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12-17-2006, 02:17 AM
Greenhouse Café Flourishes in Smokey's Home Town
By Ben Moffett - Contributing Writer - benmoffett@comcast.net
© 2006 Ben Moffett - Reprint Permission Granted
CAPITÁN -- You want a fresh, colorful vegan plate and your partner is dead set on fresh five-star seafood. But neither of you have any idea where you can satisfy such conflicting cravings on your weekend outing along Highway 380?
No worries. Just pull into the Greenhouse Café on Capitán's main drag (Highway 380, at its intersection with Highway 48). Tom Histen is the seafood expert. His wife, Gail, handles specialty salad greens. They specialize in "fresh" and also in "yummy."
"We get our seafood fresh from California," said Histen. "We offer chicken, beef and pork, but seafood is what everyone seems to want. And it comes iced down. I know fish, and if I don't like it, I send it back."
Histen should know fish having been a chef at such notable places as Charlies, Milligans, and Jakes in the San Diego area, and, before that, tickling the taste buds of the glitterati in Aspen, Colo. He's been cooking, non-stop since graduating from chef's school in 1973.
Gail operates their controlled environment hydroponic greenhouse that gives the restaurant its name and provides it with a variety of great, freshly plucked, home-grown specialty salad greens..
"We grow different kinds of lettuces: all with different colors, sizes, shapes, and textures," Gail said. "We grow all of our herbs -- flat-leafed parsley, dill, basil, mint, chives, and what we don't use we sell across the street at Smokey's Farmer's Market."
Fruits come fresh, too, in season, from the orchards of the Hondo Valley.
The greenhouse is one of four they hope to install over time to meet the growing requirements of different plant groups. Their present greenhouse is something of a marvel. It has computer controlled heating and cooling for year round production of greens. The next one will be for plants that require warmer temperatures, and two others will be for specialty flowers and medicinal herbs.
Nine years ago, the Histens wanted to get out of the fast lane and chose Capitán as their new home after years of big city life. "We work well together and wanted something we could do together in our later retirement years," Gail said. "Tom has cooked food all his life and we thought, what about growing it.
"So we purchased a greenhouse and started Greenhouse Gardens" Tom said. Then the opportunity arose to take over a small five-star restaurant (called Hotel Chango) at 103 Lincoln Ave. "I think Tom was missing cooking. It is his creative outlet," said Gail. So began Greenhouse Café.
The restaurant isn't just for vegans and seafood lovers. There's something on the menu for virtually everyone's palate from thick fillets with mushrooms and garlic to chicken with a smoked gouda cheese sauce, or pork tenderloin marinated in a milk jalapeńo oil, baked and topped with a green chile sauce and roasted pińon nuts.
Tom says the menu is altered every six weeks to meet seasonal needs for the benefit of local customers. The café is open all year and especially on holidays. "Holidays is what we are all about," he said. "Christmas, New Year's, Easter, and of course, weekends."
The Greenhouse is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and lunch (June through September or October).
Seating is limited. It's best to call 354-0373 to hold a table, and satisfy those food cravings that Highway 380 is bound to bring out.
By Ben Moffett - Contributing Writer - benmoffett@comcast.net
© 2006 Ben Moffett - Reprint Permission Granted
CAPITÁN -- You want a fresh, colorful vegan plate and your partner is dead set on fresh five-star seafood. But neither of you have any idea where you can satisfy such conflicting cravings on your weekend outing along Highway 380?
No worries. Just pull into the Greenhouse Café on Capitán's main drag (Highway 380, at its intersection with Highway 48). Tom Histen is the seafood expert. His wife, Gail, handles specialty salad greens. They specialize in "fresh" and also in "yummy."
"We get our seafood fresh from California," said Histen. "We offer chicken, beef and pork, but seafood is what everyone seems to want. And it comes iced down. I know fish, and if I don't like it, I send it back."
Histen should know fish having been a chef at such notable places as Charlies, Milligans, and Jakes in the San Diego area, and, before that, tickling the taste buds of the glitterati in Aspen, Colo. He's been cooking, non-stop since graduating from chef's school in 1973.
Gail operates their controlled environment hydroponic greenhouse that gives the restaurant its name and provides it with a variety of great, freshly plucked, home-grown specialty salad greens..
"We grow different kinds of lettuces: all with different colors, sizes, shapes, and textures," Gail said. "We grow all of our herbs -- flat-leafed parsley, dill, basil, mint, chives, and what we don't use we sell across the street at Smokey's Farmer's Market."
Fruits come fresh, too, in season, from the orchards of the Hondo Valley.
The greenhouse is one of four they hope to install over time to meet the growing requirements of different plant groups. Their present greenhouse is something of a marvel. It has computer controlled heating and cooling for year round production of greens. The next one will be for plants that require warmer temperatures, and two others will be for specialty flowers and medicinal herbs.
Nine years ago, the Histens wanted to get out of the fast lane and chose Capitán as their new home after years of big city life. "We work well together and wanted something we could do together in our later retirement years," Gail said. "Tom has cooked food all his life and we thought, what about growing it.
"So we purchased a greenhouse and started Greenhouse Gardens" Tom said. Then the opportunity arose to take over a small five-star restaurant (called Hotel Chango) at 103 Lincoln Ave. "I think Tom was missing cooking. It is his creative outlet," said Gail. So began Greenhouse Café.
The restaurant isn't just for vegans and seafood lovers. There's something on the menu for virtually everyone's palate from thick fillets with mushrooms and garlic to chicken with a smoked gouda cheese sauce, or pork tenderloin marinated in a milk jalapeńo oil, baked and topped with a green chile sauce and roasted pińon nuts.
Tom says the menu is altered every six weeks to meet seasonal needs for the benefit of local customers. The café is open all year and especially on holidays. "Holidays is what we are all about," he said. "Christmas, New Year's, Easter, and of course, weekends."
The Greenhouse is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m., Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and lunch (June through September or October).
Seating is limited. It's best to call 354-0373 to hold a table, and satisfy those food cravings that Highway 380 is bound to bring out.