True Food Kitchen in Walnut Creek

Butternut Squash Pizza at True Food Kitchen.

We heard that two True Food Kitchens, the brainchild of nutritionist Andrew Weil and a team of brilliant chefs, opened up in the Bay Area, one in Palo Alto, and one closer to us in Walnut Creek. The Walnut Creek location is in Broadway Plaza, an outdoor mall that is extremely pedestrian friendly, punctuated at several places with free parking garages. When I first laid eyes on Broadway Plaza a few years ago, I thought it had nothing going for it, just a series of big box stores. However, things are changing fast, partly a result of the gentrification of San Francisco & Oakland. One consequence is the Bay Area suburbs are getting much more interesting, much more ethnically diverse, and with a growing number of cutting edge restaurants. Here's another such example.

Usually I don't notice or care about the decor, but True Food's (I keep wanting to call it True Blood), decor stands out. Dig the Feng Shui above: circles above the straight line planter running from the bar (where we sat) all the way to the open kitchen.

On this wall you can see examples of types of plants: Annuals, Herbs and Perennials. On the facing wall is a giant bee with the word "Positive" above it. Waitrons wore t-shirts with the following words or phrases on them: True, Honest, Shine On, Farmy, & Green Goddess.

So much for the branding aspects, here's the main event. First off, we ordered this tea fruit drink called Medicine Man. Black tea with cranberry, pomegranate, honey and sea buckthorn. Balanced and surprisingly complex.

Red Chili Noodles with chicken, gai lan, zucchini, shiitake mushroom, snow pea, cashew, and, not on the menu, thai holy basil, at least that's what it looked and tasted like. I don't think I've ever eaten at a restaurant before that has done such a stellar job of incorporating herbs.

Here's the real showstopper: Butternut Squash Pizza smoked onion, organic kale, vegan almond ricotta, dried cranberry. Pretty sure there were herbs in here, because I kept tasting oregano and basil. This might be the best vegetarian dish I've ever had at a restaurant, this is so good it is other-worldly and futuristic. I kept noticing all kinds of smart touches with the dishes: everything on this pizza can be prepped and cooked ahead of time, and it won't detract at all. Clearly, they cooked and likely smoked the butternut squash ahead of time. Cutting vegetables on the bias means you can get more surface area and cook them faster. 

Sustainable Seabass with broccolini, sugar snap peas cut on the bias, roasted mushroom, whole grains (mostly quinoa), & umami sauce that resembled and tasted like uni and saffron aioli.

I'm utterly impressed with True Food--it's a bit pricey, especially if you get three entrees like we did. Service was top-notch, the ticket time from the kitchen was negligible, despite the fact we arrived right during the start of the Saturday night dinner rush. If you're thinking about starting a restaurant, some see what these folks are doing right.

http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/