In 2015, Mendelsohn took on the role of chair of the D.C. “The food policy boot camp makes chefs realize the voice that they have.”Ĭhef Mendelsohn has opened the first PLNT Burger in New York City. ![]() “Chefs are taking on a new role in the world-one that goes beyond your restaurant’s four walls,” Mendelsohn says. He soon found willing mentors in not only Nischan, but also Andrés and Tom Colicchio. Instead of quaffing wine and networking, Mendelsohn and 14 other chefs rolled up their sleeves and brainstormed creative solutions to food issues, from sustainability to food insecurity. His life was upended when he attended the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change, hosted by food equity advocate Michel Nischan in Pescadero, California. Good Stuff sourced from local farms, planted trees in Brazil’s Caraíva River Basin with The Nature Conservancy, and donated labor and funds to José Andrés’ crisis relief organization DC Central Kitchen.īut it wasn’t until 2014 that a lightbulb went off for the former Top Chef. In 2008, he opened his Capitol Hill restaurant, Good Stuff Eatery, which quickly became a favorite hub for politicians and changemakers, including Former President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama.įor Mendelsohn, the restaurant’s political location became a springboard for joining the urgent national conversations surrounding farming, food access, and sustainability. Surrounded by politicians and staffers advocating for change in their respective sectors, Mendelsohn felt inspired to apply a similarly activist attitude to what he cared most about: food systems. to launch his own restaurant that he started to understand the political power of food. One of the foremost food policy chefs in America today, Mendelsohn grew up in a family of philanthropic restaurant owners. We spoke with former Top Chef contestant Spike Mendelsohn about the Greek and Jewish comfort foods that built his early palate, how surfing inspired his plant-based shift, and why he champions fast food. On January 24, the first PLNT Burger in New York City-and the chain’s first standalone location-debuted in Union Square.
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