San Antonio Current - front page - 02/01/2006 - Food & Drink It’s hydroponic
Sometimes a restaurant’s back story is just as interesting as its food. A few minutes in the door suggested that might be the case with Big Kahuna: Not only did the place have a funky, handmade look, with plastic leis and fugitive-from-fast-food seating, but also the menu was all over the map, from wraps to shakes, and the well-meaning waitstaff had a friends-of-the-family feel. And sure enough, there is a story here — far above, not below, the surface.
Big Kahuna owner and chef Jason Weaver inspects a chili pepper plant next to his 160-site aeroponic system, which he uses to grow all of the restaurant’s lettuce. (Photos by Mark Greenberg)
Cook-owner-manager-cashier Jason Weaver’s culinary adventures began with a stint at Luby’s, where he was a manager and “problem solver.” After leaving the cafeteria chain, he took up landscaping and then hydroponic gardening, in part because living in Barcelona (whilst racing motorcycles for Ducatti, no less) had attuned him to the use of every small urban space, including rooftops, for gardening.
With more than a kitchen garden in mind, Weaver purchased the nondescript 4,000-square-foot building at Ashby and North Flores across from the San Pedro Playhouse to house his nascent business. “I wound up growing so much produce here that I was giving a lot of it away,” he says.
Weaver grows hydroponic lettuce — 160 heads! — peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, and, on a smaller scale, sprouts and wheat grass. From the street, you won’t see this bounty. Though he starts some of his plants from seed, under fluorescent lighting, much of Weaver’s produce is grown from organic sprouts shipped from Canada, acclimated under shade cloth at the rear of the building, then moved to the “farm” on the roof. Weaver says that with several tiers of hydroponic equipment the 4,000 square feet of roof becomes “almost 10 acres.”
Story taken from:
www.zwire.com
Big Kahuna owner and chef Jason Weaver inspects a chili pepper plant next to his 160-site aeroponic system, which he uses to grow all of the restaurant’s lettuce. (Photos by Mark Greenberg)
Cook-owner-manager-cashier Jason Weaver’s culinary adventures began with a stint at Luby’s, where he was a manager and “problem solver.” After leaving the cafeteria chain, he took up landscaping and then hydroponic gardening, in part because living in Barcelona (whilst racing motorcycles for Ducatti, no less) had attuned him to the use of every small urban space, including rooftops, for gardening.
With more than a kitchen garden in mind, Weaver purchased the nondescript 4,000-square-foot building at Ashby and North Flores across from the San Pedro Playhouse to house his nascent business. “I wound up growing so much produce here that I was giving a lot of it away,” he says.
Weaver grows hydroponic lettuce — 160 heads! — peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, and, on a smaller scale, sprouts and wheat grass. From the street, you won’t see this bounty. Though he starts some of his plants from seed, under fluorescent lighting, much of Weaver’s produce is grown from organic sprouts shipped from Canada, acclimated under shade cloth at the rear of the building, then moved to the “farm” on the roof. Weaver says that with several tiers of hydroponic equipment the 4,000 square feet of roof becomes “almost 10 acres.”
Story taken from:
www.zwire.com
posted by Yonner at 9:53 AM
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