Living in Pismo Beach, where we connect you with some of our favorite people who live and work on the Central Coast. Those community and business leaders who make living on the Coast such a unique and diverse experience.
Episode #17
Brooke Town owner of the spoon trade
Brooke Town owner of the spoon trade, joins Ashlea Foster Boyer, Shannon Bowdey & Jordan Hamm on Living In Pismo Beach.
Ashlea Boyer:
So, it’s 2020 and we’ve had what COVID and we’ve had hurricanes and storms and all kinds of things. Some weird thing called durecho in Iowa that went upside down on all the silos. And now we have survived back to school without school. Now we’ve survived, smoke from fires.
Jordan Hamm:
We can do anything.
Ashlea Boyer:
We can to do anything. We are resilient. We can survive any… Bring it 2020,
Jordan Hamm:
I’m a little bit nervous now.
Shannon Bowdey:
Yeah. We’re excited about our guest today. Brooke Town of The Spoon Trade, can’t wait to hear from her. She’s such a nice lady and her restaurant is so wonderful. So Brooke Town grew up watching her father bartend in a small town of Durango, Colorado, but her true love for hospitality began in her teenage years on the central coast. Trader Nick’s restaurant provided Brook with a strong foundation of hard work and versatility, allowing her to host, bus, and serve. After the restaurant closed, she was fortunate to help open The Cracked Crab dumping her first bucket was just the beginning as she became a trainer and eventually a manager.
Ashlea Boyer:
Yes, and over the next several years, Brooke moved into a bartending role. Being behind a bar, became natural, allowing her spunky personality to shine. And after moving to San Francisco to complete her art degree, Brooke was able to explore neighborhoods and be inspired by different restaurants. In October, 2006, she secured a position at Rubicon, which exposed her to seasonal ingredients and fine service. Eventually Brooke designed the first cocktail list of this wine centric institution. This creative outlet, coupled with the diverse clientele of San Francisco, pushed her to strive for more.
Jordan Hamm:
In 2008, Brooke landed her dream job at Nopa restaurant, where she was exposed to a variety of new challenges managing this high volume, late night gathering space, heightened the meaning of service, hospitality, and dining, talking to farmers, wine makers, and other industry people, reinforced the value of relationships. Now Brooke takes an open approach to service allowing for adaptation along the way. She knows that every guest is an individual with different needs, reading each situation carefully. At the end of the day, the human interaction keeps her coming back for more. Let’s welcome Brooke.
Ashlea Boyer:
Thank you for being on with us today. We’re excited to talk with you.
Brooke Town:
Always glad to be here, having conversation.
Jordan Hamm:
You love your restaurant. Oh my goodness.
Shannon Bowdey:
So good.
Ashlea Boyer:
Actually we’ll talk about it in the interview I’m sure. But the to go boxes that you have with the fried chicken. Oh my husband’s favorite thing.
Brooke Town:
Yeah, it’s really fun. And we’ve also added a half order of fried chicken for dine-in and take out. So if you just want the breast and the wing or the leg and the thigh we got you covered. Because some people can’t eat that whole thing.
Ashlea Boyer:
Yeah. That’s perfect. So tell us a bit about how you and your husband, Jacob came up with the idea for Spoon Trade and then also Grover Beach Sourdough.
Brooke Town:
Cool. Yeah. So, 1999 I met my husband at The Cracked Crab and he steamed the first big bucket and I dumped it, on opening day. So we are fortunate enough to have been together now for almost 21 years. We just celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. So the restaurant has been a five year goal for about 15 years and we finally made it happen. We were living in San Francisco. We both had amazing jobs. He was the executive chef of a cute little restaurant called Piccino and The Dogpatch area and I was managing Nopa and Nopalito at the time, I’d been with that company for about eight years. So we had great pay, good benefits, lots of perks, lots of bonuses. And we knew we always wanted to open a restaurant and San Francisco wasn’t out of the question. We were still open to that, but we tried to buy a house in 2014 in Glen Park and we’ve been 30% over markets, since we’re talking to real estate agents, this is important, we bid 30% over market and we were outbid by 29 other people,
Ashlea Boyer:
Holy cow. Wow, we’ve got it bad right now, but we don’t have it quite that bad.
