Black Meetings & Tourism - Fairmont Buzzes Past 'Local' Cuisine With New Hyper Local Menu Items

Food Service Beat
Fairmont Buzzes Past 'Local' Cuisine With New Hyper Local Menu Items
Luxury Hotel Brand Brings Local to the Next Level by Adopting Livestock & More The Fairmont Newport Beach is upping the ante when it comes to sustainable food sourcing and has broadened the “go local” mantra by harvesting bee apiaries, adopting local goats, adding on-site herb and vegetable gardens and installing food waste systems. Rooftop Honeybees Fairmont Newport Beach is the first hotel in Orange County, CA, to support the local honey movement. Beginning summer 2011, Executive Chef Chad Blunston and a local beekeeping partner saved their current hive of honeybees from extermination when a few hundred were found “buzzing” in the hotel’s ground-level parking lot. The three hives, now consisting of 125,000 bees, reside on the highest point of the rooftop and provide the hotel with house-harvested, treatment-free honey, used in the hotel’s desserts and pasties, accompaniment to tea as well as special-event honey tastings. Vegetable and Herb Garden Executive Chef Chad Blunston and his culinary team tend to its new 700-sq. ft. vegetable and herb garden. Thanks to the “green thumb” of the culinary department, the garden now provides vegetables and herbs for the new menu at the hotel’s bambú Restaurant & Lounge. Chefs planted more than 100 plants which now yield a bounty including pumpkins, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes and a wide variety of peppers. Herbs planted include lavender; basil; chives; thyme and a wide variety of mints. Adopted Goats The hotel recently adopted seven goats, supporting their pursuit of the best local ingredients. In collaboration with Drake Farms Goat Dairy, where the female goats reside, the animals are cared for by dedicated farmers and staff and receive regular visits from the hotel’s Executive Chef. The farm uses the goats’ milk to produce organic and sustainable goat cheese, which the chef uses the cheese in dishes for the restaurant and lounge as well for in-room guest amenities. Food Waste Recycling System Taking it one step further, the hotel has implemented a food waste treatment system to turn food refuse into high quality organic fertilizer. The system processes organic waste and kitchen prep into a reusable landscape by-product. Since the system inception two months ago, the hotel has diverted 30,000 pounds of waste from local landfills. The nutrient-rich product is used in the vegetable and herb garden, on-property landscaping and donated to local farms. Paul Ohm, general manager, said “With our new rooftop bees, vegetable and herb garden, adopted goats and our food waste recycling system, we hope to reduce our impact on the environment. With a strong commitment to our Green Partnership Program, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was founded on an enduring connection to the land and communities where we do business.” The Fairmont Green Partnership program allows eco-friendly hotels to meet and exceed guest expectations of operational sustainability. It focuses on improvements in waste management, sustainability, and energy and water conservation at our properties, and innovative community outreach programs involving local groups and partnerships. Through operational improvements, environmental benefits are realized, often through reduced utilities consumption and best practices. The green resorts sustainability efforts encompass everything from recycling and organic waste diversion in the hotel’s kitchens to retrofitting energy-efficient lighting. To also include such activities as redistribution of household goods and food to those in need, purchasing green power and employing sustainable energy technology. ABOUT FAIRMONT NEWPORT BEACH: Fairmont Newport Beach radiates a new dramatic feel from both an architectural and design standpoint. Located in the heart of Orange County and just a stone's throw away from John Wayne/Orange County Airport and the many local beaches in the area, the hotel offers 440 luxurious accommodations including 54 exquisite suites with Bose stereo, oversized soaking tubs, marble entries, pillow-top mattress with Egyptian cotton linens, high-definition flat panel TV, DVD and CD Players. The hotel also includes a fresh designed sky pool deck, new fitness facilities featuring Techno Gym and Life Fitness equipment and addition to the Orange County dining scene, bambú Restaurant. Under the leadership of Executive Chef Chad Blunston and his experienced culinary team, bambú Restaurant offers fresh California cuisine paired with a bold combination of flavors that celebrate the very best of seasonal and local foods that Southern California has to offer. Set in the midst of a spectacular four-story atrium with lush gardens, bambú Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. For more information or for reservations, please call (949) 476-2007 or (800) 441-1414 or visit www.fairmont.com/newportbeach.

