Millennium turns globally influenced, California fine dining vegan, bringing a world-class chef to a worldclass city.

Is this your first restaurant?

No.

When did Millennium open?

Fall of 1994.

Do you want to have more than one restaurant?

Of course.

What’s your favorite dish on the menu?

They’re all very good or else they wouldn’t be on the menu. At the moment the favorite is possibly our pastry roulade, filled with smoked chard and potato Florentine over a rich mushroom cream with roasted maitake and lobster mushrooms.

What’s your most popular appetizer?

Arborio rice and sesame-crusted king trumpet mushrooms with yuzu ponzu and togarashi (Japanese chili pepper).

What’s the most popular entrée on the menu?

They’re all equally popular.

What’s your most popular dessert?

Well, I particularly love Ryan and Ariana’s blackberry pie with “buttermilk” ice cream, but the most popular is actually the Chocolate Almond Midnight (a white chocolate mousse with a cashew crust and mocha-chocolate filling).

What do you feel is special about your restaurant?

All of it! It has its own vibe and culture.

How often do you change your menu items? Do you have daily or weekly specials?

Throughout a season, you’ll see three-fourths of the menu change, whether it’s a complete new dish or variant on an existing dish with coming-into-market seasonal produce. We run a tasting menu Thursday through Saturday, which showcases new product ideas, or whatever is our current muse. We do winemaker dinners, farmers’ market dinners, dinners on farms, all tomato and chili dinners where we get into the fields and pick our produce, wild mushroom and foraged foods dinners where I’m up in the hills foraging mushrooms twigs and weeds, etc.

Do you have gluten-free, soy-free, and sugar-free options on your menu?

Yes.

What do you do to reduce your environmental impact?

We compost, recycle, buy local, and keep our refrigeration equipment in good working order.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as owner or chef of this restaurant?

To be humble, to be grateful, and to be hands-on. This and any restaurant is only as good as each and every guest’s dining experience, not some stars in some newspaper. There are no laurels to rest on. Cookbooks, media coverage, and Twitter feeds mean nothing if a guest has a lousy experience.

What led you to want to open a vegan restaurant, and/or what led you to the vegan diet yourself?

Millennium is a continuation of the former Milly’s in San Rafael. It still holds on to the vision of Milly’s owners of a fine dining vegan restaurant. Millennium and I are deeply indebted to them.

In the time since your restaurant first opened, how has the plant-based food movement changed? Do you find more demand now for vegan food?

It’s more available and mainstream and seems to ebb and flow here in the Bay Area. There’s certainly more interest and knowledge in vegetable-based cuisine than there was twenty years ago.

Since your restaurant first opened, has your view of what constitutes healthy or delicious food changed? Have you changed the types of foods you offer?

Well, not really!

Where do you see the plant-based food movement going in coming years?

I see more integration into mainstream restaurants that offer quality vegan and healthier food choices.

This summer entrée, while influenced by Middle Eastern cuisine, is firmly rooted in seasonal California produce. There may be a lot of components to it, but it typifies how we put together a dish at Millennium. It’s worth the trouble to seek out Rosa Bianca or Tuscan Rose eggplants as they are lower in oxalic acid and thus sweeter, without requiring salt like standard eggplant.

It’s also well worth the trouble to broil fresh tomatoes until the skin blisters and chars, imbuing the tagine with a smoky/roasted quality. Feel free to embellish the tagine with other summer vegetables such as roasted zucchini and cubes of roasted eggplant.

