SCOTT CAYGILL,
Executive Chef at True Food Kitchen Santa Monica Q: Tell me about working with True Food Kitchen, and why the restaurant appealed to you as a chef. Scott Caygill: My wife worked with the first brand chef of True Food Kitchen, Michael Stebner. A Facebook post went out before True Food Kitchen opened in San Diego, where we were living at the time, and the post called for any chefs who were interested. We found ourselves in Orange County, and so we decided to go check out the True Food Kitchen at Newport Beach. I instantly loved the feel of the restaurant, the diversity and pliability of the menu. And I was drawn obviously to the health aspects of the menu, too. Q: From where do you source the ingredients for your dishes, and what are some of the most popular menu items? SC: Well, here we have the awesome Santa Monica Farmers market, and we love to walk over there on Saturdays and get whatever we can. All the produce we use comes from California, and we source our meats very responsibly—we always do our due diligence there. And the seafood is sustainably harvested or wild-caught. The kale salad is at the top of the list in terms of popularity. It is super simple; it’s made with organic, shredded kale, parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs with a flavorful dressing that includes lemon, EVOO, chili flakes and garlic. Our bison burger is a really good, popular option—bison is a great alternative to beef because it’s naturally lower in fat. Q: What’s the ideal in-flight True Food Kitchen snack? SC: The crudité couldn’t be simpler—it’s taking farm fresh produce and serving it with some simple sauces to highlight the vegetables. The roasted vegetable board uses the same concept; we simply roast vegetables in our pizza oven with olive oil, salt and pepper. We get a nice color on the vegetables and develop the flavors a little more, and they’re served with two vegan dipping sauces. And the avocado dip is delicious—who doesn’t like avocados? It’s a pure avocado dip with roasted peppers, grapefruit and orange segments, cilantro, green onion and kale. We also spend every morning making fresh juices that you can order to go and take on the plane with you.
SPOTTING TRUE FOOD: You can pick up healthy grub from True Food Kitchen no matter where you plan to fly; it has locations in AZ, CO, FL, GA, IL, NY, TN, TX and VA. In California, it has locations in El Segundo, Newport Beach, San Diego and Santa Monica.
“All the produce we use comes from California, and we source our meats very responsibly—we always do our due diligence there.” —Scott Caygill
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