profitable business," Crookston 
said. "We want to prove it's viable-that you can 
go happily to the bank, and happily pay off your 
farmers, and that you can have a good life 
without having to be corporatized or franchised."

While their grab-and-go (there's just one table 
because of little parking and zoning laws) food 
is quick, it's far from usual fast-food fare. "If 
fast food is the default, you just go because 
it's fast, not because it's good," Crookston 
explained. "But we want to be able to do that, 
too." And they do, largely because they start 
with fine regional ingredients, including produce 
from the Farmers Markets. That means your 
avocados will sing on your sandwich; the carrots 
in the carrot salad will taste and not just be 
orange. "The menu was written so it can shift 
every day," Gomez pointed out. "On the sesame 
noodle salad, the vegetables are listed as 
'seasonal.' That's all we promise. That way the 
core menu can stay the same."

Gomez and Crookston were introduced by Heather 
Hartley, one of the organizers of last October's 
SOL Festival, and quickly realized they had a 
shared dream. That synchronicity even extended to 
the menu: "Julia said she wanted to do a mezze 
plate," Gomez remembered, "and I told her, 'Wait, 
I did, too' Š I didn't even think most people 
knew what one was." (Theirs is a delight with 
hummus, olives, grilled veggies, and a lovely 
feta-sundried tomato mix.)

"When we met, Julia was doing the preserving for 
Tom Shepherd, and I was doing it at Fairview 
Gardens," Gomez said, and instead of saying more, 
she just holds out both her hands and entwines 
her fingers. She continued, "It didn't make sense 
for me to compete with Julia, so I courted her. 
We have very different skills. She has 30 years 
of experience as a chef, and I don't. But I have 
a master's in management."

The two have both since come to rely on Naomi 
Serizawa, who will eventually take over 
Crookston's job as lead chef in the kitchen so 
Crookston can focus on her preserves. "Can you 
imagine where we'd be without her?" Gomez asked 
Crookston, but she answers her own question, 
"We'd be crying every single day." Crookston 
added, "She understands my vision and Melissa's 
vision for the food, so we're fine Š plus I'm 
here sticking my nose in every day."

Another crucial part of Goodland's mission is 
renting out commercial kitchen space. That not 
only helps pay their rent, but also helps out 
small-batch food producers (like tenants IxCacaco 
Brownies and Local Harvest Delivery). "We can 
have our vision of fun, sustainable, and 
delicious," Crookston said, "but we can't forget 
the business end."

If you visit, however, it's not the business end 
you'll remember; it'll be a fantastic salad or 
sandwich or soup. Or perhaps Crookston's granola, 
which they were baking when we did this 
interview, and which filled the building with 
homey aromas, definitely making me like Goodland 
all the more.
4*1*1
Discover all the good at Goodland Kitchen and 
Market (231 S. Magnolia Ave., Old Town Goleta. 
845-4300, http://www.goodlandkitchen.com.
  Open Mon.-Fri., 7am-2:30pm).
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