Profiles

Traci Des Jardins

Traci Des Jardins is a founding Seafood Choices Alliance member and the chef/owner of Jardinièreand Mijita and the managing chef of Acme Chophouse—all in San Francisco. Although each of the three concepts is wildly different, they are all committed to three bottom lines: profit, people and the planet. All of the restaurants buy seafood only from sustainable sources, and local whenever possible.

What is your favorite seafood to eat?
I don’t really have a favorite. I love a lot of local fish—petrale sole, sanddabs, sardines, anchovies and squid.

What is your favorite seafood to prepare at the restaurants?
I love cooking sardines. They’re kind of a hard sell, but I love eating and preparing them.

What's the most popular seafood dish on your menu?
At Jardinière, the favorites are wild salmon and halibut. We have a local salmon fishery and our halibut is usually from Alaska. At Mijita we use mahimahi for fish tacos and ceviches, and Acme changes their fish special daily to reflect the best possible choice with sustainability high on the criteria list.

How did you get interested in the issue of sustainable seafood?
The depletion of our natural resources concerns me. I think chefs have a special responsibility to help to guide consumers in the right direction about their choices in seafood and to inspire the consumer to try new things from sustainable sources.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
I try not to make any absolutes and I try to take into account the entire environmental impact of what we serve. I try to make sure for the most part that I’m buying and choosing carefully for the restaurant.

How has it changed what you serve?
I don’t serve stuff that has really been dramatically depleted or is being fished in an irresponsible manner. It takes a fair amount of work to stay on top of the constantly changing map of the fisheries. We have an on-going dialog with the wait staff as to how we make the choices that we do and we encourage them to pass this information onto the guests when there is appropriate interest. We try not to lecture to our guests on these issues, but to provide them with the best information that we can.

Do you feel it limits what you can offer?
There are fish that I would like to use, but I don’t feel I should be using, like Atlantic cod or monkfish. I do miss working with some fish, but I would be horrified to learn that we have eaten something into extinction. It’s a challenge and I know my sous chefs are sometimes frustrated by it. It would be nice if there was an endless supply of everything available, but that is just not the case.

Why are you a Seafood Choices member?
I think it’s a great organization. It does great things to disseminate information about what to be aware of.

First posted June 7, 2001. Updated January 15, 2006.