First it was Crystal (now Christ) Cathedral in Garden Grove. Then it was the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. Now Cultivation Kitchen, a new restaurant coming to Farmers Park in front of the Anaheim Packing District in mid- to late January could be one of Orange County’s most distinctive glass buildings.
This one, designed to look like a greenhouse, is determined to make a point. That it’s better to eat whole, plant-based foods, sustainable seafood and grass-fed beef. It’s a new breed of restaurant often termed “fresh casual” in the mold of Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop, Flower Child and Sweetgreen.
Shaheen Sadeghi, developer of the Lab, the Camp and the Packing District constructed the building but Cultivation Kitchen is the brainchild of Dale LaFlam.
The first-time restaurateur who worked for Quiksilver, left the apparel industry to kick-start this passion project. “I wanted to do something I would fall in love with for the rest of my life and I wanted it to be health-related,” he said.
He’s moved to Anaheim to get to know the neighborhood and the local purveyors. Now he lives a three minute walk from the restaurant. He’s found investors and he’s developed the concept with his partners, Gregg Solomon, a former Quiksilver colleague, and his chef-partner Joshua Korn.
During a recent tour of the space, which is 1,650 square feet inside and 4,000 square feet outside, he explained the restaurant’s unusual design.
“The star of the show is the space. We’re in a greenhouse and it will have an upscale feel. The walls and the roof will have a shade system,” he said. “The roof and the walls open and when it’s too cold we’ll pump in heat and keep the walls closed.”
This building was designed by Olson Kundig, a Seattle firm that specializes in combining indoor and outdoor spaces. LaFlam described an outdoorsy atmosphere in which diners will be able to gaze at the park or look out to the olive-tree filled patio where there’s an artificial turf bocce ball court. A live tree in the dining room will be encased by a hollow sycamore tree trunk and there will be live-edged sycamore tables to echo the same trees outside.
To drive the point home even farther, the restaurant logo will include a shovel. It’s meant to remind diners that they’re eating “things that come from the earth,” LaFlam said.
Cultivation Kitchen will have a compost program, a commitment to give to Orange County charities, and a plan to partner with a local nonprofit to reduce its carbon footprint. “We’ll be planting enough seedlings each year to be carbon neutral on electricity,” LaFlam said.
Common tables and other features of service will encourage connection between customers and their fellow diners as well as servers. LaFlam calls it “Apple store” style because there will be no big billboard menus, just servers with hand-held devices taking orders. Choose a drink, order and pick your spot. Food will be brought to you.
As for the menu, LaFlam had been working with Korn as a consultant until the chef decided to come on board because he liked the project.
“He really wanted to be a part of it,” LaFlam said. “Our goal is to focus on this one, prove out the concept. The idea is we want to do more of these in Southern California.”
Korn, former director of hospitality for Qualcomm, Inc. and for Stone Brewing Co., has been CEO of his consulting firm, Culimetrics, since 2012. He’s worked extensively in New York City at Blue Fin, Nobu, Heartbeat, Louis XIV, and Tribeca Grill. He’s also been a private chef for such celebrities as Robert De Niro, Cindy Crawford, Nicole Kidman and Hillary Clinton.
The menu will include sandwiches, salads, breakfast and brunch items. There will be mix and match plates so that diners can choose a protein such as fish, beef or tofu and add side dishes like roasted Peruvian potatoes, red quinoa, Japanese sweet potatoes or shaved Brussels sprouts. Items will include blood-orange ricotta pancakes, avocado-cacao smoothies, breakfast burritos and more.
The idea is to make it simple for diners to eat vegan, vegetarian or carnivore with lots of healthy choices including acai and oatmeal bowls.
But life is a balance, LaFlam said, and so there will be indulgence items such as espresso drinks from a sleek Modbar system with beans from Portola, teas from Art of Tea, Orange County craft beers, organic and biodynamic wines, and pastries for dessert.
Don’t get him wrong. LaFlam, whose hometown is Danbury, Conn., loves to dine, “I can eat pizza like it’s my job,” he says with a smile. But he’s lived in California for the last 20 years and wants to help customers make better food choices because he knows how busy life can get, at times taking the focus off eating right.
“There was a point in my corporate life when my jeans would no longer button and I just started educating myself over the years,” he said. “Now I know there are better ways to take care of my health, and diet was a big part of that.”
Cultivation Kitchen
Where: 350 S. Anaheim Blvd., Anaheim.
When: Opening in January
Prices: Menu is still being worked out but should be about $10-$12 mix and match, breakfast, brunch and sandwich plates, $8 for bowls.
Need to know: Cultivation Kitchen will open at 7 a.m. daily to serve coffee.
