I recently had the pleasure of meeting San Diego chef Patrick Dahms at the “mini” Harvest Retreat we sponsored in May. We hold these retreats once or twice a year for our customers, typically chefs and distributors.

In this case, we took Chef Dahms and the rest of the group on a tour of our mill and olive trees in Artois, in the Sacramento Valley. We showed them the ins and outs of the mill and brought them into the orchards to learn more about our trees.

Chef Dahms and I sat next to each other during lunch that afternoon. I wrote about the lunch on our consumer blog and posted the recipe for rich, chocolate-laden brownies made from our Arbequina extra virgin olive oil.

Chef Dahms is an extremely engaging guy who also happens to be the executive chef at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel’s signature restaurant, Vela. He and I shot the breeze about a variety of topics during lunch.

Born in Germany, Chef Dahms combines worldwide coastal influences with California-grown, fresh and organic products. “We take the cuisine and lifestyle that result from living in this most desirable climate and bring them to the table at Vela,” he explained.

We plan to feature some of Chef Dahms’ recipes here, starting with his artfully arranged summer peach and goat cheese salad. The salad features fresh yellow peaches, fresh goat cheese, watercress, and extra virgin olive oil. It’s a straight-forward, delicious combination.

Bon appétit,

Claude S. Weiller
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
California Olive Ranch

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