Trip to Nanjing & Chengdu, June 2012, Part 1

Day 1:  San Francisco to Beijing
So as I sit on my China Air flight, occasionally glancing at the 90's documentary on 80's Russian tennis stars, I can't help but feeling a bit of deja vous as Mr. Liu sits next to me nodding off and pecking with a plastic fork at some stale rice and tasteless beef.  It was a little more than 2 years ago that Mr. Liu and I embarked on a journey to Chengdu that resulted in our first restaurant partnership, Mala Tang.  So far our 3 meals together on this trip have been unremarkable.  I was looking forward to tasting some really good food at San Francisco Int'l Airport, as we had an 8 hour layover there due to some delays.  It was a lot better than the junk I ate at Atlanta's airport yesterday on my way to Phoenix from DC, but only the Pork Ramen at the sushi joint could pass muster in the "real world".  To me it's all good, as I prepare for what undoubtedly will be a trip filled with the best regional dishes in Beijing, Nanjing, and finally our beloved Chengdu...center of the world for Sichuan cuisine.
This is a tough time for both of us to get "out of town".  Mr. Liu just took over China Star in Fairfax, VA, his latest project in reviving a non-perfoming American-Chinese restaurant into a local bastion of authentic Sichuan cuisine.  I have no idea how he does it.  It seems like every time I talk to him he's got to run to work in the kitchen at one of his 5 restaurants.  He has plenty of family members manning the host stands and kitchens throughout his mini-empire, but there is no doubt that he keeps the motor running.  We are both very focused on rolling out a new Sichuan specials menu at Mala Tang (officially launches July 16th); and I am in the middle of several other projects for Chompie's in Phoenix.  Not to mention that my wife Diana is in her 3rd trimester with our 5th child in 110 degree Phoenix...and yes she has all other 4 kids driving her nuts.  However we all agreed that an invitation from the Chengdu Government and our friends at Baguobuyi restaurants, was well worth the trip.  For Mr. Liu and I it's 3 days of talking business and determining how we can help our hosts bring the intense flavor of Sichuan cuisine and culture to the US; and another 3 days tasting our way through the most authentic and delicious cuisine Chengdu and Sichuan have to offer.  I've often told Mr. Liu that he could make far more money as a culinary tour guide then as a restaurateur.  But for now I'm happy to be his only client.
My first and last visit in 2010 opened me up to the wonders of Sichuan culture and cuisine, and both Mr. Liu and I were so excited that in a mere 10 months we had opened Mala Tang, arguably the most direct attempt to introduce Americans to Sichuan cuisine, through the very interactive hot pot.  It has been an interesting partnership; an old school Chinese master chef who runs his other restaurants on a shoestring budget; and an American restaurateur who's latest ventures were upscale, fashionable, heavily staffed, expensive ventures.  We're having fun, and enjoying our successes and challenges very well together.  After all, being selected as no. 24 on Washingtonian's Top 100 in 2012 was quite the reward; as was being selected as one of their Top 10 new restaurants in 2012.  Then Candy Sagon wrote a great piece in the WaPo that confirmed Todd Kliman's pretty solid review.  I should also mention Tim Carman's pre-opening support (Tim wrote a great piece in the City Paper a while back about Mr. Liu when his only venture was Hong Kong Palace).  We enjoyed the throngs of customers, and then quickly remembered what it's like when the honeymoon is over.  Now we need to focus on reminding the dining public why Mala Tang is worth the visit.  This new Sichuan Specialties menu will be a nice reason to try us again.
So for now I'm excited to get to Beijing, where I may get to experience Peking Duck in the city it was named for.  We were supposed to fly directly to a meeting in Nanjing, on the east coast of China.  But our delayed flight is forcing us to spend a night in Beijing...oh well...I could think of worse places to be stuck for a night with a Chinese master chef.
My next report will hopefully be a recount of some insanely good Peking Duck...and then I will try to get a feel for Nanjing.  When I asked Mr. Liu how their cuisine is in Nanjing, he gave me the same look he always gives me that is saying "it ain't Sichuan, and that's that".  Then he mentioned something about seafood.  We will be meeting with restaurant execs and government officials...so I'm sure whatever we eat will be very memorable.
So as I start to nod off... zài jiàn.
