The most anticipated event of the year, Green Feast is an unforgettable evening – a community celebration of local food taking place on a September evening on the fields of South Coast Farm. Over the next month, The Ecology Center is pleased to highlight the local food and wine talent that makes this event possible.

Spotlight on Green Feast 2010 Participant: Chef Justin Monson

Chef and proprietor Justin Monson brings his passion for California’s food and wine culture to the beach town of San Clemente. Called “The Vine” by regulars, the restaurant features a casual yet sophisticated wine bar, open kitchen, lounge and semi-private dining table in the wine room. The menu, which changes seasonally, offers a selection of wine country favorites such as seared scallops wrapped in smoked bacon and served in a potato leek soup; a duck confit salad; and the signature pumpkin ravioli with hazelnuts, sage-brown butter and truffle oil.

Acquiring his chef training in New York at the Culinary Institute of America, then serving as an apprentice chef at the Ritz Carlton, Laguna Niguel; Saucier (lead cook) at Auberge du Soliel in Napa Valley; and head chef at French 75 in Laguna Beach; Monson always dreamed of opening a signature place of his own. To that end he has played a major role in all aspects of creating the Vine, most especially in the sole designing of the restaurant itself. “My desire is to create recipes and cook foods the way grandmother would,” said Monson. “Like many restaurants in Europe, my menu is seasonal, changing four times yearly, expressing the fresh foods and wines of each new season.”

Psst, for those of you interested in bringing your children to Farm to Fork, Chef Monson has been known to teach a class or two.

The Vine Wine Country Cuisine is located at 211 N. El Camino Real in San Clemente. For more about Vine, visit the restaurant website.

The Ecology Center is so grateful to Chef Monson for his continuing support of  The Ecology Center!