Food to Grow

You could walk past this herb patch and never notice it--a gathering of greens tucked between an alley and a parking lot. But go for dinner next door, at Les Deux Cafes in Hollywood, and you’ll taste the garden in nearly every dish: sorrel from its small raised beds goes into soups, savory flavors the rabbit with polenta, Persian mulberries fill the tarts and the Arabian jasmine even makes it into ice cream. So much of the harvest winds up on the plates, in fact, that plantings sometimes take on a nibbled look. “The emphasis is on production, not perfection,” says Basia Kenton, who designed the garden in 1997, six months before the restaurant opened. “Soon after it first went in, it was fat and full,” she recalls. “But it has evolved as the menu has, and now it’s more minimal, focused and organized.”

Created from a scrap of parking lot that was once a citrus orchard, the garden was blank when Kenton started. Conceived both as growing space and a place for parties and private gatherings, the herb annex had to be pretty, productive and crowd-friendly. Raised beds--walled with broken concrete from the parking lot--ensure that plants won’t be trampled, while an herb-edged central walk, complete with vine-wrapped arbor, provides a respite from the sun. A shaggy pepper tree and windblown Aleppo pine--the choices of cafe owner Michele Lamy--offer more afternoon shade, and white-blooming jasmine and nicotiana light the dark corners at night.

As for the herbs, Kenton, a photographer-turned-garden designer based in Santa Monica, began with her own favorites, including sage, thyme, bay, marjoram and lovage. But as chef David Wynns developed his menu, he bypassed the sage and requested society garlic and more lovage along with heirloom tomatoes and sorrel. Alpine strawberries, which Kenton planted for their creeping charm, were an instant culinary hit. “More!” Wynns said. “Cover the ground with them!” And Persian mulberry, a tree with an arching form Kenton liked, yielded a sweet fruit that happened to be one of Wynns’ summer favorites.

To boost crops and increase drainage in the raised beds, Kenton amended the already-rich soil with organic planting mix and perlite. Once a month, plants are given a dose of worm castings. And ladybugs and a family of caterpillar-eating scrub jays provide pest control.

Looking ahead, Kenton says: “As David develops new dishes, I’ll be planting new things.” Meanwhile, she has grown used to the sight of restaurant staffers on hands and knees, plucking away at her composition. Shrugging and smiling, she concedes: “You have to let go. You have to tell yourself, ‘It isn’t my baby. It’s theirs now.’ ”