Day 2: leaving Beijing for Nanjing
So I shouldn't have been so bullish about the potential of Peking Duck.  We had the B or C team on at the airport last night and it was almost 11pm before Mr. Liu and I got to our hotel, in the middle of an industrial area.  So my dreams of Peking Duck were erased by a nightmare of what the hotel scrambled to put together for a few tired travelers; dried out white rice, some AA lettuce, and 3 pieces of duck bones with a little fat on them.  The warm and sweet egg drop soup was really the only bright spot of our "dinner".   Though breakfast this morning finally broke the streak of bad meals.  It also was nostalgic as I remembered how much I enjoyed breakfast here on our last trip.  While there were more offerings I sampled the following: aged duck eggs (much better than I expected), a variety of steam buns, aged tofu (this is some seriously potent stuff that I got used to on our last trip), I typically spread it on some off the steam buns because it's a little too potent on its own.  Lots of steamed veggies like AA lettuce and baby bok choy, pickled radishes & cabbage, and some pretty good seaweed salad.  All accompanied by warm soy milk.  I could tell Mr. Liu was relieved to have a decent meal as well, as he encouraged me to follow him up for a second trip to the buffet.  So with the streak broken, I'll go back to reading the Omnivore's Dilemma, which I would recommend to anyone who had anything to do with the food to read (again if you already have).  As Diana and I will begin planting our own 3.5 acre farm in September, Pollan's reminders of what organic was supposed to be are hitting close to home.  My next report will probably be after lunch in Nanjing.
Day 3: Nanjing
A representative of the Chengdu government picked us up at the airport and gave us a little primer on Nanjing.  Basically it's capital of one of the hottest and most humid provinces in China.  We were lucky, today is about 85 but very humid.  He also explained that there's a very famous temple honoring Confucious in Nanjing, and the dish they are most famous for is some sort of noodle/blood type of dish.  I'm assuming duck or cows blood, but hopefully I'll get more details as I'm eating it at some point.  Mr. Liu and I had a nice lunch at the Sofitel's token Chinese restaurant, which claims to have a renowned master chef at the helm cooking up local favorites.  For our lunch Mr. Liu ordered a warmer and milder version of the Spicy Cold Chicken he serves at Hong Kong Palace.  It had the green version of the Sichuan peppercorn, not quite as potent but still had a nice flavor.  We also had some beer nuts with our Tsing Tao's, and some pao chi (pickled veg), which I've learned that every chef in China has their own version of.  This one was really good!  We also had some short ribs with king mushrooms, roast goose (awesome), followed by sauteed greens and some rice (of course).  Mr. Liu and I agreed that it was a decent meal, but for the price we could have gotten two of them in town.  Which is where we'll be heading to a little later.  I'll report back on the noodle dish...
Nanjing is a very historic city, and our main objective was to see the Confucious Temple.  Slowing us down, of course, was the gauntlet of street food vendors lining the way.  This was not junk food though, there were hundreds of little delicacies, and we tried a bunch.  Including sweet rice wine with rice balls, spicy duck intestines, and spicy snails, to name a few.  After  our visit to the Confucious temple, we walked around then headed to Shyan Hon, a 100-year old restaurant that is considered a treasured landmark of China, and is even highlighted in Chinese text books.
This was indeed a great meal...well worth all the hype.  We had two types of duck, one didn't look so great as it had a grayish tone and looked bland.  But it was moist and tasted great, we all agreed it tasted like it had been brined in salt water.  The other was a smoked duck, which also tasted great but was much more dry.  Ducks in China are typically much smaller than our ducks in the US; so I think crossing the line to overcooked is a little easier.  Nevertheless it was pretty good!  Another favorite was the smoked bbq pork belly.  This is always served a little differently, and this version was awesome.  The pork was slow cooked as a large cut, probably 12oz.  This dish is served a bit differently every time i've tried it; but usually is accompanied by chopped bitter greens, and doughy dumplings that are used to make sandwiches with the pork.  The meal was awesome, and my novice assessment was that Nanjing's cuisine was very similar to Sichuanese cuisine, if you take away the spice and the Sichuan peppercorn.  Leaving the restaurant we were able to watch the dragon boat races on the river, celebrating the Chinese holiday that was taking place over the next few days.  It was a really spectacular night of Nanjing cuisine and culture.  P.S.  The Confucious temple was a must-see.
