Story by Linda DuBois Chef photos by Nicholas Koon Farm photos by Bryan Meyer
As summer approaches, chef Rich Mead can count on multiple diners at his Corona Del Mar restaurant asking, “When are you going to have the peach pizza?” They’re talking about the prosciutto and peach pizza with pesto, mozzarella and fontina cheese, one of the most anticipated seasonal dishes at Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens, Mead’s outdoor restaurant at the back of a 7-acre nursery. “The saltiness and the fat of the prosciutto play off the sweetness and slight acidity of the peaches,” Mead says. The chef is passionate about incorporating local, seasonal ingredients into his menus, and California-grown peaches are among his favorites, both for sweet and savory dishes. He uses them in pork tenderloin, vegetable plates, salads, French toast and cocktails, and he makes a decadent peach crisp. Sometimes he dehydrates or pickles them for a culinary twist. Mead has had a lot of time to experiment with ingredients. The Washington, D.C., native’s restaurant experience began at age 15, interrupted only by a brief government job after college graduation. That ended when an adventurous spirit drew him west, where he cooked for and eventually owned several restaurants, including Farmhouse, which he opened in 2016. In the early 1990s, he started regularly visiting farmers markets and discovered the advantages of purchasing fresh produce directly from growers. “I found that the flavors and the textures were so much more vivid than what I’d been getting from the produce companies,” he says. Plus, he enjoyed making friends with the growers and began planning his menus around their future harvests. Local chefs and households nationwide savor family farm’s fruit Peach perfection
Chef Rich Mead of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona Del Mar holds his popular prosciutto and peach pizza with pesto, mozzarella and fontina cheese.
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