**A Chef's Love Affair with the Northwest**

When it comes to cooking, one chef has a special fondness for the Pacific Northwest. The region's bounty of fresh ingredients and stunning natural beauty have a profound impact on his culinary creations. From hearty root vegetables to the finest seafood, every ingredient is carefully selected and incorporated into his dishes.

The chef takes pride in using 100% of his scraps, turning what might be considered waste into a valuable resource. He loves this time of year, when everything is at its peak and can withstand the rigors of travel. Root vegetables like carrots, beets, and parsnips are staples on his menu, along with harder-to-find ingredients like turnips and rutabaga.

The Northwest's unique terroir lends itself perfectly to a culinary culture that celebrates local flavors. The chef's restaurant is no exception, with dishes that showcase the region's freshest produce and seafood. From elk tenderloin medallions to pan-seared salmon, every ingredient is chosen for its exceptional quality and flavor.

**A Chef's Philosophy**

When it comes to cooking, the chef believes in simplicity and boldness. He eschews elaborate presentation in favor of straightforward, honest flavors that let each ingredient shine. This approach allows him to create dishes that are both familiar and exciting, with a focus on what grows locally and is caught fresh.

The chef's philosophy extends beyond the kitchen to his relationship with customers. He believes that food has the power to bridge divides and bring people together, and he takes pride in serving meals that inspire connection and community.

**A Chef's Love of Adventure**

One of the chef's greatest joys is exploring the outdoors and experiencing the beauty of the Pacific Northwest. When he's not cooking up a storm in the kitchen, he can be found skiing or snowboarding down the slopes. The thrill of speed and the rush of adrenaline are essential to his creative process, and he finds that time spent outside inspires new ideas and flavors.

**The Chef's Take on Food**

For this chef, food is more than just sustenance – it's a way of life. He believes in embracing creativity and adventure in the kitchen, whether it means experimenting with new ingredients or trying out innovative techniques. The result is a culinary experience that is both authentic and exciting.

One of his most popular dishes is a venison crepe, made with elk tenderloin medallions, cherry compote, and a hint of five-spice. The combination of flavors and textures is truly remarkable, and the chef takes pride in crafting each dish by hand.

**A Chef's Life**

Life as a chef in the Pacific Northwest has its challenges, but the rewards are well worth it. From unpredictable weather conditions to limited access to certain ingredients, every day brings new opportunities for creativity and adaptation. The chef loves the sense of community that comes with working in a small town, where everyone knows each other's names and food is at the heart of the culture.