Day 4 & 5:  Nanjing
We made our way to the Conference of US and China Cities.  This was one of the reasons for our invitation to China.  We basically sealed the deal in a ceremonial signing to bring Baguobuyi restaurants to the Washington, DC area.  The conference was sponsored by the US and Chinese governments, and the intent was to foster business relationships between cities in the US and China.  Quite a few US mayors were there, and DC was represented by the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and some of his staff, which was an opportune time to introduce our plans for Baguobuyi.
We wined and dine with government officials and businesspeople for a day and a half.  I now understood Mr. Liu's references to seafood in Nanjing.  This was a city with lots of rivers, and as a result the cuisine focused on fish and crustaceans from the rivers.  I love river fish, but a true delight were the small lobsters (larger than crawfish but smaller than ocean lobsters), which were piled high in a sweet and sour sauce during one of our meals.  I also realized how treasured fish is at the Chinese table.  During any meal that featured whole fish, it was always the most popular dish.  I became very adept at removing fish bones, which was good for me because it forced me to eat more slowly than my usual pace.  Another aspect of Chinese cuisine that is ingenious in many ways, is the inclusion of bones.  Boneless is not really an option, and he benefits are flavor of the meat as a result of the bones being present in the cooking process, as well more time devoted to carefully separating meat from bone and the subsequent smaller bites that go with it.  It's no wonder my Chinese hosts are all able to stay so thin and eat so much food!  As my wife constantly reminds me, small bites and chewing are the first part of the digestive process.
The time had come to leave Nanjing for the long awaited flight to Chengdu.  So far my taste buds had been awaken with the delightful cuisine of Nanjing (along with a few beers).  What awaited in Chengdu were feasts of biblical proportions, with enough Maotai (Chinese distilled rice wine) to pickle my liver for the next month (which I think it actually did)!
See pictures of my visit to Nanjing below, there is a link to the full gallery as well as a consolidated gallery of food-only pictures.  All the pictures have captions, which are helpful to read.
Nanjing Food Pictures
Nanjing Pictures

Developing Local Farm to Table programs...the next step.

In 2008 I embarked on an ambitious project, via the restaurant I operated at the time, Mie N Yu, to connect family farms in Virginia with restaurateurs in the DC metropolitan area.  The name of the program was Farm to Table DC, and has been well documented to have been a financial and PR success for the natural, pasture based farm movement, particularly in Virginia.  The mission would not have been possible without having a high volume restaurant outlet to sell the products, ranging from pasture raised meats and dairy products, to naturally and organically grown fruits and vegetables.  By all measures, the program was a great success for 2+ years, generating well over $2 million in revenue for small family farmers, local processing facilities, and transportation providers.  Most importantly it connected the farmland to the consumer through chefs and restaurants.  Many of the relationships continue, even without the assistance of an organization like Farm to Table DC.  However the nature of the restaurant business is that it unstable, and many of the founding members of this Co-op no longer operate the restaurants that did such a great job absorbing these incredible meats, produce and dairy.  Namely, since Chef Tim Miller and I left Mie N Yu in 2010, the ownership has retaliated into survival mode and become a commodity buyer.  Harry's Tap Room (Michael Sternberg, Michael Kaufman and Chef Alex Reyes), which single-handedly supported an all natural, pasture based beef farm in The Plains, was sold recently and is being re-concepted by new owners.  Potenza and Zola (Dan Mesches and Chef Bryan Moscatello) recently closed, once supporting an entire family of farmers near Culpeper, VA.  Sad...yes.  All the restaurateurs and chefs were committed to "the cause" regardless of profit potential, it was the most fresh, high quality product we could buy.  I had held several conferences to promote the program to other chefs and restaurateurs.  Some dabbled, some forged their own relationships, and some continue to market themselves as sustainable, local purchasing chefs...while in actuality many are just supporting the burgeoning agri-business industry of "natural" meats, dairy and produce.  They would be startled to find out what those products really are...
