Marie Mertz wants to feed and save the world. Elk Grove chef just might do it
Marie Mertz’s vision is simple: Feed the hungry and eliminate food waste. That’s all.
The proprietor of Elk Grove’s Mexican-Italian fusion restaurant Todo Un Poco, which she opened in 1999, is a dynamo. She’s a bundle of energy, always moving, doing, chattering, never stopping. She’s also always thinking, and thinking big.
About three months ago, she entered into a pilot program with the Capital Food Access Alliance, an organization dedicated to recovering food that would otherwise go to waste. CFAA is recovering food from grocery stores, which Mertz uses to create prepared meals for donation to the Rancho Cordova Food Bank.
According to CFAA, 16% of Sacramentans report low- to very low-food security, which is significantly higher than the national average of 10.5%.
She received a grant from them, which she used for storage equipment and to pay staff who help prepare the meals. She keeps all donated foods separate from the restaurant’s inventory.
“We work with what we have. We have a little budget, but I want to focus the budget on labor. I feel labor people are most important, so they need to be paid a sustainable wage,” Mertz said.
When I visited last Saturday morning, Mertz and her team were cooking chicken with carrots and a pasta with sauce and a crumble of feta cheese.
“We got about 36 chickens; I hope to make about 300 meals from that. We got some barbecue sauce so I’m using that,” she said.
She’s subject to whatever the grocery donations provide.
“You never know when you’re going to have, like, a mystery basket, kind of like Chopped,” she said.
Mertz abhors food waste, down to the micro level. She blends peelings from the carrots into a sauce that goes in with the carrots before roasting, upping the flavor. The parts that are truly unusable go to a nearby farm to be fed to the chickens.
“For me, food is sacred,” she said.
Most of the donated foods come from grocery stores. It’s been removed because its sell by date is approaching or passed. But that doesn’t mean it’s gone bad.
Above and beyond the meals destined for the food bank, Mertz uses her own resources to create some for residents at a nearby senior citizen community who do not have the means to cook for themselves. One of them is 101 years old.
In the three months since CFAA started the pilot program, they have received 10,318 pounds of donated food, which Mertz and her team turned into 8,354 meals. The program runs another three months, but Mertz wants to keep it going.
“I want to do a program called ‘20 for 30,’ because I want to see how many people I can feed with $30,” she said.
Mertz also wants to inspire other chefs in the area to do their part.
“We are a tiny little restaurant that’s not crazy busy, but I think if we are generating that, imagine the power of restaurants who are huge, and imagine us collectively as a restaurant industry, just here in Elk Grove or in Sacramento County, how much food we can save,” she said.
The dishes get packaged and labeled, then refrigerated before being delivered to the food bank the following morning. Then they do it again, three times a week.
What I’m Eating
You might not have known that boutique wine bar Ro Sham Beaux quietly acquired a liquor license late last year. They certainly haven’t made much noise about it.
That’s because they really have no intention of being a full-on cocktail bar, even though they do have a reasonable complement of spirits.
The primary driver was that it allows them to bring in things that align with their European wine bar vibe, including red bitters like Campari, Aperol and Cappelletti, which use distilled spirits as their base. A wine and beer license only allows for things like vermouth, which is fortified wine.
Still, they have a short, off-menu list of popular cocktails they can bang out, including a daiquiri ($11). They’re just about to roll out a more robust menu with negronis and cocktails made with liqueurs and amari.
Paired up with some Mediterranean herbed potato chips ($6) and a gilda ($5), the classic Spanish tapa of anchovy, olive and pickled pepper, and you’ve got a mini vacation on tap.
Ro Sham Beaux
Address: 2413 J St., midtown
Hours: 2 p.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 2 p.m.-midnight Fridays; noon-midnight Saturdays; noon-10 p.m. Sundays
Phone: 916-365-1216
Website: roshambeauxbar.com
Vegetarian options: Plenty of veggie bites to complement your drinks
Noise level: Moderate
Openings & Closings
California’s first branch of national mini-doughnut franchise Dapper Doughnuts is coming to Rocklin.
Popular local bakery Estelle will be expanding to a fourth location at 400 Iron Point Rd. in Folsom.
The chef of Michelin-starred Localis has announced that he will open three new food concepts in the Tower Broadway building.
Mediterranean restaurant Original Sal’s Kabob & Gyro Grill will return to Elk Grove with its third location Friday.
