An Octopus’ Garden

I don’t know what it was about the little yellow cookbook that caught my eye.

Thumbing through the shelves of a used bookstore in San Francisco’s Mission District almost a decade ago, I chanced upon a copy of “Sea Vegetable Gourmet Cookbook and Forager’s Guide” by Eleanor and John Lewallen, owners of the Mendocino Sea Vegetable Co. It was marked down from $2.50 to $1.

In the cold, nutrient-rich waters off Mendocino County’s coast, sea palm, alaria, nori, dulse, kombu and other sea vegetables thrive and have spawned a funky cottage industry of seaweed harvesters, the only one of its kind on the West Coast.

Having grown up in Northern California, I’ve always been fascinated by the jungle of brown and green seaweed that lay tangled on the beach after winter storms. Making a meal of this local wild food intrigued me.

For the newcomer, eating seaweed, or more appealingly, sea vegetables, takes some getting used to. It tastes a bit like a tide pool smells, but in a good way. The leafy vegetables, which are rich in iodine, have distinct characteristics that make them versatile and delicious. The fresh, mildly briny flavors add an exotic snap to salads, seafood and soups. Seaweed is also one of the most nourishing foods on the planet.

Mendocino’s MacCallum House Restaurant, set inside an inn built in 1882, draws its menu from local products such as seaweed. Chef and owner Alan Kantor serves a creamy mussel soup made with local shiitake mushrooms topped with crispy sea palm, a sea vegetable unique to the West Coast.

“The big thing for me is to find things that are high quality and of this region,” he says. “We have a cuisine that really represents the area.”

Years after I bought the Lewallens’ book, I was inspired to visit their home in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley, a few miles inland from the ocean. But when I reached John Lewallen on the phone last year, I was saddened to learn his wife had recently died. With the help of his two sons, he was preparing for his first harvest season without her.

At 60, Lewallen is the old man of seaweed. The Lewallens founded their business in 1980, and others followed. A proud hippie with a mane of scraggly gray hair, Lewallen is the kind of groovy character that helped define Northern California’s counterculture. Some locals have taken to calling him Neptune because of his years in the seaweed trade.

Standing on a rock above a retreating tide one morning, he crouched down and lopped off a 10-foot piece of alaria with a linoleum knife. The brown seaweed is a mildly sweet, wing-shaped sea vegetable similar to the better known wakame. It’s great in salads or stir-fried dishes.

Lewallen takes a spiritual approach to his work. Before heading out to one of his favorite beaches in the tiny town of Elk that morning, he walked into a sea cave and uttered a private prayer. He explains, “I’m just grateful I’m able to do this and to be alive.”

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Creamed Mussel Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms, Sea Palm and Grilled Brioche

(Adapted from a recipe by Alan Kantor, MacCallum House Restaurant, Mendocino)

Serves 4 -- 6 as a main course

1 tablespoon butter

4 tablespoons shallots, minced

20 small shiitake mushroom caps, de-stemmed

2 pounds Prince Edward Island mussels

12 ounces dry white wine

4 ounces heavy cream

4 tablespoons Italian parsley, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup packed, dried sea palm, reconstituted in 1 cup hot water for 15 minutes

Toasted brioche, cut into wedges

Sweat shallots and shiitake mushrooms in butter for 1 minute. Add mussels, white wine, cream and parsley. Pour any leftover hot water from the sea palm into the pan. Cover with lid and bring to simmer in large stockpot or pot twice as large as mussel volume. Steam gently (do not boil or mussels will toughen) until mussels open. Put in 4 bowls and garnish with sea palm and toasted brioche.

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RESOURCE GUIDE

Mendocino Sea Vegetable Co., (707) 895-2996.