Black garlic, dehydrated herb stems and preserved lemons are just some of the atypical ingredients used in the kitchens at The Ameswell Hotel in Mountain View.
The Ameswell, a sustainable hotel founded in 2021 on 10 acres of land on Moffett Boulevard, is on track to be carbon neutral by next year, according to general manager Ru Paster. Solar panels power approximately 16% of the hotel’s energy, and 96% of single-use plastics have been eliminated on its premises, Paster said. The sustainable initiatives extend into the kitchen, which services sit-down restaurant Roger, casual cafe FlyBy and an outdoor taqueria built into a retro Airstream.
“We try to have as little waste as possible,” executive chef Jack Bui said. “We preserve a lot of things, we blacken a lot of things, we dehydrate herbs for sauces.”
Bui preserves parts of lemons that otherwise would be discarded to decrease food waste. Menu items like Roger’s Chicken Schnitzel are served with lemon moons as garnish, meaning that parts of the lemon would typically be thrown away. Bui combats this problem by preserving them and incorporating the preserved product into aioli to accompany Roger’s Shrimp Boil.
Blackening is an aging process, commonly used in East Asia to create black garlic, which has a rich, concentrated flavor. Bui incorporates black garlic into an urfa biber (Turkish chile pepper) vinaigrette used in Roger’s Koji Aged NY Strip entree, and she incorporates black shallots into an aioli used in FlyBy’s Steak Sandwich.
Stems of herbs aren’t wasted either. Bui dehydrates them, pulverizes them into a powder and then uses the powdered stems to season sauces like Roger’s Charred Sour Cream and Onion Dip.
Additionally, vegetable trims that otherwise would be discarded are used to make the broth, an essential component of dishes like Roger’s Shrimp Boil. When butchering beef, excess meat is used to make FlyBy’s Steak Sandwich, and excess fat is reduced down to tallow to sauté the ingredients used in Roger’s Braised Beef Cheeks.
Filtering cooking oil
The Ameswell partners with Filta – a cooking oil micro-filtration, fryer cleaning and waste oil recycling company – to reuse and recycle the kitchen’s cooking oil. Filta’s technology removes the micro food particles that remain in fry oil to allow The Ameswell to reuse its cooking oil.
“They even take out the allergies – they’re able to remove flour down to minuscule particles,” Bui said. “The technologies they use to clean the oil and filter like that I had never seen until here. I was just stunned, because most traditional kitchens just dump the oil in a designated area, and you don’t really think about it.”
Filta recycles oil that isn’t clean enough to reuse, repurposing it as biofuel or other sources. Just in the last quarter of 2022, Filta helped The Ameswell save 1,850 pounds of oil and recycle 2,152 pounds of oil, according to Paster.
Additionally, new initiatives will soon be rolling out. Executive sous chef Chris Blankinship is spearheading an initiative to create garum, a fermented fish sauce, from both steak trims and coffee grounds.
Bui also looks forward to implementing projects that collaborate between the bar and the kitchen. Currently, she makes tepache from old pineapple skins from the bar and outdoor taqueria, reduces it to a syrup and turns it into a vinaigrette for The Ameswell’s banquet menu. She said she aims to incorporate the vinaigrette into the Roger or FlyBy menu “soon.” Bui also plans to give the bar excess bacon grease from the kitchen so they can fat-wash alcohol, which adds umami notes and a silky texture to alcohol.
Local produce
The Ameswell also has an outdoor herb garden for kitchen use.
“It’s small, but we’re going to be moving into some bigger beds,” Bui said. “We’re going to be picking herbs and growing things ourselves and trying to find the seeds that we can’t easily access through our purveyors.”
The Ameswell uses GreenLeaf, a Northern California food distributor that touts its commitment to “sourcing locally grown, seasonal items,” to supply its produce. To supplement shipments from GreenLeaf, Bui visits the Mountain View Farmers’ Market.
“The Mountain View Farmers’ Market is right around the corner from where I live, so I just go over there and pick up things (to use in The Ameswell’s kitchen),” Bui said.
But there’s still room for improvement. Single-use plastics are still present in cling film. And while biodegradable garbage bags are used in some parts of the hotel, they aren’t strong enough for kitchen use, Paster noted. Additionally, the bar features wine on tap, and while four vendors bring their wine in metal containers, four vendors still use plastic containers to deliver their wine. Paster said The Ameswell is currently trying to find other vendors who will deliver wine in metal containers.
“From inception, the intent of The Ameswell was to be much more than just the greenest hotel in Silicon Valley,” Paster said. “By focusing on eco-friendly practices in everything we do, we committed ourselves to being stewards in this emerging sustainable economy. The goal of carbon neutrality is based on our collective environmental values, and it’s now becoming a reality. However, we understand the magnitude of the challenge, and offsetting our carbon emissions is just one small step. Our commitment to action remains strong, and we’re excited to be celebrating this important milestone.”
The Ameswell Hotel is located at 800 Moffett Blvd., Mountain View. For more information, visit theameswellhotel.com.
