Jeanne Nolan, Grower & Author | "You've beaten them all."

These words were great to hear, especially because they were uttered by Jeanne Nolan after eating her first meal at Localis. Author of From the Ground Up: A Food Grower's Education in Life, Love, and the Movement That's Changing the Nation, and founder of the Chicago-based business The Organic Gardener Ltd., Jeanne is in Sacramento to propose an organic garden project, something she is passionate about and experienced doing. Her aim is to create an organic garden at one or more of our local malls. Yes, that's right, a mall. Imagine an interactive organic garden, one designed with children in mind, a patch of green in an otherwise hardscape of pavement, concrete and marble. Right here in the nation's Farm-to-Fork capital. Yes, we think it's a brilliant idea too.

In addition to her business goals for the trip, Jeanne and her company's landscape architect Jackie Kotz, arrived in Sacramento ready with a list of four farm-to-table restaurants where they wanted to eat during their three-day visit. The first stop? Localis. Last night.

Most of you will be thinking, "Oh, too bad, Localis is closed on Sundays." And then there are those of you who truly understand my passion for cooking and feeding people, who know I often host special parties on Sundays, something my team and I were in the middle of doing when Jeanne and her associate Jackie walked through the door.

Our server Jamie entertaining Jeanne while I'm distracting Jackie with my camera...

They asked to be seated. So we seated them, fed them and learned about their work. As they prepared to leave, they stopped by the private party to thank everyone for so graciously sharing the space for the evening.

After brief introductions, someone called out "Hey, you're from Chicago. You must eat in great restaurants all the time!" which brings us back to the the title of my post. Without skipping a beat, Jeanne turned to me and replied, "You've beaten them all."

Thank you, Jeanne. We hope you stop by Localis the next time you're in town. We want updates about your project!

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