Toyota Land Cruiser Return From The Ridge

Men's Journal1

We hit Utah’s rugged wilderness with chef Eduardo Garcia to put Toyota’s longest-running nameplate through its paces.

Transcript

00:00Food, the great common denominator, it means hello, it means goodbye, it means see you soon.

00:07Every day it's, what will the day bring? And of course, what will I eat today?

00:13My name is Chef Eduardo Garcia. I live in Southwest Montana with my wife on a small regenerative farm.

00:18And more than anything, I work as a chef.

00:21We're on a mountain in Park City, Utah with Toyota.

00:25They have this event called Return from the Ridge where folks are driving around the mountain.

00:30And I've been in my Land Cruiser, sort of in their dust and off to the sides, finding food,

00:36finding everything that brings the energy to the table so it doesn't dissipate.

00:41The best adventure has some kind of challenge, and learning to work with what you have

00:46all through my 20s as a yacht chef really teed me up for life's, I think, greatest challenge and adventure so far.

00:54I got electrocuted while hunting, and that electrical event took my left hand.

00:59And I think the challenge that I still am served by was just reimagining what is.

01:06You drop a flat of peaches, they all get bruised.

01:09Puree, ice cream, cocktail, awesome.

01:12You get electrocuted, you lose your left hand, you still want to wake up in the morning and get after it.

01:17Well, what am I going to be? I know how to cook really well.

01:20I'm going to still try. It really is one foot in front of the other.

01:26So with the mission, the ask is, alright chef, adventure through Park City, high and low,

01:32and put together both a lunch and a dinner for our attendees.

01:37Ten years of my life traveling the world, the mission was arrive, get in, then it was a boat.

01:43Today it's a Land Cruiser. Get in your rig and go look.

01:47Go find the best there is.

01:50I think what I'm looking forward to the most is just to continue to explore it as a functional partner in what I do every day.

01:56I have a refrigerator in the back holding all of my herbs.

01:59I mean, that's amazing for me, being able to plug that in.

02:02And there's plenty of space in the back for my stove and other things.

02:05And that is kind of the adventure, is saying, what can I load this up with?

02:09What can go in the box on top? And seeing what it does on gravel, what it does on a tight turn.

02:14Vehicles bring out a really robust side of our being.

02:19Especially when you're using them as a tool.

02:25The hunt is on for me, as is always.

02:28What is fresh? What is grown here, local?

02:32Early this morning we ended up on a local farm.

02:35Local honey, edible flowers, all of these fresh greens, tomatoes, just plump on the vine. My heaven.

02:42Hi! Welcome!

02:44Look at this spot you got.

02:46Welcome to the farm.

02:47I want to create a menu and a meal that is evocative of this place.

02:51We can do that.

02:52Well, I hear water, which you're fortunate to have.

02:55Yes, it's clean, it's coming out of the Uintas, a perennial spring.

02:59And that is what we irrigate with. This is what we do.

03:02This is the best way to build a menu. Just go to the farm, see what's happening.

03:05And then we've been on the mountain, just to look for our inspirations.

03:12Our adventures for lunch, they're going to be coming in in the middle of their day.

03:28Not quite done yet, so I'm thinking a hibiscus cooler.

03:32Non-alcoholic, because we're driving these rigs all over the mountain.

03:35But having a nice herbal tea to freshen everybody up.

03:38And then I'd like to teach them a dish that I would cook out of the back of my vehicle,

03:43while on a mountain or while adventuring.

03:45And so I think crepes, perfect for a savory lunch.

03:49I imagine if there was a hot spring on the mountain somewhere,

03:52you could do a hot spring egg, so that if they're out in the wild somewhere,

03:55they'll, hey, Chef Eduardo taught me this.

03:57We can do this out here, under the stars.

04:00And we're going to burn some corn.

04:02This is sweet summer corn. It really doesn't need anything.

04:05A little bit of temperature gets a nice smoky element.

04:08Our first act is we're going to light the burner.

04:10We're going to get two ears of corn on, and this is going to burn on the outside.

04:14This is like Mother Nature's tinfoil.

04:16While that's happening, we'll take our tomatoes

04:19and start the beginning of a tomato corn salad for on top of your crepe.

04:24I'll grab my batter. Pan is hot. Burner's on.

04:28I'm going to pour right in the center of my pan.

04:31And then once it's in the pan, it's really a wrist motion.

04:34Mixed with shaking and encouraging.

04:46Good job, you guys. Bravo.

04:48Thank you so much.

04:49Well done.

04:50Pleasure. Thank you.

04:51See you at dinner.

04:57Dinner service is meant to be fire, starlight,

05:01and sharing the best of this part of Utah.

05:04And it'll be my way of saying see you later,

05:06and hope I get to cook from my heart for all of you again.

05:14Tonight, we're going to invite everyone to come to this station,

05:17get a scoop of what I call ryea.

05:20It's a riff on paella, but made with rye berry.

05:23So I wanted this entire menu to be non-imported,

05:26just 100% from right here in the Rocky Mountains, if not Utah.

05:30And then skirt steak, finishing that with an herby chimichurri,

05:33and charred scallions, charred broccolini, and cabbage.

05:37Then a mousse tenderloin carpaccio.

05:40I harvested the mousse myself.

05:42Some of the cleanest, best meat you could ever eat.

05:45And then we'll do a Dutch oven peach with a rhubarb sauce.

05:49And so that's kind of the flow of the evening.

05:51We'll do our best to stay nice and close to each other and stay warm.

05:54Thank you for eating at my dinner table tonight.

05:58Yep. My pleasure.

06:12When I get to see a table full,

06:14and I'm maybe putting together the last touches for dessert,

06:17more than anything, I feel grateful.

06:19Anytime I can be out in the wild, exploring,

06:22while at the same time dishing that out for someone else,

06:25that's the highlight of my career.

06:27Thank you. You give me purpose. Appreciate it.

06:31Vehicle is an extension of my career without a doubt.

06:35Especially as a chef.

06:37And Toyota gets me around.

06:39Vehicle's a tool.

06:40In my mind, can this vehicle get me to where I have to do lunch,

06:44up on the mountain?

06:45Can I stow it with everything?

06:47And will it get me back down with everything I need for my next adventure?

06:52I think when we try hard in life, those are the best challenges,

06:55and those then become the adventure of our life.

06:57It's saying, how do we take our challenge in stride,

07:00and rather than running from it, just run with it.

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