Tender Greens Goes Outside the (La Caja China) Box
By Gerry Furth-Sides

This is more than a story about a magnificent animal roast “beer garden” series in the inviting back patio of a small restaurant. It’s about feeling so personally welcome and so impressed you want to know how the story came to be, and share it. The Tender Greens name is the first clue to inspired meals. La Caja China is the second. Read this and don’t weep. Try it yourself at home!

No one talks more than I do about Tender Greens’ “fresher than fresh” concept of produce delivery from local farms and vendors straight to their kitchen door to provide astonishingly tasty gourmet food at astonishing prices in exactly the right portions. Portion control is just about impossible, though, when you’re serving yourself at Tender Greens’ dazzling dinners created by Executive Chef Eric Hulme at the Hollywood location. This is the Eric who insiders whisper about as “having the best specials.” Answers the self-effacing, gracious Hulme, “I have free reign. And we try to provide a place for a chef to go on a day off.”

Congenial and passionate, Chef Eric is a “lifelong trained chef” from Philadelphia, who has cooked professionally around the country and knows how to please any palate. Host Chef Eric explains the series “as a way for us to get the message out that Tender Greens is more than just a salad place and that we’re not vegetarian. It’s also a way to tie Tender
Greens into the local beer community. “ Chef Eric is a dedicated home brewer himself who brings samples.

The intimate, candle-lit back patio combines the quirkiness and drama of its Hollywood location. It takes only dark plank wood risers on a matching wood table to spectacularly show off the six platters for each course, including scrumptious appetizers, side dishes, and desserts. The Caja China roasting box holds court in one corner; the Smog City brewer serves from another.

You can replicate these feasts at home with your own Caja China Box. Chef Eric “loves the popular #2 box for 100 pound or under animals.” And he reminds users, “it comes unassembled though easy to put together.” Another tip: “ with wind, roasting takes a lot longer because it pulls the heat off the top.”

Chef Eric’s suggestion for side dishes is to aim for a “general balance of flavors and friendly, seasonal ingredients. We use everything we get direct from the farmers markets.” His October Fest themed sides are mouth-watering even on paper: Warm German Fingerling Potato Salad; Slow Braised Red Cabbage with Roasted Apples; Farro, Butternut Squash, Baby Kale with Hazelnuts; Spatzle with Caramelized Onions, Guyere and Sage; Brussel Sprouts with House Smoked Bacon; Butter Lettuce Hearts, Pears, Edelpilkase Cheese and Almond salad.

The famous Lefty Ayers of Re-Ride Ranch provided the Red Waddle Pig, served with a textured Grain Mustard Sauce. It was a thing of beauty. The story goes that Lefty’s pastured pigs know when the trees in their home orchards drop fruit, and feed on it when they can! For the non-meat eaters, WeHo Chef Roy Arendse thoughtfully prepares an inspired fish dish, such as his luscious, traditional marinated monkfish from his family's South Africanrecipe.

“Everyone just eats everything up!” Eric confirms. “When we did lamb, everything was gone! And I mean, ‘everything’ including innards, brains. A lady even asked for the bones so she could make a stock.

The origin of the La Caja China remains a mystery. But the Cuban Guerra family made history when they brought the roasting box from Cuba to Miami. Legend has it that Chinese railroad workers introduced this cooking method when they came to Cuba in the 1850's, thus the name 'Caja China' (“Chinese Box.”) Great for fish, lobster, brisket and
roast beef, roasting times, the following gives an idea about prep time: 80 lbs. pig: 4 hours; 6 turkeys: 3.5 hours; 3 hours for an 80 lbs. lamb or 60 lbs. goat, and 2 hours for 18chickens.

Roberto and Avian Guerra are hands-on owners who personally answer questions by phone. They report that the semi pro and the #2, are most popular for home use. Roberto describes the box perfectly as “a cultural experience that engages the rugged, romantic concepts of butchering, braising, brining and handling, then finishes up with tantalizing
aromas of charcoal and good conversation.”

ReRide Ranch, Lake Hughes,
(661) 586-7411
Contact: lefty@rerideranch.com.
For more information log onto:
www.tendergreensfood.com
www.facebook.com/tendergreensfood.
www.lacajachina.com

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