West Coast Wild Harvest Issue 1 Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 35

CHEF’S TABLE HIRO TAKEDA JOCELYN ISAAK Hiro Takeda foraging for some fresh stinging nettles Foraging in Hope with Justin Brown from Wild Forest Food Co. “Small farms and small suppliers…can’t handle supplying us with proteins and vegetables for our busy season or for our regular menu; we are able to now showcase them using this formula.” Takeda also manages to source some locally grown foods out of season thanks to his friends at You Grow Food, an aquaponics farm. “They’re growing some interesting stuff, like shiso and lemongrass, three different types of basil, mizuna, arugula, that kind of stuff, so we get a lot of cool products from them.” that are on the plate shine.” He hopes that his restaurant will continue to be an important part of the local dining community. “[Hope is] a very slow market, but we’re trying to be a restaurant that’s progressive and forward-thinking. We have a pretty cool following of young up-and-coming young families and young people in town, people who are really following what we’re doing with a lot of interest…We want to be a restaurant that changes their menu all the time, and we want to keep in m [