Pistachio-Crusted Eggplant Napoleon

Serves 6

For the eggplant:

2 cups coarsely ground shelled pistachios

3 cups white rice flour

½ cup tapioca flour

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Soy milk, as needed

2 to 3 Rosa Bianca or Tuscan Rose eggplants, sliced into ½" thick rounds (12 rounds total)

Vegetable oil, as needed

For the lemon tofu “cheese”:

1½ pounds medium-firm tofu, drained and crumbled

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 to 3 sage leaves, thinly sliced

Zest of ½ lemon

Pinch chili pepper flakes

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the tomato, leek, and artichoke tagine:

2 pounds whole San Marzano or plum tomatoes

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground fenugreek

⅓ teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon chili Urfa or Aleppo chili pepper flakes (or substitute crushed red pepper flakes)

1 teaspoon dried mint

2 teaspoons fresh thyme (or ½ teaspoon dried thyme)

1 cinnamon stick

4 cups sliced leeks, cleaned and sliced ⅓" thick

4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

Pinch salt

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 cups vegetable stock, or as needed

4 cups quartered fresh blanched or frozen artichoke hearts

2 cups cooked Corona beans (or substitute any large cooked bean)

1 teaspoon arrowroot, dissolved in cold water

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the cilantro-cardamom coulis:

4 tablespoons olive oil

¼ yellow onion, sliced in half

2 cloves garlic

1 serrano chili, seeds removed

1 teaspoon cardamom seeds

1 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

Juice of ½ lemon

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the Israeli couscous salad:

2 cups cooked Israeli couscous

2 tablespoons minced yellow onion

4 tablespoons minced parsley or cilantro

Juice of ½ lemon

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

To assemble:

2 cups frisée leaves

Herb of your choice (optional)

For the eggplant: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Combine the ground pistachio, flours, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl and combine well. Place the soy milk in another mixing bowl. Place a piece of eggplant in the dry pistachio/flour dredge, coat well, then place in the soy milk, then dredge again in the flour mix. Place the finished eggplant slice on a well-oiled sheet pan. Follow with the remaining eggplant slices.

Place the pan in the oven and bake. Flip the eggplant over after 6 or 7 minutes. After a total of 12 to 14 minutes, remove from the oven and set aside.

For the lemon tofu “cheese”: Place the crumbled tofu in a mixing bowl. In a pan, sauté the garlic in the oil over medium-low heat until just starting to brown. Remove from the heat and add the sage, lemon zest, and chili flakes. Stir together ingredients in the pan, then pour over the tofu. Add the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and more yeast to taste. Stir or knead to incorporate the ingredients. Set aside.

For the tomato, leek, and artichoke tagine: Place the tomatoes on a baking pan and broil until the skin on top is blackened. Cool to room temperature. Peel the skin off the tomatoes. (It should slip right off.) Try to keep the tomato in one piece.

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat and add the ginger, coriander, fenugreek, turmeric, chili, dried mint, thyme, and cinnamon stick until they sizzle—for 20 seconds or so. Then add the leeks, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Sauté 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato paste and sauté another 30 seconds, followed by the stock. Simmer covered for 10 minutes or until the leeks are soft. Add the artichoke hearts and simmer 5 minutes. Follow with the peeled tomatoes and add the 2 cups cooked beans, and simmer another 5 minutes. Stir in the arrowroot slurry until just thickened. Add the salt and pepper.

For the cilantro-cardamom coulis: In a sauté pan, heat oil and pan-char the onion, garlic, and chili over high heat. Sauté until they are 25 percent blackened. Remove from the heat, stir in the cardamom seeds, then place in a bowl to cool to room temperature. When cool, place in a blender with the remaining ingredients, then blend until smooth. Add salt and pepper.

For the Israeli couscous salad: Combine the couscous with the remaining ingredients. Set aside.

To assemble: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On an oiled sheet pan, set down an eggplant slice, top with ¼ cup of tofu “cheese,” then top with another eggplant slice. Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices to make 6 Napoleons. Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until heated through. To serve, place a portion of the tagine in shallow pasta bowl. Follow with a portion of the couscous salad in the center of the plate. Top with a Napoleon. Combine the frisée leaves with the herbs and top the Napoleon with the frisée herb salad, if using. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cilantro-cardamom coulis around the plate. Serve.