Brooke Town:
So we decided, well, if we can’t even buy a house, we’re not going to open a restaurant and be billions of dollars in debt and have investors. So we decided to quit our very comfortable jobs and put everything in storage. We moved back here to the central coast and we went on a road trip around the country, basically for research and development for the restaurant, as far as American food. What that means, living in California and Colorado, all my life. I hadn’t really been to a lot of other states. So it was fun to eat fried chicken and Memphis and Nashville and Louisville and all the really cool Southern cities. So we did that for four months and then we came back. We also did that in a microbus, ’66 Volkswagon Microbus.
Ashlea Boyer:
Wow. That’s also a test of a strong relationship too.
Brooke Town:
It really was, he drove about 10,300 of the miles and I drove about 200 of the miles. Very grateful for his skills behind the wheel. He’s just really good at it, so we came back and started actively seeking spaces. We looked from Los Osos to Los Alamos to Morro Bay to San Luis. We looked all over, just weighing the good and the bad. And we had ran by this space probably a hundred times since we had been back and just said, “Hmm, Grover, hmm. I don’t know.” And this is about six and a half years ago, six years ago. So probably has come a long way in that time. And we’re really proud of where Grover has come. But one day we finally said, “Why don’t we just give this guy a call and look inside?” And that’s what we did. And we saw the potential of this building and just the space.
And it was kind of like a blank canvas in a way, with all the right moving pieces that already had the hood fan. It already had a lot of the floor drains that already had a really nice tile floor. So, there was a lot of bonuses to this space. And so we just kept going through the doors and very serendipitous story, Brian Collins, who you all know and owns Ember, we’re dear friends went to high school together. I was actually in him and Harmony’s wedding. They’re very good… Oh, looks like my background is kind of fading,
Ashlea Boyer:
Oh yeah, there it is.
Brooke Town:
You’re going to edit this. Right?
Ashlea Boyer:
Yeah.
Brooke Town:
So Brian knew that we were looking and he decided to come down and just take a look at the space and just put his 2 cents in. We didn’t ask him or anything, but just as a friend came down and as he was leaving the building, he saw Glenn Martin who was actually the manager of his property at the time and the manager of this property at the time. So they both kind of looked at each other like, “What are you doing here? What are you doing here? Why are you looking at this space?” And so that day Brian called us, gave us Glenn Martin’s number. We didn’t have to do any bidding or fighting. And we just walked through the steps and acquired the space. And there was a lot of really funky, weird details surrounding that week. Mike Lee, our former mentor, the owner of The Cracked Crab had passed away the day before.
Ashlea Boyer:
Oh yeah, I remember that.
Brooke Town:
I feel like maybe some of his energy was floating around pushing Brian to come here at the right time. So, it was a bittersweet of course, to lose Mike, but to gain this space and have faith in Grover and know that this community had so much potential to go upwards and I think that it has. So, I’m really proud of that.
Ashlea Boyer:
And then, Sourdough angle?
Brooke Town:
Oh yeah. Okay, so we started baking the sourdough here. My husband and I had been playing, we were out of work for 18 months after we left San Francisco. So we were testing every recipe, we were going to the farmer’s market every day, any farmer’s market there was, we were there. Learning about the farms, figuring out who the people were, what doing the right thing was. And we got some blueberries from 2 Peas in a Pod. Sorry, they’re out the Arroyo Grande Valley and a lot of times on grapes, blueberries, plums, you see that kind of white dust. So that’s yeast, that’s native yeast. So we use the native yeast from those blueberries to create a starter about six years ago. And that was just flour, water, and blueberries, and the sugar from the blueberries acts as food for the yeast. So then you have this living thing that you have to nurture and feed and make sure it’s the right temperature. So we tried hundreds of batches of sourdough and when we opened the restaurant.
We were pretty close to having a really good technique, but it’s an ever changing thing. But, we did it, we had bread in every nook and cranny and corner of this building. And people wanted to buy it and take it home. We had Celiac’s who can eat it and not get sick. We had people who hadn’t eaten bread in ten years eating our bread and wanting more, wanting to take it. And we just could not keep up with the demand. From the first six months, we knew that we needed another space. We just needed it to be the right space. And about two years ago, we have two regulars John and Peggy that come in here, they own the building and across the street. And we said, “We see the, for rent sign over in the building. What’s up with the building?” And he got so excited. “Oh, it used to be a Papa John’s and it’s already got the ducting and it already has the floor sinks.” And so we basically flipped that space where Grover Beach Sourdough currently is, in about three months. And that was two and a half years ago.
Ashlea Boyer:
Awesome, wow.
Brooke Town:
So we were able to bake more bread and basically meet that demand a couple of times a day.
