Besides its quaint artist shops and galleries and its million-dollar oceanside landscapes, Mendocino has a standout feature that’s lost a little luster of late. The Emerald Triangle is a series of Mendocino pot farms located about three hours north of San Francisco, and the harvest there made marijuana one of the major cash crops in Mendocino County the last 10 years despite the authorities’ constant carping.
The recent statewide OK on pot has maybe dulled the romance behind farming there. No fun anymore if your merchandise isn’t against the law.
The whole idea figures into La Jolla in name only—but there is a connection (however fanciful) between the two villages and a certain local eatery. It’s unabashedly called Mendocino Farms Sandwich Market, and it’s the latest in a seven-venue L.A.-area chain that loves it when you eat happily. The websites, in fact, are plastered with the “eat happy” mantra, and the inspiration is apparently catching on. Another Mendocino Farms is set to go online in Del Mar later this year. For now, we can get our happy on in a shop that makes a surgical lab look like a slum. Obsessive cleanliness is everywhere, leading you to believe your meal is that much more special. And it is, by golly. The “not so fried” chicken in the chicken sandwich is actually roasted and comes with a side of chipotle barbecue sauce for dipping; the short ribs are braised for four hours with red wine; and the falafel wrap comes in a panini tortilla and is seasoned with hummus that doesn’t even belong on the planet. A carefully created selection of curated wines and local craft beers wash it all down. There’s a kids menu, too, which includes the usual, like peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese—but Mendocino Farms thought enough of its youngsters to include provolone as one of its fixings. Cheddar? How pedestrian!
And if you really hurry, you can take advantage of a special in honor of Elvis’ 82nd birthday (yup, the big 8-2). Check out the PB3, the same kind of peanut butter and jelly sandwich that you or your parents watched Elvis’ pelvis by—only this one’s slathered with creamy peanut butter under bacon, sliced bananas, almonds and green apples. If you don’t jump on this by the 15th (the last day it’s offered), don’t call here, because we can’t help.
Husband-and-wife team Mario Del Pero and Ellen Chen opened their first Mendocino Farms in L. A. in 2005, determined to lead through empowerment and build a thriving business from the passion behind a good idea. For them, Mendo is a true community resource—hence its “Giving Back” program, wherein representatives from local schools and nonprofits are invited on select Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 to 8 p.m. The restaurant donates 20 percent of the evening’s proceeds back to a designated cause. Sustainable farming practices are also top of mind at Mendocino Farms, just like they are in the “Triangle,” wherein marijuana cultivation is a way of life. One side washes the other—while the legalization of pot has created a mini-gold rush in Northern California, the parallel community mindset has fueled a seriously good hard opening for the restaurant, which launched Dec. 8. Other than the plants all over the indoors and patio, you won’t find any newly legal namesake products, and you don’t need to. Here, the food speaks for itself.