December 17, 2021 – It’s right there, in plain sight, painted on the window of The Wild Plum Cafe: “Creating community through food.”
More importantly it’s there in the ingredients, in the staff spirit, in the healthy-and-hearty recipes, and in the decades-long farmer relationships with family-run spots listed on the wall. It’s there in the endless organic advocacy too.
Those weary of feel-good greenwashing and trendy terms could be forgiven for some skepticism. But not if they’ve visited and observed The Wild Plum Cafe & Bakery or its chef-owner Pamela Burns for any amount of time.
Yes, the restaurant does waves upon waves of carefully sourced and cheffed basil frittata, mushroom chimichurri wraps and BLAT bowls—and well enough that I would be comfortable nominating The Plum as Monterey Bay’s entry for any sort of Organic Olympics.
But Burns et al also do the kind of donating, networking and supporting of nonprofits, advocates and Eco Farm conferences of the world that’s as under-the-radar as it is vital for conscious foodscape actors.
In fact, as I was reporting this, TWP’s team was taking its slick new food mobile to Oakland where they styled attendees of a Slow Money Holiday Market Place with a range of their greatest hits, free of charge.
Of late Wild Plum’s community-creating ethic has taken two tasty, savvy and life-affirming new forms.
Form one: At the start of the summer, after Burns approached them with the plan, Montage Health (aka Community Hospital for the Monterey Peninsula) green-lighted an employee order-ahead lunch program. Staff who pop online and place an order the night previous can have lunch delivered contact-free to their workplace. Suddenly a major cog in the region’s health system had a new healthy food resource.
Form two: This Monday, Dec. 20, The Wild Plum drives that same tricked out Mercedes Sprinter food truck they took to Oakland over to Ryan Ranch, dropping anchor right near one of Montage’s main off-campus office buildings.
Last week I swung by The Plum because 1) I had a friend in town who I knew would eat up what The Plum does; 2) I knew this food truck was coming and I wanted to reorient with Burns’ food; and 3) Have you seen their lunch menu?!
After we encountered Burns on the sidewalk heading from the food van to the restaurant, she ended up throwing all sorts of food truck-relevant samples our way.
Many of the ensuing goodies will be featured when The Plum starts parking at Ryan Ranch 10am-1:45pm weekdays (excluding holidays). While its location will change, its introductory spots will be Building A and the Harris Court cul de sac near Montage Health.
The truck’s daily soup—think heirloom tomato, white bean-and-butternut squash or fennel-and-celery—will pair nicely with the molten four-cheese grilled cheese that tastes as good as it looks.
“Grilled cheese is not a health food,” Burns says, “but sometimes you just need a grilled cheese toastie.”
Wild Plum’s powerhouse farmers market veggie bowl unloads a harvest of roast beets, celery, carrots, onions and artichoke. The pillars of the plate are seasoned and roasted expertly enough that they carry the dish, but the house balsamic Dijon vinaigrette puts it over the top.
It also reminds me how much attention Burns and her tight-knit team put into details. (And begs the question, why don’t more do that?)
Speaking of the team and attention, Jesus was the name of our server on our sidewalk lunch session, and he was so upbeat, gracious and on point it was almost unnerving.
Loaded flatbread pizzas like the olive-arugula-sun-dried tomato we tried might be the most indulgent offering of many once the Sprinter gets cooking.
Mediterranean tacos demonstrate The Plum’s gift for preparing roasted eggplant with aplomb.
Sandwiches like the grilled veggie, served on Wild Plum’s daily baked focaccia or Ad Astra seeded breads, will make for an immediate hit.
The new food rig itself—adopted for its current mission from its past life as The Poke Lab’s mobile kitchen—proves pretty cool. On top of its flip-up service windows, low mileage and customized prep surfaces, it boasts refrigeration space for 500 meals that will be made in the Monterey kitchen and exported to the satellite spot.
“People don’t have a long lunch break so we’re all about speed,” Burns says. “They can’t stand around waiting for a sandwich handcrafted to order.”
The plan is to slot all meals between $8 and $12 so working class peeps have a fighting chance at good grub for a fair price.
“Slow food made fast—reimagining fast food,” is how Burns puts it. “Back to our grilled cheese: It’s not a greasy grilled cheese, but really good cheeses on housemade bread.”
The Wild Plum Instagram will be a great place to track constantly changing menus and updated locations. Eaters can also peek food options and order in advance via the Wild Plum website.
For foodies and the hungry homies among us, last year’s closing of Stone Creek Kitchen was a crusher. For those who work in and around Ryan Ranch, it also meant a sparse culinary landscape regressed to an all-out food desert, with only Parker Lusseau To Go to save them. (Sorry not sorry Jack in the Box.)
Which makes this news all the more welcome.
Burns, who after decades plying her principled craft can be credibly called Monterey’s own Alice Waters, seems energized by the possibilities, even if they make her life more complicated.
“Pardon the pun,” she says, “but we just have to keep the wheels on the bus.”
More at thewildplumcafe.com or The Wild Plum’s Instagram. Email your own Found Treasure tips to ediblefoundtreasure@gmail.com.
Editor’s note: The original version of this story was updated to include Parker Lusseau To Go thanks to much-appreciated input from EMB subscriber Samantha Kelley.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
