Max pointed that I really didn’t elaborate on why the Womach Supremacy — our new pipeline of pastured pollo from Curtis Womach — is so significant.

As long as Curtis can supply us with local pastured chickens, and as we move into using whole pastured pigs that we’re now able to get from Iowa, and more grass-fed beef from California — this means that almost all of the meat we’re serving is from animals which are raised by independent farmers, outdoors, in their historically correct environment, eating appropriate foods (i.e., grass for cows, sheep, and goats; grass, bugs and feed for chickens; a mixed diet for pigs), and in most cases sold to us whole.

In other words, real farm-to-table, the way meat was before it was rendered flavorless and cheap by industrial production. The way a restaurant would have historically procured meat — whole animals from farmers they knew and trusted.

Without spending too much time tooting our own horn, it’s very gratifying to finally reach this position after years of effort. Not many restaurants are able to offer this kind of food. And I don’t know of any that are able to do it in Southern California at a relatively high volume, with a fairly wide selection of meats. (There could well be some I don’t know about though, I hope there are ’cause I’d want to eat there.)

Max, Michael, Joel and the rest of the kitchen are very stoked to be working this close to the metal. It’s real cheffing and real charcuterie. When our menu features chicken liver mousse, or chicken heads, or shoulder bacon, or head cheese, or beef tripe, or goat eyeballs, country hams, or gizzards and feet, it’s not a stunt to try to capitalize on the offal zeitgeist or to show off our technique (not that we’re not proud of learning it, of course). It’s because these are parts of the animals we buy. Animals that our friends who raised them fed, animals that gave their life for us to eat, and animals that we (and you) paid for. And when the cooks and curers apply their talents, all these animal parts are delicious and worth eating.

I’d be remiss not to note that there are a lot of people who put in a lot of effort at the Linkery over the years to bring us to this point, who have moved on to other jobs and often to other cities, but whose effort helped get us to where we could offer this. And of course, without the farmers and the processors we’d have nothing to offer you. (And our friends at Hamilton Meats help us immensely even though we are not much of a volume account for them, because we buy so much direct from farmers. Not many distributors — as in, none — would be so supportive of our efforts.)

To note that we’ve made progress doesn’t mean we hit the finish line — we’ve got no “Mission Accomplished” banner to hang. It’s more that, as Max told me today, “this is the start of a real farm to table week.” And, the week after that, and, with luck and effort, after that. Though it’s not going to be a straight line…we frankly don’t know, for instance, if Curtis has enough pasture to support all the Linkery demand for chicken. And the economics are dicey for both the farmers and for us. But things keep getting better over time, and that’s exciting.

Thanks for being interested in eating this way. It’s great to have you with us on this project.