Tom Fundaro: The Chef Behind Farmstand 46
By Hilary Grant
A seasoned local chef has decided to take his food on the road… as well as planting, growing and harvesting it.
Central Coast foodies may already be familiar with Tom Fundaro. Currently the Executive Chef at Villa Creek in Paso Robles, he is perhaps best known as the imaginative hand behind that eatery’s historically-influenced Rancho Mission menu – rustic dishes with a Mediterranean/Spanish flair, using local products and techniques that were also available in The Golden State a couple hundred years ago. Diners at Villa Creek, he says, can enjoy grass-fed beef, quail, organic vegetables and fish caught from nearby waters.
“I’d like our guests to know we take great care in bringing quality, well-grown, well-handled produce and proteins to the table,” explains native Californian Fundaro, whose around-the-country cooking resume includes elite restaurants in Santa Fe, New York City and Napa Valley. “I can sleep at night, knowing that nothing we feed you is going to cause cancer or diabetes.”
Now, this passionate-about-keeping-it-real chef has brought his organic and sustainability perspective to a new venture: Farmstand 46, a different kind of produce stand and deli.
Opening its doors a few months ago, the business, of which Fundaro is co-owner, is located at Four Vines Winery in Templeton (the former site of Cider Creek, a bakery that has since relocated to Paso Robles). Despite its location, Fundaro emphasizes that this isn’t a wine-related business. Rather, he says, Farmstand 46 is all about promoting and supporting our region’s bountiful, fooddriven organic farms. (Eating well, of course, is the tasty payoff.) Indeed, many of the vegetables used here are picked from a garden 100 yards away from the store’s entrance.
Those offerings include fresh herbs, several varieties of lettuce, kale, onion and celery root. Depending on what has just been picked, customers can enjoy these greens in creations like a spicy black bean salsa, fresh green beans with roasted shallots, or tuna sandwich that boasts tomato, sliced radish and arugula.
What doesn’t get sold is used, too – leftover apples make apple butter cake, turkey bones are turned into stock, and pumpkins become a pretty yellow soup. Farmstand 46 also sells local olive oils, fresh-sliced deli meats and responsibly grown coffee. In the near future, Fundaro says he hopes other local farms will participate in his roadside creation. (Jack Creek Farms just down the road and Windrose Farm in Paso Robles are already selling some produce to Farmstand 46.)
With his full-time gig at Villa Creek, why did Fundaro, with partner Chris Cherry, decide to start this new business?
“I’d been hearing the lamentations of many a winemaker, and tourist, telling me there was nowhere to eat around here,” he says. “So when the space opened up, along with a place beside it to grow an organic garden, to really create an agriculturally-based, synergistic project that would fill a need, as well as showcase the area for what it is – ag land – we thought it was a no-brainer. “It has taken more than a year, and a little blood. But now, we’re finally seeing our vision come into its own.”
Farmstand 46 is located at Four Vines Winery, at 3750 Highway 46 West in Templeton. Hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day of the week. Phone (805) 239-3661 for more information, or log on to farmstand46.com.
