Cultivating a Restaurant
Pristine produce led K&J Orchards to the fruition of Pomet in Oakland.
ILLUSTRATION BY BASHEL LUBARSKY
Restaurant-owned farms have become increasingly more popular over the last two decades. Like SingleThread or Quince, restaurants seeking more control over their product are taking a stab at growing ingredients themselves. But for Aomboon “Boonie” Deasy of K&J Orchards and Oakland’s Pomet, the farm came first.
Her parents, Kalayada and James, started K&J in 1981, building out over 100 acres of land split between Winters and Yuba City in Northern California. Aomboon was involved from an early age, helping out on the orchard or at farmers markets across the Bay Area. In the mid-90s, K&J started seeing an uptick in the number of restaurants that were purchasing their product, and in 2000, they started delivering to restaurants directly. It’s this all-encompassing business model, in addition to Deasy’s warm and friendly vibe, that sets K&J apart. “[The chefs] get to talk to the owners,” she says, “we have a better grasp of our products, what we grow and why. We don’t use machines to harvest or select. Everything is done with care.”
Deasy officially took over the farm in 2015, continuing to build a network of chefs while honing farming practices to tailor the fruit to the wants of her clients. “Some chefs want perfect looking fruit. Some want more flavor.” Selling product directly allows K&J to allocate certain fruit for particular clients. “Boonie was one of the first people I met at the farmers market who made me feel welcome,” says Rich Table’s Chef Gizela Ho, “she's very organized and sends texts about what is coming into season, or when she has ‘seconds’ of things that are maybe too ripe for others.” K&J now works with about 150 restaurants directly, in addition to selling at farmers markets from Marin to Los Gatos.
Grilled Pork Chop, K&J Pluot Teriyaki, Corn Grits, Shiso from Chef Gizela Ho
Octopus, K&J Stone Fruit, Calamansi Sorbet, Coconut, Green Herb Oil from Chef Aaron Escalada
K&J is perhaps best known for their Asian pears, but during the mid-summer season, it’s stone fruit that dominates the market. At Rich Table, K&J’s pluots, “rich royal purple” in color and both tart and sweet in flavor, make for the perfect, sweet component in a pluot teriyaki pork chop. Meanwhile at Abacá, Chef Aaron Escalada pairs a mix of stone fruit with fried octopus, coconut, and herbs. “It was peak season,” he explains, “and obviously K&J has the best in Northern California.” Similarly, at Mister Jiu’s, it was K&J’s peaches that spoke to Pastry Chef Lauren Melhus, bringing delicate acid and floral notes to a dish of pickled peaches and rye cream with candy cap blondies.
“They have incredible produce, and the culture of the offering is inviting,” says Chef Spencer Horovitz, previously of Oakland’s Slug. “Every time I go to their stand, they say hi and greet you by your first name. It’s a community through food.” For him, it’s the fleeting fig season that is particularly exciting. “[K&J] figs are larger, which usually makes a fruit watery, but their’s aren't,” he says. The quality of the fruit allows him to make the figs the star of his Strange Flavor Fig dish, a dynamic bite served with tahini, chile crisp, and fresh herbs.
Candy Cap Blondie, Pickled K&J White Peach, Rye Cream, Peach Butter, Cacao and Rye Crumble from Pastry chef Lauren Melhus
Strange Flavor K&J Fig, Tahini, Chile Crunch, Sesame, Garlic from chef spencer horovitz
“We never thought about opening a restaurant,” says Deasy. While living in north Oakland, Deasy discovered a soon-to-be vacant restaurant space opening up, and jumped at the opportunity to offer “farm-to-table in its truest sense.” She brought in Chef Alan Hsu, whom she had met while he was cooking at Benu, a longstanding K&J client. Deasy gave Hsu full menu control, her only note being that her vision was a menu of fresh ingredients featuring local purveyors. Pomet gets first pick of K&J produce, uses wood from the orchard to fuel the grill, and also gives K&J a channel for the orchard's “seconds” to be saved by way of things like preserves and pickles. A Pomet commissary that sells fresh and preserved fruit is also in the works. “We’ve built this community of chefs who are humble and amazing,” says Deasy, “we’ve always been the purveyor, so being on the other side is interesting and rewarding.”
Recipe: Grilled Pork Chop from Chef Gizela Ho
Recipe: Candy Cap Blondie from Pastry Chef Lauren Melhus
Recipe: Strange Flavor Fig from Chef Spencer Horvitz
Recipe: Octopus and Stone Fruit Kinilaw from Chef Aaron Escalada