Ashlea Boyer:
Which is amazing because every time… I know now to call, because you’re sold out half the time. So you don’t get there early…
Brooke Town:
Well, it’s really great now that we’ve moved Grover Beach Sourdough’s edible items under The Spoon Trade roof. So you can come in and get your burger for lunch or your benedict for breakfast and leave with your bread. You don’t have to walk across the street. You don’t have to figure out if they have it or not it’s all under one roof. Which I think is really beneficial to the guest.
Ashlea Boyer:
[crosstalk 00:12:25] Go ahead.Brooke Town:
You go,
Ashlea Boyer:
When we get it, I have to sneak it in the house because if the boys smell it. They will eat it before I can use it for dinner.
Brooke Town:
That’s awesome. So, we did get two new ovens, one for the restaurant, one for the bakery. So we are able to bake more bread now. So every day we have rosemary, honey whole wheat and traditional as a daily thing. And then another flavor in addition. So today we have garlic. Tomorrow is rye. Friday has slipped my mind. Saturday is cheddar. And Sunday is sesame. So you can look for those new flavors coming in as well.
Jordan Hamm:
So we have to go every day is what you’re telling us.
Brooke Town:
Yes, we have lots of options, and things like bagels and babka, and donuts and focaccia and ciabatta and we have the baguettes now. And those are all done in the sourdough style as well. So they are fermented and that’s what people are looking for nowadays is that fermented ingredient, because it breaks down the gluten molecules into really tiny pieces. So your body can-
Ashlea Boyer:
Process them better.
Brooke Town:
Yeah. Did I answered that?
Ashlea Boyer:
Yes.
Jordan Hamm:
So you had quite a bit of change this year. So how has COVID altered your current business plan with both the sourdough and with The Spoon Trade.
Brooke Town:
I mean, it’s turned it upside down, honestly. I’m mean, I think it was March 16th when they said no more dine-in and by March 17th, Jacob and I were serving to-go food. So we’re just adapting with every turn with the bakery and the restaurant, the bakery was extremely successful and there was no where really to grow. We couldn’t really add more items because we didn’t have enough space. We didn’t have enough people. So when they closed indoor again, we decided let’s merge these and let the bakery just focus on baking. They won’t have to worry about guests. They’re still going to sell flour and things over there, but not as much guest relations that can really… When you have bread on the board, that’s a term, bread on the board, it’s a very crucial time situation. But beyond just those pivots of patio versus inside versus takeout.
All of those things are changing, but we’re also wearing masks and doing lots of curbside and lots of takeout and all of a sudden we’re using a lot of to go containers. And my philosophy as a restaurateur, I don’t want to use a lot of… I don’t want to have that impact on the environment, but I have to do what we need to do to survive. So at this point it feels good because it’s hybridized and we do have people eating on the patio. We have extended into the parking lot. We have extended into the sidewalk. So as many people as I can get to eat on our plates, the better. But I’m happy to let them take it away as well. Just those little things, like I would never want to sell so many to go products in the past, but now I have a choice.
So, I think that’s a big impact on our environment. So recycle your to-go containers.
Ashlea Boyer:
Yeah. Well, the one thing I’ve been doing, we’ve all been doing with our industry. We went to masks, gloves and booties, and at least with the gloves and booties you can buy washable ones for us. So we’re only giving away the disposable ones to the clients. At least we’re cutting ourselves out of the trash mix and washing. Because we know we can keep control of it being washed and cleaned. But yeah, I agree every time I hand someone a disposable mask or a pair of gloves, I think it’s just going straight into our oceans.
Brooke Town:
It’s very tricky. We are still trying to keep our businesses thriving and alive and we are adapting.
Shannon Bowdey:
So I love the fresh ingredients you put into your meals. Where do you source most of these items?
Brooke Town:
Well, my husband was at the farmer’s market this morning by Smart & Final, we do that every week. That’s a big one for us. So, Domingo Farms, Bautista Farms, Green Family Farms, and a bunch of little guys too that just sell maybe one or two ingredients. The dry farm watermelon guy is there right now so we love that. And knowing that a lot of the produce hasn’t even seen the refrigerator really before we get it going. And then we go to Rutiz every Friday, Brutus Rutiz, we love Jerry and his wife and everything they’re doing there. We definitely do our best to source from sustainable farms. Pesticides are not our friend and we don’t want that on our food so we definitely look for that. Organic certification is not crucial to our decision making, but it is a bonus. It’s a very expensive process for the small guy to get into that stuff. So that’s why we have conversations with them. Do you spray? No, we don’t. Great, good.
