Fine dining in Carmel takes foraging to next level with ambitious mode

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Many Northern California chefs serve farm-to-table food. Some finer ones tout “foraged” products on their menus, meaning ingredients like herbs, fruits and roots plucked directly from the wild, instead of commercially grown.

But few chefs are as dedicated as Michael Chang, executive chef and co-owner of Foray in Carmel-by-the-Sea. His current menu dazzles with ambitious modern American dishes like Monterey Bay red abalone braised for 18 hours then plated with foraged three-cornered leek pesto and leek blossoms, plus foraged miner’s lettuce for a mildly sweet, earthy finish.

He sends out succulent organic chicken torchon gussied with foraged morel duxelles and sauteed morels, English peas, foraged stinging nettles gnocchi and a sprinkle of foraged nasturtium leaves. The chicken, which Chang calls “the best pasture-raised chicken ever,” is raised by Fogline Farm in the Ano Nuevo Peninsula Coastline north of Santa Cruz.

A side of duck egg brioche, meanwhile, beckons to be slathered with house-churned foraged candy cap butter and candy cap syrup, then sprinkled in Big Sur foraged flake salt. Even that egg is extra special, and somewhat wild, from Bee La Forte Agroforestry Farm in Carmel Valley, where pasture-raised ducks are fed poultry superfoods, fresh herbs, edible flowers, wild miner’s lettuce and organic compost scraps.

Dessert might be Valrhona dark chocolate paper-thin mille crepe with creme anglaise, chocolate crumble and ice cream spiked with a bright jolt of foraged spearmint.

Yet as decadent as these ingredients are, Chang is most proud of his mushrooms. That’s because getting the fungi is a family affair, helped by his wife and Foray’s general manager and co-owner, Caroline Singer, plus their dog, Falco.

Falco is a purebred Lagotto Romagnolo, Italy’s adorable “truffle dog” that sports a curly coat and endearing facial expressions. Despite their plush toy looks, Lagotti are durable workers with excellent noses to seek out the pricey mushroom delicacies, notes the American Kennel Club breed listing.

Chang and Singer got him as a baby in Seattle, then tested him with a planted mushroom in their Carmel backyard.

“He dug up his first truffle at 9 weeks without any training,” Singer said. “We sent part of it to a lab in Oregon for identification before slicing it onto an omelet.”

Next the couple would hide truffle scent around their home.

Now, at 5 years old, Falco has competed as a finalist in events such as the annual Joriad North American Truffle Dog Championship in Oregon and is thoroughly in love with his job. He eagerly sticks his sniffing-snuffling muzzle into the damp pine forest soil during mushroom season of November to April on frequent visits to the Beaver State, coming up with as many as 40 prized truffles in a single day.

Since Foray opened in November 2022, Falco has expanded his hunting repertoire to California crops.

“He forages locally for mushrooms now, too,” Singer said. “This past winter was an amazing year for golden chanterelles, and we also foraged for porcini and tree oysters throughout the winter.”

Falco also has dug up edible varieties like morels, oyster and rare lilaceps mushrooms, politely handing over his find to his owners in exchange for a yummy biscuit.

An even better pay-off for the pup: vegetables really make him wag.

“His absolute favorite is raw English peas,” Singer said. “We once gave him the choice between Japanese beef left over from an event, and a freshly shucked English pea — and he chose the pea.”

During his down time, Falco likes to help out at the restaurant, too. His furry self is not allowed in the kitchen but he likes to give staff pup — um, pep — talks while they ready for another busy dinner. He delights to see the fruits of his labor turned into art, such as a mouthwatering dessert of foraged candy cap brioche bread pudding with bourbon caramel and foraged Oregon native black truffle ice cream.

“I don’t think he knows he’s a celebrity, but he loves coming to work every day and spending time with the team before service,” Singer said. “He observes everyone and checks in on them, so we call him “Supervisor Falco.’”