Food Service Beat

Fairmont Buzzes Past 'Local' Cuisine With New Hyper Local Menu Items

Luxury Hotel Brand Brings Local to the Next Level by Adopting Livestock & More

The Fairmont Newport Beach is upping the ante when it comes to sustainable food sourcing and has broadened the “go local” mantra by harvesting bee apiaries, adopting local goats, adding on-site herb and vegetable gardens and installing food waste systems.

Rooftop Honeybees
Fairmont Newport Beach is the first hotel in Orange County, CA, to support the local honey movement. Beginning summer 2011, Executive Chef Chad Blunston and a local beekeeping partner saved their current hive of honeybees from extermination when a few hundred were found “buzzing” in the hotel’s ground-level parking lot. The three hives, now consisting of 125,000 bees, reside on the highest point of the rooftop and provide the hotel with house-harvested, treatment-free honey, used in the hotel’s desserts and pasties, accompaniment to tea as well as special-event honey tastings.

Vegetable and Herb Garden
Executive Chef Chad Blunston and his culinary team tend to its new 700-sq. ft. vegetable and herb garden. Thanks to the “green thumb” of the culinary department, the garden now provides vegetables and herbs for the new menu at the hotel’s bambú Restaurant & Lounge. Chefs planted more than 100 plants which now yield a bounty including pumpkins, zucchini, heirloom tomatoes and a wide variety of peppers. Herbs planted include lavender; basil; chives; thyme and a wide variety of mints.

Adopted Goats
The hotel recently adopted seven goats, supporting their pursuit of the best local ingredients. In collaboration with Drake Farms Goat Dairy, where the female goats reside, the animals are cared for by dedicated farmers and staff and receive regular visits from the hotel’s Executive Chef. The farm uses the goats’ milk to produce organic and sustainable goat cheese, which the chef uses the cheese in dishes for the restaurant and lounge as well for in-room guest amenities.

Food Waste Recycling System
Taking it one step further, the hotel has implemented a food waste treatment system to turn food refuse into high quality organic fertilizer. The system processes organic waste and kitchen prep into a reusable landscape by-product. Since the system inception two months ago, the hotel has diverted 30,000 pounds of waste from local landfills. The nutrient-rich product is used in the vegetable and herb garden, on-property landscaping and donated to local farms.

Paul Ohm, general manager, said “With our new rooftop bees, vegetable and herb garden, adopted goats and our food waste recycling system, we hope to reduce our impact on the environment. With a strong commitment to our Green Partnership Program, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was founded on an enduring connection to the land and communities where we do business.”

The Fairmont Green Partnership program allows eco-friendly hotels to meet and exceed guest expectations of operational sustainability. It focuses on improvements in waste management, sustainability, and energy and water conservation at our properties, and innovative community outreach programs involving local groups and partnerships. Through operational improvements, environmental benefits are realized, often through reduced utilities consumption and best practices.

The green resorts sustainability efforts encompass everything from recycling and organic waste diversion in the hotel’s kitchens to retrofitting energy-efficient lighting. To also include such activities as redistribution of household goods and food to those in need, purchasing green power and employing sustainable energy technology.

ABOUT FAIRMONT NEWPORT BEACH:
Fairmont Newport Beach radiates a new dramatic feel from both an architectural and design standpoint. Located in the heart of Orange County and just a stone's throw away from John Wayne/Orange County Airport and the many local beaches in the area, the hotel offers 440 luxurious accommodations including 54 exquisite suites with Bose stereo, oversized soaking tubs, marble entries, pillow-top mattress with Egyptian cotton linens, high-definition flat panel TV, DVD and CD Players. The hotel also includes a fresh designed sky pool deck, new fitness facilities featuring Techno Gym and Life Fitness equipment and addition to the Orange County dining scene, bambú Restaurant. Under the leadership of Executive Chef Chad Blunston and his experienced culinary team, bambú Restaurant offers fresh California cuisine paired with a bold combination of flavors that celebrate the very best of seasonal and local foods that Southern California has to offer. Set in the midst of a spectacular four-story atrium with lush gardens, bambú Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. For more information or for reservations, please call (949) 476-2007 or (800) 441-1414 or visit www.fairmont.com/newportbeach.