O, PIONEERS IN PASADENA (Los Angeles Times 1/25/07 )
... Inside the beds, the growth is dense, with leaves of perfectly equal height. Dervaes trims some mizuna like a skilled barber. His touch goes back generations. Belgian forefathers landscaped royal palaces, and his grandfather was a gardener in the U.S. ...
... Jim McCardy, owner and chef at Marston's restaurant in Pasadena, was impressed when the Dervaes family came cold-calling with some of their baby greens.
"You could really tell they were in the ground a couple hours earlier," he says. "You can taste the difference." He takes whatever salad and garnishes the family has, checking in with them on Mondays to see what produce is available and planning his dinner menus for the week around it.
"There's a real movement among chefs to know where your produce comes from. And I can tell customers, 'Up the street and around the corner,' " McCardy adds.
