ANAHEIM, Calif.
Otis Huemmer, executive chef at the Anaheim Convention Center, prefers locally grown foods. So when he's looking for fresh rosemary, parsley or thyme to try out a new dish or dressing recipe, he walks no farther than the rooftop of the box office, scissors in hand.
That’s because convention Center executives, who already have a reputation –and awards – for being environmentally conscious, are taking the idea of locally grown food to the extreme. The most-recent example: a 2,000-square-foot garden atop the roof of the 1960s box office attached to the space-age-inspired arena. The garden includes an irrigation system, indigenous ground cover and 16 wooden boxes for growing herbs.
"If I need lavender for a beef tenderloin dish, or parsley for a chimichurri dish we make, I can get it right from here," Huemmer said, bending over to grab a fresh stalk of rosemary. The small garden can't provide all of the needed herbs for the center. "Not when I'm serving dinner for 10,000; but that's five to seven times a year," Huemmer said.
Meeting attendees at the center for other events may find ingredients from the roof landing on their plate—intentionally, he said. “During the rest of the year, what we yield from here [the rooftop garden] will go a long way."
Courtesy of the Orange County Register
