Chef brings healthy philosophy to benefit dinner with Sam Choy

Josef Desimone's job, his mission, his driving force is to promote a style of eating that's good for you and good for the environment.

But sometimes a guy just has to have a Spam musubi. "Especially the teriyaki version," Desimone says.

Well, there'll be no lack of that little treat when the chef from Google headquarters arrives in Honolulu next week to prepare a benefit dinner for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu. Not that there'll be any Spam on that menu, but Desimone's host is Hawaii's chef Sam Choy, a man who knows his way around a musubi.

GOURMET AFFAIR Featuring chefs Sam Choy and Josef Desimone of Google: » Benefit dinner: 6 to 10 p.m. April 15 » Place: Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom » Tickets: $200, to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters » Call: 521-3811, ext. 221

Desimone is chef at the Plymouth Rocks Cafe, one of a half-dozen dining rooms on the Google "campus" in Mountain View, Calif., and a champion of the Google food philosophy.

"We're really big on sustainable, organic foods," he says. "We're steroid-free, growth-hormone-free, line-caught fish, free-range meat."

He sees his job as to educate, not to preach, though.

"I'll tell you why you should have the hand-brewed soda with evaporated cane sugar, but if you still want the Coca Cola, it's there. But it's my job to tell you why you shouldn't."

He's even offered Spam musubi as a menu choice -- "with nitrate-free Spam" -- and a "Hawaiian Breakfast," i.e., a loco moco, although offered with a veggie patty and vegetable gravy.

Desimone grew up in Florida and started with Southern-style cooking, "really heavy-handed food." He then trained in French classical cuisine, which raised the bar on his standards, but it wasn't until he moved to California that he came to appreciate simple, healthy preparations that showcase fresh, wholesome ingredients.

Before arriving at Google three years ago, he worked at the Gates of Chinatown hotel in San Francisco, learning to appreciate a range of Asian styles.

At his Plymouth Cafe, meals typically run eight or nine portions of vegetables to one portion of meat, Desimone says. Many dishes are vegetarian or vegan, and the food overall is 90 percent organic, including spices and canned goods.

He still offers the occasional fried-chicken or meatloaf meal, but with modifications. "I'm not going to say we don't offer pizza, but it's with organic flour, organic tomato sauce ... it's not a pizza covered corner to corner with cheese."

For the Big Brothers dinner, he's planned a menu that's a bit more carnivorous than his usual: a trio of pokes (ahi, hamachi and salmon), a trio of beef (filet mignon wrapped in prosciutto, beef and mushroom ragout, kalua beef on wonton chips), a Mongolian lamb chop, a Southern-style crabcake.

IF YOU GOOGLE Desimone -- which seems only natural, although the chef says he's never done it -- one of the first hits is an entry on the Google Blog site that he posted in November about serving breakfast to about 750 people a day.

"Our record so far is making 201 (custom) omelets in 90 minutes," he wrote. "We blend 300 12-ounce fruit smoothies that typically disappear in an hour."

On top of that: 1-1/2 gallons of kombucha tea. This tea is one of Desimone's passions, a fermented blend of black tea, sugar and a mushroom culture that is said to promote digestion and boost energy. The mixture gurgles together for 10 days, with the mushroom consuming the sugar, growing and eventually splitting into two.

"It comes out like an apple cider or acidy champagne," he says. He serves it in 3-ounce shot glasses, about 100 glasses per day.

The drink fits in with the Google philosophy of exploration. "It's fantasy camp," Desimone says of his job. "It's like Disneyland."

Cured tuna has a variety of uses

Chef Josef Desimone of Google makes his own cured tuna for nicoise salad and other cold tuna dishes. You may store the tuna in the olive oil in the refrigerator and use the oil in other preparations.

Tuna Confit

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 pound skinless and boneless tombo tuna loin
3 to 3-1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons black peppercorns
3 bay leaves
1 jalapeño chile, seeded and diced
1/2 bunch basil, leaves only
1/2 bunch tarragon, leaves only
1-1/2 shallots, diced

Combine the salt and sugar in a wide bowl. Dredge tuna in mixture until coated. Refrigerate 90 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.

Combine remaining ingredients in a narrow, deep saucepan. Heat to 180 degrees and cook 25 minutes.

Add tuna to oil and adjust heat until oil registers 160 degrees. Cook until internal temperature reaches 140 degrees, about 20 minutes. Remove tuna from oil, cover and refrigerate.

When the oil in the pan cools to room temperature, pour over tuna. Keeps in refrigerator about 1 week. Use in nicoise salad with greens, hard-cooked eggs and olives; or other cooked tuna preparations. Serves 6 to 8.

Nutritional information unavailable.

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