For this chef, there's no better way to experience the beauty of the Pacific Northwest than by sharing it with others through his cooking. Whether he's serving up a hearty breakfast or crafting a sophisticated dinner, every meal is a reflection of his love for this special place.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI feel like I shouldbe in a video.We are the robots.So last year marijuanawas legalized here inWashington state andthe weed industry haserupted in sales.I'm headed south toLongview Washingtonwhere I'm going to visitan indoor marijuanafacility.I'm on my way to visitWashingtonian Adam Sykes,the first person toreceive a proper licensefor edible pot products.He's doing somethingunexpected.Instead of butter orbrownies,he's created weed infusedcarbonated beverages,sodas that canget you high.Should be pretty fun.Am I saying I smoke?I am not.You're not sayingyou smoke?I'm not saying I smoke.It's almost beingtreated like it's justa basic ingredient, likea pear, or an apple, ora glass of water.But there's a lotof reasons why it'scome this far.Yeah, I'll bereally curious to seewhat he has to say.You ready to see wherethe magic happens here?Yeah.I'm pretty interested tosee what youhave going on.So we'll have toknock on the door.Everything is, and this a502 Washington, facility,everything isunder camera, so.Oh, totally understand.I am going to needyou to sign in.Okay.There you go.Alright.Sothis is the magic passthat is going to take metoThe magic passto a world of mystery.Yes.And then some.All right.Before showing methe process of how heactually makes hisweed and infused soda,Adam wants to understandthe importance touse the right marijuanato use in his product.Everybody focuses on THC,right?Right.It's the main agentthat's responsible forthe psychoactiveeffect of marijuana.But some of the lesserknown cannabinoidsare CBN, so that'skinda the couch-lockeffect where you don'twanna go anywhere.You don't wanna go fora hike,you kinda just wannacheck out your couch forthree or four hours.What we look forin addition to thosecannabinoids is wealso look forterpene profiles.Terpenes are,it's the flavors.It's the essences.One of our drinks, ourpomegranate, we look forhybrid strains sothis bubble bomb wouldbe perfect for that.So what I'd belooking forhere is it continuesto grow trichomes.It's a littlecrystal-equsesort of things thatform on the plant.It means it's gettingpretty close to harvest,being mature.And so to me that's like,that's wherethe magic is,that's wherethe cannabinoids THC.When it reallycomes down to it,you guysare science geeks,more than anything.I remember inhigh school,when you had weed,you just had weed.Now you've got strains.You've got cannabinoids,You've got flavonoids.You've got terpenes.And where more and moreresearch is coming outall the time, especiallyas legalizationcontinues, we canstart to do research,and we can start tounderstand how all thesecomponents interplay.Let's walk around andcheck out someof the others.What else do you have?What else doyou have here?We have 29different strains.Enigma, Catatonic,Pineapple express,Melon Gum, TangerineDream, Master Kush,we've got Purple Urple.So Keith, I'm looking forsomething that's prettyearthy, pretty strong,can you show me somethingthat you've got?Cuz we're looking atformulating lemon gingernext week andkinda wanna see what'son the ingredient list.MTF, it'sa Matanuska Thunderfuck.Okay.Where do come up, okay,we're not gonnaeven go there.That name, that namealone is hilarious.Let me smell that one.Now that I'vehad a chance tocheck out Keith'sgrowing operation,it's time to find outhow all this crazinessrelates to Adam's soda.What I'm looking atright here is a menuof cannabinoids andI'm looking ata menu of terpenes.And based onthe composition of these,I can pick and formulateto a specific drink.This is a hand trimmedproduct because itdoesn't looklike it's beenran through a lawn mower.Okay, andI've got a lot moreof these little buds,packed full ofcannabinoids.This is good trim.This is the trimthat I want.We see your wholeoperation, and that wasreally cool, man,what you got going on.And then we go into yourphase, and that's where Iwanna see your operation,so let's do it.Let's do it.Let's go make some soda.Let's do it.What made you decide toget into this business?Did you just wakeup one morning anddid you just say,you know what,I'm just gonnastart making soda?Or what was it?I was sitting in Austin,Texas with a groupof friends andwe were watching theelection results come in.Right.And we're like,this is actuallygonna happen.It's always on the new,right?Oh, marijuana'son the ballot.It almost never passes.Right.At least a couple yearsago that was the case.We saw this like,this thing's gonna pass.And so it kind ofties in with my ownpolitical beliefs aboutpeople being able to maketheir own decisions anddo what they want.And so the twothings came eye andeye and had a couple offriends in marketing andbranding, we startedkicking around some ideasand this is whatwe came up with.And now you're outhere making soda.Now we're making soda.That's crazy, man.So basically what we'redoing is we're convertingthat raw marijuana andwe're ending upwith this extract.Okay, so this isconcentrated extract.Right here's a littleunder three liters.I can smell that.Yeah, let me-Holy smokes.Let me show you kindawhat it looks like is,smell that.That's weird dude.That's intense man.Yeah.Sobasically what you havehere is enough liquidmarijuana to create about17 to 18 hundred drinks.This little amount andso before that,in actual weed, how muchis that approximately,like that container?This is probablya little bit overone pound of marijuanacreated this extract.Makes 1800 bottles, okay,That's a big number.Yeah, prettypretty potent.So now we got thatconcentrate, andnow we get to actuallymake some soda.We're gonna makesome soda, yeah.Let's do it.All right, that's cool.All right, sowhat's the first step?Okay now what we're gonnado is we're gonna getsome hot water boiling.If you warm this up andwe're gonna alsopull some RO,some reverse osmosiswater, filtered water outof the system so we canstart boiling that andgetting that warmed up.Now are you a oneman operation?Typically when we aredoing this at capacity wecan do it withthree people.We can cook a 500gallon batch.Wow 500 gallons geewiz that is crazy.Why soda?Why not you know,brownies,cupcakes orcookies or something.We wanted to do somethingthat