Shannon Bowdey:
I had the peaches and cream on Friday, a dessert from Rutiz Farms and the peaches were, oh my God.
Brooke Town:
One thing about Jerry too, he gets stone fruit and apples from other little farmers that just kind of need somebody to help broker their ingredients. So Jerry truly is a pillar of this community.
Ashlea Boyer:
He is, yeah. I agree. So your career in food service, as you mentioned, it has taken you to some pretty impressive places such as the former Rubicon and the current well-known San Francisco favorite, Nopa, so what are some of the most important things you learned from those experiences? Because those are some pretty good resume points.
Brooke Town:
I mean, it’s countless. I could go on and on about the things I’ve learned. I mean, certainly sourcing, I think is one of the number one things. Even with wine, knowing that they didn’t put a lot of extra stuff in their wine and it was made in a natural way. Like those things are really important, but Nopa taught me that I cannot teach the guests a lesson. When you’re doing 550 covers a night and you have a lot of strict guidelines, like with party size, we don’t take parties more than 10. We don’t do to-go food. I learned to just be humble and know that you’re not going to change their mind if they’re upset or confused, just have to kind of guide them through the experience and hope that they come out on the positive side of things. I worked for some pretty incredible people there that treated me really well gave me raises, gave me time off, gave me a vacation. If there’s a family member that’s sick, just go. “If you need to go.” They used to say.
Like, when Jake’s mother was ill, it’s like, if you need to leave the restaurant, just leave. Just say, I’m out of here. Jake’s mom, she’s on her way out or whatever, and that compassion as a boss I think is really important. So I have been able to pass that along. I have my moments with people, it’s very difficult managing people, no matter what, whether they’re sitting in your dining room or delivering the food that you create, it’s very challenging, but also rewarding. As far as Rubicon goes, I mean, I just learned so much about wine and wine service there. Master Larry Stone, he’s a globally known som and his teachings had passed down through descendants if you will. So it was really great to work off a wine list of 5,000 bottles. Then all of a sudden you’ve learned the [crews 00:21:11] of burgundy, and you’ve learned about Spanish varietals and how to cradle a wine if it has sediment in it. Just so many things, so many things.
Jordan Hamm:
Okay. I also, I love the decor and the logo for Spoon Trade. And I imagine that was influenced by your art background. You completed your art degree in San Francisco and what was the focus of that degree?
Brooke Town:
I have a painting… I have a BFA in painting from San Francisco Art Institute, which is like phenomenal place to visit. If you’re ever up in the city, they do have an open campus, excuse me. There are canvases hanging on the wall. But if you want go in and see what the seniors are doing there. I was only there for three semesters. I did community college and transferred because it couldn’t afford it. But while I was there, it was so wonderful to… The things that they teach you about theory and virtual reality. And being an artist, it’s easy for our minds to go there.
But I think for other people, their minds don’t understand the virtual, like what does that mean? I get to make up anything in the whole world. I love school. School is the most nurturing environment. Having critiques with artwork I think is so valuable. And having people look at your work and say, “It needs a little composition adjustment, or we need a little blue there.” Those moments in life when we can accept them as humans, are so valuable. And if we could just do that a little more in general, would be really good.
Jordan Hamm:
Life lesson for sure.
Brooke Town:
The logo was Jacob’s idea. He wanted that spoon in a circle. I’m sorry about that phone.
Ashlea Boyer:
It’s okay.
Shannon Bowdey:
It’s okay.
Ashlea Boyer:
You’re a [inaudible 00:23:05] business, it’s good.
Brooke Town:
He recently hybridized it and put the crow inside the circle. So Grover Beach Sourdough and The Spoon Trade have merged into that circle. So if you come by the restaurant, you’ll see some stencils painted on the sidewalk. It’s kind of fun just a nod to both the businesses. And I think that spoon symbol that we created is very recognizable at this point. And if you’ve been to Grover Beach, you know about the crows.
Shannon Bowdey:
For sure.
Ashlea Boyer:
And their nightly migration.
Shannon Bowdey:
So The Spoon Trade is a unique name. Where did you come up with that?
