Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/748197
174 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 6 (Clockwise from top left) Chef Ted Walter cutting up sturgeon; striped bass with pomegranate granita and Monterey Bay seaweed; Cindy Walter's uncle Ralph and fisherman father Donald as youth in Seaside showcasing halibut they caught in the Monterey Bay. "We were so cool," he says. "We had raspber- ries in December. "It dawned on him and others that we don't have to eat raspberries in December, and that sourcing locally and eating seasonally were major tenets of sustainability. The Walters began to stand as stewards of the local land and sea. And that stewardship grew rapidly with the early hiring of Jannae Lizza, who worked her way up the Passionfish ladder to restaurant manager. "When we interviewed Jannae, she reminded me of me when I was young," Cindy says. "She went from hostess to server to assistant manag- er to manager, and then Ted turned over the wine list to her. Now she's the queen." She's also the little voice in the head of every staff member, who must be able to pass tests about the menu and wine list, and answer diners' questions about the carbon footprint, farmed salmon, how the restaurant com- posts its food waste— anything that speaks to the restaurant's ethos. On the side, Lizza leads the staff on organized beach cleanups, and she star ted Litterati, a platform that uses Instagram The daughter of a local fisherman who used only poles and traps, Cindy recognized how easily we can damage the ocean and carelessly deplete its resources.