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f a l l 2 0 1 6 | 8 1 Twelve years ago, this was the important task Mark Dommen had to face when he took over the position as Executive Chef at One Market, an extremely popu- lar restaurant in the Financial District downtown. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Dommen's dream of becoming a chef began in his teenage years and ramped up when he went to college. After start- ing his classical culinary training with Chef Hubert Keller at Fleur de Lys and graduating from the Cali- fornia Culinary Academy in late 1980s, he decided to test himself in New York. As luck would have it, Dommen ended up work- ing with David Burke at Park Avenue Café and later honed his skills with Gary Kunz at Lespinasse at the St. Regis Hotel, which was one of the few New York Times four-star restaurants in Manhattan at the time. In 2000, Dommen returned to the West Coast as the opening chef for Julia's Kitchen at COPIA in Napa. It was during this exciting time he was able to work with fresh vegetables, fruit, and herbs from the impressive 3.5 acres of gardens farmed by organic and biodynamic specialist Jeff Dawson. "Suddenly a lightbulb goes off in my head that picking something from your backyard makes so much sense," says Dommen. "You can pick and eat it that second or even if you let it sit for a few days, the quality is still better than ingredients that have been traveling for a number of days." Two years later, Dommen brought this appreciation for quality and freshness with him to One Market, where one of the opening courses he presented was his beet carpaccio, a beautiful plate featuring thinly sliced beets interwoven with fresh chèvre, radishes, and sherry vinaigrette. It's been a signature dish at the restaurant ever since. "It's only one consonant away from beef and it's the color red, so it was something I was really excited about," says Dommen. Other statement dishes were more challenging to develop, including the very popular bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin. This dish was inspired by Dommen's interest in working with dandelions in association with pork, bacon, and apple. "Occasionally I'll come across an ingredient I don't feel comfortable with, so I try to work with it until I become comfortable," says Dommen. "Dandelions were one of those situations I ran across on one of the farmer's lists and had to go through the process to make the dish taste delicious." Dommen says the key to all the specialty plates served at One Market comes down to building rela- tionships with farmers. In addition to working with local produce purveyors like Cooks Kitchen, Wine Forest and other vendors he originally bonded with at Julia's Kitchen, over the past decade Dommen has started working with small purveyors that include Start Out Farms and Marquis de Farms for greens and Charlie Sowell of Rolling Oaks Ranch in the Sierra Foothills for pasture-raised eggs; he met the latter at the weekly farmers market in Justin Herman Plaza, which happens to be across the street from One Market. Newer to the restaurant is the team's commitment to work with whole animals raised locally and in large open spaces. Menu offerings of these high-quality red meats, pork, poultry, veal and goat are delivered weekly from Devil's Gulch and Marin Sun Farms in Marin, Eimgh Ranch and Grabbish Farm in Dixon, as well as Sonoma County Poultry, Liberty Ducks and Rossotti Ranch in Sonoma County. To make the most out of each animal, Dommen has also developed his skills in making in-house sausages which are, in turn, integrated into a menu that contin- ues to evolve. "I try not to repeat dishes and rehash old ones from the years past. So while the protein may stay the same, the sauce and garnish in the sets continues to change with the season," he says. The same is true with seafood. At any given time, the restaurant works with eight separate seafood purveyors, including fish caught daily by local fisher- man, trout and sturgeon from the Passmore Ranch in Sacramento and fresh salmon shipped the same day from a husband-wife team in the Yakutat Pennisula of Alaska. "When it comes down to it, it's all farm to table at some point," says Dommen. "In our case, it's about being as close to home as possible." Chef Mark Dommen: One Market Executive Chef Mark Dommen at One Market in San Francisco.