The Kitchen – sandwich

Ligaya Malones

Chef Rob Ruiz is back. But the notable sushi chef and sustainable seafood advocate needed to grapple with grief and shovel literal fish guts to get here. We’re in between lunch and dinner service at The Kitchen, Ruiz’s new passion project in Vista.

“I learned all these things,” he begins: classical French cooking, Hawaiian Regional Cuisine (including how to slice sashimi from Alan Wong’s team), sushi, fine dining.

“After what all of us have gone through the last couple years, what’s my answer to ‘What could I do for people?’ And I’m like, I’m gonna make ’em really awesome food and I’m gonna do it for seven bucks.”

Welcome to The Kitchen

The Kitchen started as a commissary for Crownview Co-Occurring Institute’s food program, which Ruiz oversees. Crownview, located in Oceanside, shepherds recovery programs for people facing post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, and other mental health conditions. Ruiz and team, including some Crownview graduates, make and deliver meals for its programs. On the day I visited, dinner was chipotle shrimp and penne pasta.

As of March, it’s also a fast-casual sit-down restaurant. From the counter, you order simple yet delicious food—delicately battered fish and chips, chicken sandwiches on housemade biscuits, salads, and burgers. All ingredients are either grown at The Kitchen’s farm in Bonsall or otherwise locally produced, which helps keep overhead low. Salads are named for the seeds that spawned their leafy greens, and virtually all dressings, condiments, and baked goods are made from scratch, which also keeps costs down. 

A Tsunami of Humility

Just a few years ago, before The Kitchen, adversity slammed Ruiz from every angle. His signature sushi restaurant shuttered. Death came for someone close to him. Then the pandemic came for us all. Ruiz, like many in the hospitality business, was furloughed. 

Fishmonger Tommy Gomes and team threw him a line processing fish to eke out a paycheck.

 “I was like, okay, put me wherever you want,” Ruiz says. “So they put me on the boat, right. And you’re on the boat, and they have a crane that goes down and picks up like 500 or 600 pounds of tuna at a time. There’s seawater washing through the deck of the boat—it’s in the harbor, but it’s still gonna move. And then you have a cutting board that you’re just hoping to land the fish on because it’s moving. The fish is moving. The crane is moving. You have 10 guys all around you, all moving.

“And my job was to pick up a 100-plus-pound fish by yourself, carry it over, put it down, then get the head off of it, hand the head off, break the fillets off, go all the way and break it down to nothing. And then go run and get another one. You just do that nonstop. And you can’t wash your knife; you can’t wash your cutting board.

 “This is just a few hours. These guys who do that for a living, these guys are beasts. These guys are a different breed. These guys are amazing.”

The point is, the once-rigid Ruiz is more malleable now, more balanced, yet the pursuit for bigger and better is still on. During the decade he spent cooking and surfing on Hawai‘i Island (the Big Island), some coworkers from Oaxaca gave him the kitchen name “El Diablo Sin Cola,” or The Devil Without a Tail.

“I really do things 110 percent,” he explains. He attributes his drive to his grandfather, a former Navy captain, who “always had a high bar of what was expected.” Give him a chapter to read and Ruiz will rip through the entire book, and then some. 

Fine dining is still on his mind, maybe, eventually. So are whole paycheck-worthy tasting menus. Right now though, Ruiz is giving The Kitchen 110 percent.

The post Chef Rob Ruiz Comes Home appeared first on San Diego Magazine.

No city charter states “we need more fast food.” City planners try their hardest to zone them out. There are many reasons, including environmental impact of cars and trash. But the main reason for anti-fast foodism is tied to their deep-fried, sugar-filled, salt-spackled food and its inflationary effect on our human bodies. They’re a bigger villain in modern American than gluten or man-buns.

But what if fast food were different? What if it was ecologically conscious, served more plant-based foods, and generally tilted society in a progressive direction instead of a diabetic direction? Slow-food purists will tell you that food shouldn’t be rushed. That’s great for purists. But life is no casual stroll. Can’t we have the best of both worlds? Healthier food produced with somewhere near the expediency of McDonald’s? Why throw the baby (fast food) out with the bathwater (fattening, cheap, bad food)?

That’s the idea behind San Diego’s Plant Power, and they’re not alone. They serve plant-based fast food. All of their materials (utensils, etc.) are made from recycled material or plant material. The owners even dream of having a drive-thru that looks like a domed garden, with a canopy of plants and greenery that help offset the greenhouse emissions from cars.

The need for fast food and drive-thrus is still real. More than 160,000 fast food joints feed over 50 million Americans every day, with sales of over $110 billion. That’s because it doesn’t matter how educated we become about commodity food problems (hormones, antibiotics, CAFOs, etc.), we’re still busy. We still have demanding jobs, kids, spouses, friends, social media notifications, and lives. Minutes have never been more gold.

