SFist Interviews: Paul Arenstam of Americano

The restaurant business is a tough business. It's traditionally risky; many restaurants fail. I've lived through my own restaurant [Belon] that wasn't able to sustain itself. I think when that option wasn't there, people looked at it as you have to go get the best price for all of your ingredients and you would have a relationship with someone who sells fish, someone who sells meat, and really be very tight on the price because you only have so much room to grow your menu price. And I think, as the quality of how these products have been raised or grown increases, I think there is a level of the quality, specifically in California, where we have such an abundance of high, high quality produce, meats, and the like…it's become sort of a standard for people to seek that out and not just use generic ingredients that are bought and sold on a sort of a commodities market. I don't think that's something new that I do, I am looking at people who have been here for years. And I think if people look at San Francisco and say there's too much sameness (people sometimes say they can't discern one restaurant menu from the next) I think it's showcasing the ingredients more than the technique.

Over the summer, Arenstam was a delegate at the Terra Madre conference in Torino, Italy, a bi-annual event that draws approximately 7,000 attendees from 150 countries around the world. Farmers, ranchers, chefs, academics, and many more come together to tackle heady food production issues, and hope to create major reforms in the way that food is produced and consumed, everywhere, through a series of small changes that anyone can do regardless of who they are. We wanted to know what ideas Arenstam brought back from the conference.

I am looking in to trying to create a garden on the roof here. And maybe it'll be a very small planter box that is maybe on 4x4 or 5x5 that will grow primarily herbs, and maybe I can start that way and learn a little bit more, and then maybe incorporate that into the menu. That would be the ultimate source of local food. Other things: sort of promoting the idea that we need to support small farmers and we need to not only support them, we need to encourage more people to get into farming. You look at national security. I think the security of the country is very much incorporated with where our food comes from. [We] can't feed ourselves locally. It's always coming from somewhere else. Look at the case of the milk in China…it was tainted. I forget what it was tainted with, but people have died. And not that it would come to this, but do we want food being imported from China because of policy initiatives we make here?

What part of that conference had blown your mind the most?

It was really interesting. Not only were there 6 or 7,000 people, they were from 150 countries. We literally had cheesemakers from Peru and ranchers from Mongolia. And a lot of them came in native dress.

Not what we envisioned at all.

People equate it to the Olympics, partly because it was held in Torino where the Olympics where held [>>] years ago, and the venues where they have the different lectures were on the Olympic site. It was really about how to preserve the idea of indigenous foods for people. The roots of slow food come from this homogenous, globalization of food that you might find here, that you could [also] find there, and all of it is becoming more of the same, and more of it controlled by corporations rather than individuals.

Have you read Botany of Desire?

Yes. And when you read that you think, why does a corporation have a patent on food. Doesn't food belong to all of us?

What broke our heart about that book was the part about the apple farm in New York, on one of the SUNY campuses, where they have every kind of apple that's ever been grown, and now we have like only six kinds at the grocery store.

The food ended up that way because of other things rather than flavor. Can I package this? Will it sit in a warehouse for weeks on end? Will it be able to take long distances in a truck? When the federal system of highways was created, it was so we could transport food across multiple states at a time. Or think about our beef in California, we have so few places to actually process the beef. We can grow it here, we have a lot of grass-fed beef, but it might be shipped it all over the West before it actually gets back to us. And I think those are the things if people think about it, hopefully it becomes commonplace. And I think one of the things we saw in Italy, that it is kind of a mainstream idea. It's not just an outgrowth of a bunch of hippies. It really is every day people. Some of them may have conservative or religious values that are different than here in Northern California, and that food is for EVERYONE. It shouldn't be a proprietary idea for a corporation.

Along that line, right now here in SF the Slow Food Movement does seem to be in the realm of the higher end restaurants, and we're curious how you see it translating into either the mid-range restaurants, low-end restaurants, or even in homes.

That's a great question, because that is the image problem for slow food. I totally get that. The Slow Food Nation event in September, I think was a good indicator [of that]. There was a lot of reaction of: Why should we care that really affluent people think they can determine what the rest of us eat, when we can't even afford to pay our electricity. Or we have two jobs. And those are real issues. It's thought of as an elitist food club, and I think that they are striving to make that the opposite. Delicious food, high quality food is the right of everyone. It's not a privilege for the affluent. Listen, we're a luxury hotel that not everyone can afford, and we know that. I think where the big change will come from is when we can introduce and incorporate these kinds of food across all strata and the whole spectrum. That will be the challenge. When you see the farmer's market here in San Francisco and you see the famous $3 peach or whatever, that stays in people's minds...that food is like a museum piece. I can't feed my family and expect to pay $12 for four peaches. I'd love to do that, but I can't. It's going to take some work to get there. I think in the restaurant realm it's because we have so many added costs. We have less dollars to purchase food at its rightful price. The three parts part of slow Food is good, clean, and fair. A fair price. And that's where people are left with making choices they wouldn't necessarily make. The cost of doing business in San Francisco for restaurateurs is absolutely higher than most places in the United States. That's just a reality.

Segueing awkwardly, tell us about your Monday Menus:

It's twofold. Times are becoming tough, tougher for some more than others. We looked at a night of the week that we are traditionally pretty slow. Monday night is just a night that a lot of people don't go out. It tends to be a night that a lot of people in the restaurant industry have off. Or locals might find a break to go out and not be surrounded by a bigger crowd, so I thought, here's a way we can showcase the real heart of the food, the very rustic seasonal, at a great value. I thought, Let's pick a price. What would get someone who would not go out, to come out? If said to someone $20, and I'd get a first course and a second course, and a glass of wine...where if you and I were having dinner, it'd be $50 for dinner, with tip and tax...I might be able to find $50. Now we couldn't support this business if we were to do it every day of the week, but through the one night a week…it's no real added expense if we absorb that extra cost (which we will), but we do -- but we hopefully will generate good will and the idea that you may want to come back.

Any last thoughts?

The last thing I want do is be the pompous chef telling people how they should eat and interpret government policy. I'm just expressing things I think that are really true. And those truths is that these things that we do with food are very connected to a lot of bigger issues.

We couldn't agree more.