was different andbetter and unusual.And one of the reasonsthat we really likebeverage, case in point,my mom came over forThanksgiving.Am I gonna say, hey mom,before turkey you wannago out on the porch andsmoke a joint?She's probablygonna say no.But within the contextof a drink,which everybody'scomfortable socializingwith a beverageIt's not unusual.No it's not.So I think a lot of thestigma goes away becausewe're all comfortableenjoying a drink,so I think we're ableto benefit with some ofthat, even if itisn't marijuana.Right.After getting a behindthe scenes look at Adam'sproduction process,I can tell he's superpassionate aboutwhat he's doing, andI'm gettingreally excited totry some of his soda formyself.Alright Derek soI knew you were coming sowe made a batch forus to taste soyou get a feeling forwhat the pop taste like.I like how that sounds.Okay we can only tasteit prior to addingmarijuana, oncethere's marijuana,based on state law wecan't consumer andmarijuana inthis facility.Oh man That's reallygood brother.Yeah?That's really good.I wish it was 80 degreesoutside right now.That's a nice balancebetween all the fruits.But just thatlittle tartnessfrom that pomegranateis just right.Yes, there'snothing in here.This is pure juice.This is pure juice guys.This is good, bro.Yeah.Drinking Adam'sprofessionallyweed-infused soda is onlyone way Washingtonianscan enjoy getting high.The final stopon my journey isbringing me high intothe sky to visit one ofWashington's mostrecognizable landmarks.So I've never been tothe mountains at all.I've never beento them at all.And I'm going tothe highest elevatedrestaurant in the state.It's calledthe Summit House andit's on top of CrystalMountain ski resort.I'm going thereto meet head chefZachary Reid to cook upone of his mountaintopinspired dishes.I'm on a gondola, sothat's tellingme something.We're goingsomewhere way up.High up, more than likelythis is gonna requirea helicopter forfood to be delivered.We're up here inthe mountains.It's cold.So I'm guessingyou're being used fora predominantlywarm hot menu.Warm hot menu.A lot of European comfortfood just taken tothe next level.Like the crepes,for instance.Kind of just tryingto utilize allthe ingredientsthe best we can.We're up here onthe mountain.The freshera product I can get,the better itis up here andthe better quality forguest as well.I wanna get down andcook with you man.Perfect, yeah Ithink I got an extraapron for you.Let's start with ourroot vegetables.I like to keepall our scraps,we make our stockwith all our scraps.Yep, one hundred percentyield, love that.You know I lovethis time of year,everything is hearty.Yes, andthat's why I incorporatea lot of the root veg andhardy vegetables on tomy menu cause it lasts.It's not gonna gobad on you andit can survivethe trip up here.And it just, you knowthe thing is, it justdefinitely representsthe Northwest too.Do you have days where,like, oh, you know what?You get a call andbe like,hey, due to conditionswe can't deliver today.If it's too windy,though,we can't even getup here to work.So the restaurant'sclosed.The restaurant'sjust closed?Yes.And that justmeans more fun.That just means more fun.You know, I gotta ask youone question, though.Yes?Tell me about the handleson the saute pan.I've never seennobody do that.Why you do that?We cover the burgerswith these.A lot of people they liketo smashthe burgers down.Smashing does not makethe burgers faster,it just squeezesthe juice out of them.This way we canget the burger,we can cook it fast andstill keep the juice in.Not dry.And keep it moist.I'm sorry,I'm taking that idea.It's all yours.What else you gonnasurprise me with?A venison crepe.We've got elk tenderloinmedallions that I cut up,a little Rainiercherry demi glace.And we're gonna finishthat off with a friseesalad with a little bitof giant cranberries,goat cheese,pumpkin seeds anda citrus trufflevinaigrette on that.That is called the realdeal man' s meal,I'm ready to eat.Chef thank youvery much fortaking your outdoing this.Looks really goodThank youI'm lookingforward to it.What should we try first?Perfect, why don't wedig into the crepe?You cut the crepe, andI'll I'll getsome of this.Perfect.This tenderloin.All right.I'm going in.That five spice andcherry goes sowell together.A little kick,sweetness, tartness.I need elk in my life.People are scared of it,they thinkit's too gamey,it's just a really richflavorful piece of meat.It's gamey, butthat sauce andthat spice that'sin that sauce,the gaminess is cut out,you know?This is likerubbing belly food.When you're out there,it's freezing cold,you want something heavy,warm.I think this reallydoes the trick.How much time do you getto go out on the slopes?Everyday.Do you really?You hit the slopeseveryday?The lifts usually closebefore we get outta here,so it's one ofthe requirements toworking up here.You have to be a, kindof, advanced skier orsnowboarder.It is requiredto be a skier ora snowboarder to workat this restaurant.Bro, can I get a toaston chef life inthe mountains?Yes.Yes, man.Oh, man.I was hoping to comeall the way out hereto see Mount Rainier.Now, Mount Rainier wouldbe somewhere, somewherein this area.But Mother Nature justdecided just to giveme a tease.And that's where it endsguys, my journey acrossWashington has come toa close here on a cloudyridge with Mount Rainierhiding just out of sight.Which is actually kind offitting, because there ismore to this statethan meets the eye.>From the Puget Soundto the Cascades,the bounty of WashingtonState is unparalleled.It has produceda culinary culture thatfocuses on what growsin our backyards andswims in the watersjust off shore.And delivers it to theplate with minimal fussbut flavors so huge,they'll blow your mind.This state is like that.It is both honest andsurprising.Simple and bold.Close knit and diverse.And it's foodreflects that.Here classics arecelebrated while foreigningredients are embracedas our own.Award winning chefs andhome cooks can both craftincredible meals straightout of their backyards.Creativity and adventureare second nature.Coffee will alwaysrun in our veins andthe salmon is just asgood battered and friedas it is freshly smokedover an elder wood fire.Here in Washington,food bridges the gapthat divide us, andthat's what reallymatters in the end.Yeah.Forget that high fiveshit, we can hug.Yeah!Did you hear whatshe just said?She said, forgetthat high five shit.That's what's up.\n"