Now it’s happening. Healthy fast food is the future. The movement actually started in San Diego with Evolution Fast Food in Hillcrest—the first vegan drive-thru restaurant in the world. And now it’s in full swing across the country with concepts like Amy’s Drive-Thru, Salad and Go, Grown Miami, Eatsa, Dig Inn, The Kitchen, and Freshii.

Evolution’s owner Mitch Wallis is one of the partners behind Plant Power along with Zach Vouga, an ethical vegan who worked at Evolution. They wanted to streamline Evolution’s branding, experience, and make the menu more approachable. They didn’t want meat eaters to feel like outsiders or somehow shamed in their house of leaf cuisine. The result was Plant Power, which opened its first location in Ocean Beach in 2016. It has the feel of an In N Out, but it’s all plant-based food. Now they’ve taken over a failed Burger King location in Encinitas, providing the community with vegan “fast food.”

Vouga is quick to point out that Plant Power isn’t necessarily “healthy.” It’s simply plant-based. But, as multiple studies have shown, the health of Americans could use a much bigger supply of plant-based foods for their well-being. I talked to Vouga about Plant Power’s new drive-thru, and the future of the company.

Why vegan food?

I’m a longtime vegan. I was in college in Chicago, and finishing up there when I made the switch. I got a job at Evolution Fast Food where I met my business partner, Mitch, the founder of Evolution. Mitch and I started planning for the future. We wanted something more accessible, friendly and inclusive, not just a vegan restaurant. We didn’t want it to feel like a vegan restaurant when they walked in. We wanted something that could be replicated, scalable, clean and easy.

Plant Power doesn’t seem overtly vegan. Why?

We wanted to rid ourselves of that stigma. Some people would come into a vegan restaurant and feel almost like they were in enemy territory. We realized that was a problem. A majority of our customers are not vegan. Maybe they’re just there for Meatless Monday, or they’re a flexitarian, or just exploring new things. There are so many heavily-charged emotions with veganism. I never wanted to be a “meat is murder!”, in-your-face vegan. We wanted to change the conversation about vegan food. It’s just another type of cuisine. It’s not cultish. And that’s the great thing about Plant Power. A few of our customers don’t even realize we’re vegan until the second or third time they eat there.

What ingredients are most integral to vegan cuisine?

Anytime you’re trying to make a vegan meat, it’s primarily a mix of vital wheat gluten or soy protein. Those are two very versatile ingredients. They can absorb any flavor and become a chameleon-type ingredient.

Do you use tons of nuts? Cashew cheese and things?

No. Most of our stuff is free of nuts, because we know people have allergies. Many of our burgers can be made with a gluten-free bun, too. I’ve always hated gluten-free bread. So I’m the best person to try it. After trying so many types, we finally found a bakery out of L.A. called Rising Hearts. Since I don’t like gluten-free bread, I knew it was a winner when I actually liked it.

Is drive-thru the business model going forward?

Absolutely. As Americans, with how busy we are, we desperately need healthier, more eco-friendly options on the go.

What’s eco-friendly about Plant Power?

We work with Hubbell and Hubbell Architects. They’re known for being one of the best environmentally friendly firms. Our tables are made of bamboo. We use recycled aluminum. Our compostables—plastic straws or forks or whatever—are made from renewable, plant-based sources. Our forks are made from potato starch. Our containers are made from sugar cane. We don’t even have recycling because most of our stuff isn’t recyclable.

That’s more expensive, right?

It does cost a lot more. I’m hoping as we expand, the price will come down. But if we were going to do this, I needed to do it right. We needed to bite the bullet. To top it all off, there are no subsidies on these vegan products. If I wanted to do a beef and dairy burger, I’d be able to buy a lot cheaper, subsidized food. But we’re getting by. It’s all about volume and demand, and I’m hopeful.

All right. I’m an omnivore. What am I ordering?

The buffalo chicken sandwich. It has that wow factor. It’s “chicken”—wheat protein, soy protein, quinoa—breaded in house batter, dipped in buffalo sauce, with a whole wheat bun and homemade ranch dressing. It’s amazing how easy it is to omit the eggs and milk in something like ranch. Sometimes people think that veganizing food is a huge mountain to climb, but the answer is right there in front of you.

Why do vegan restaurants always try to “imitate” meat?

One, we’re a bridge restaurant. We have tons of super healthy offerings, but we’re not at our core a healthy restaurant. We want to create an experience that’s accessible and redefines vegan food. Plus, nostalgia plays a part. I didn’t become a vegan because I hated the taste of meat. I still love the meat experience and I funnel all of that energy into what we create at Plant Power.

Where to next?

We’re not wanting to do three, four, or five restaurants. We’re looking at hundreds. All over the nation, the globe, and pursuing avenues to do that over the next ten to 15 years.

Plant Power has two locations: in Ocean Beach (2204 Sunset Cliffs Blvd.) and Encinitas (411 Santa Fe Dr.). plantpowerfastfood.com

The Vegan Fast Food Revolution

Dizzle Management

The post The Vegan Fast Food Revolution appeared first on San Diego Magazine.