But what of the successes?  DC Central Kitchen, which graciously provided transportation for the initial program, continues to be the largest purchaser at the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction in Virginia (a market for local farmers, mostly Mennonite to sell their products), and is pursuing plans to develop it's local-only commissary.  Not surprisingly, former Mie N Yu chef and whole animal guru Tim Miller, is heading up that mission.  Grayson Natural, a group of family farmers in SW Virginia has developed a tremendous relationship with Virginia and North Carolina universities, ensuring that students are enjoying wholesome, nutritious, grass fed beef year round.  These links were developed between farmer and buyer due to the cash flow generated by being involved in the Farm to Table DC program.  For this I am very proud, and feel that the fledgling program was able to create real opportunity and a basic model for how these types of relationships could work around the country.  It was never easy, and we all learned a lot about the life of farmers, the life of restaurateurs, and the challenges of USDA inspected processing and refrigerated logistics.
So what's next?
My Utopian vision of the farmer-restaurateur relationship is this:
* Restaurateur/grocer develops small box concepts, flexible enough to change ingredients daily/weekly/monthly.
* Restaurateur/grocer pledges not to purchase commodity foods.  If it's not available within a days drive and naturally grown, it shouldn't be served or sold.
* Restaurateur/grocer agrees to buy "whole product".  I.e, whole animal (at least what's left after processing), whole veg or fruit as is.
* Restaurateur/grocer agrees to buy frozen products, so long as they are frozen fresh (shortly after processing).  This is important, it allows products to maintain their quality as they move from farm to table without using artifical stabilizers or preservatives.
* Farmer works with other likeminded farmers in his area and elects a "manager" to handle relationships with buyers and organize logistics.
* Farmers agree to grow and raise all livestock, produce, dairy, etc., naturally and seasonally.  If they can't supply it, they should not have to fear losing a customer...because the customer will simply remove that item from the menu until it's available.  Hopefully by forming a group, one farmer will make up for the other's shortage.
* Farmer agrees to sell product at a reasonable price that accounts for actual costs and a reasonable profit.  Not based on market conditions or prices.
* Foodservice distributor agrees to manage the logistics, including pickup and delivery of the product, and accounts recievable...for a reasonable fee.
* Legislators provide an even playing field with agri-business.  This includes more stringent labeling requirements, disclosures, and producers must be willing to open their operations up to public inspection.
* Consumer education would be at the forefront of the programs, in order to help the consumer understand the benefits of natural, wholesome foods for their families health and wellbeing.
In many ways, Farm to Table DC accomplished most of these objectives at one point or another during it's existence.
In order to accomplish these goals I realize that the proper incubator needs to be in place, and the goal of this organization must be to develop the farm to foodservice to consumer relationship.  So 501c3 meets Capitalist entity in one organization, with the underlying mission to never grow to big for it's britches.  My friends at Grayson Natural Foods have it right...they've committed to bring in neighboring producers once they each reach a very modest income level.  In this way the entire community benefits from their endeavors as opposed to a small group of owners.  The community benefits in so many ways, primarily in converting both agricultural and industrial land into pasture based, natural farmland.  This preserves the agrarian principles and financial security that allows agricultural communities to remain so on a relatively small scale; improving the environment and soil as opposed to damaging it.  In this same way small farmers can cooperate to improve their ability to bring their collective products to market; and restaurateurs and grocers can more easily access these products.  The final point, that consumers would be educated to "vote with their dollars", therefore using a Capitalist approach to encourage agri-business to play the game right...or get out of town.  This would be of course supported by the level playing field that local legislators could provide.
So what is the incubator?  My initial goal is to open a QSR (quick service restaurant), that's underlying mission is to connect the consumer to local, natural agricultural products.  This provides a small, low-overhead outlet to begin developing the pipeline between the agricultural community and the consumer.  This QSR concept would have a small retail outlet, showcasing the products in their whole form.  Education would be as much a part of the business strategy as great food and service.  Phase 2 would be an extension of this business into a small grocery store.  Phase 3 would be to bring the farms to the "burbs", by encouraging permaculture and conversion of backyards to organic gardens, local residents could participate in the process as both consumer and producer.  Much in the way that energy efficient homes can produce energy for the grid.
Phase 1 is not so far away, but I realize that in order to do it right, I need to do it myself.  I need control, and then I can make sure that the integrity of the venture goes hand in hand with the financial success of the venture.

The Mitchell Family of Grayson Natural Foods

For now I am content to be preparing our 3.5 acre farm in Chandler, AZ for our first planting of organically grown fruits and vegetables.  I guess I'm putting Phase 3 ahead of Phase 1 for now...