Brooke Town:
Well, I’d say probably 2010, 11, 12. We were collecting a lot of spoons, vintage spoons. Jake was ordering them on eBay or collecting them at thrift stores. Nice ones, silver ones. And he started spouting off all the patterns to me. “Oh, that’s a lady Hamilton. Oh, that’s a queen best. That’s a Chantilly lace.” Oh cool. Okay, and so he was giving them to his cooks as a way to instill a sense of pride in one’s tools. And I was working at Nopa, very busy, very crazy. I was ordering the spoons. I was opening the spoons, putting them in the circulation, reaching for spoons and no spoons, guess who had a spoon, the kitchen, the kitchen had all our spoons. So I took my husband’s lead and I bought a bunch of vintage spoons, a couple dozen, maybe three or four dozen, and just went in and say, “Hey, here’s a really nice spoon. Keep this in your kit and stop using our spoons in the front because we need them.”
We got like four dozen spoons back that day. And I think over pizza and whiskey that night, “What about The Spoon Trade.” Kind of a subculture in the kitchen like, “Oh, that’s a cool spoon. Where’d you get that spoon? Oh I love the detail… That’s great for [coinelling 00:25:11] or that’s great for drizzling.” Whatever, you know all the different things that we do. But on a very primal note, it is the one tool that binds us all as humans. We understand what that tool means. No matter what country we live in, no matter where we’re from, whether we eat with our hands or whether we eat with compostable version, that spoon is a signal and we all speak that language. We like to eat. We need to eat. It brings us around each other to share in really, really wonderful moments.
Jordan Hamm:
I love that.
Brooke Town:
But we’ve had that on the back burner for about five years and we were on the fence with this space because we wanted to focus on the fried chicken so we actually considered the names, Felix and Lucille’s. Which were our two unborn children’s names. But hey, if we end up having them, they’re going to take over the restaurant and if we end up not having them, it’s our baby anyways. Felix and Lucille’s was kind of a second place runner up name, but ultimately The Spoon really was a provocative of food and eating and culture.
Ashlea Boyer:
So during this unusual and, dare we hear it again, unprecedented and difficult time, what would be your request of your local neighbors and visitors to the area, in terms of supporting local businesses? And I ask that question because before COVID hit, I know during the slow season, you guys were going through a little bit of adjustment to all of a sudden the flow of tourists and people going out just stops. Maybe we’re all doing Christmas things or whatever. And I know that we heard your call to action and we were like, “The Spoon Trade needs people!” So we were out there and during this time, what would be your request or your advice to all of us?
Brooke Town:
Well, if you’re local and you haven’t been here, don’t worry about coming to Grover Beach. It’s really a fun little spot. The sun is shining the palm trees are blowing in the wind. Give Grover Beach another try because it’s a cool place to be. And for everybody else, visitors included, call ahead if you’re not sure. I think nowadays we’re all calling ahead to make sure they’re open to make sure they have seating, but even if you just buy a cup of soup and a mini loaf or just a mini loaf, just anything you can do right now to contribute to the cashflow is helpful. And again, locals, I know you do it already, but thank you, thank you, thank you for spreading the word because that’s how we do it here in SLO County, we talk about things and we’re more face to face. We’re more hands on versus… People are always going to look at Yelp, they’re always going to look at Google, of course, but I trust what my neighbor is going to say to me first.
Ashlea Boyer:
Exactly. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. It was Shannon’s idea to have you on and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. So thank you for coming on with us.
Brooke Town:
Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Shannon Bowdey:
Really enjoyed having you, thank you.
Jordan Hamm:
[inaudible 00:28:38] really hungry.Shannon Bowdey:
All I can think of right now is I want a bowl of porridge. I never thought I’d be a fan of porridge, but The Spoon Trade changed me.
Brooke Town:
The porridge has been… Definitely people have been asking about that. I know they’re like, “Call it something else.” It’s so much sexier than porridge and it is.
Shannon Bowdey:
[crosstalk 00:29:02] make porridge sexy, for sure.Brooke Town:
Mushrooms or shrimp or whatever. That’s the other thing like trust. Trust fine restaurants to do the right thing. Give it a try. It’s just one meal, you’re going to have thousands more. If you don’t like it, I’ll make it right.
Jordan Hamm:
Thank you, Brooke. Say hi to Jacob.
Brooke Town:
Thank you, ladies. I’ll see you soon, let me know if you need anything else?
Jordan Hamm:
Okay, thanks bye.
Ashlea Boyer:
This is Ashlea Boyer,
Jordan Hamm:
Jordan Hamm,
Shannon Bowdey:
And Shannon Bowdey with the Pismo Beach Homes Team.