Join Ruby member Karen Leibowitz, co-owner of The Perennial in San Francisco, for a conversation about sustenance and sustainability. At The Ruby, Karen will share the personal and political sides of running a mission-driven family restaurant, and offer practical advice for fighting climate change through our food choices.

The word "restaurant" is derived from the French word for "restore," and Karen believes that restaurants can and should be restorative, not only for diners, but for the world as well. Together with her husband, Karen opened Mission Chinese Food, which benefits the Food Bank, and now The Perennial, dedicated to regenerative agriculture that actually draws down greenhouse gas through food production. 

Bread that Karen bakes with Kernza, a perennial grain, will be provided. 

About Karen Leibowitz

Karen's current focus is The Perennial, an environmentally sustainable restaurant in San Francisco, where she is co-founder and Director of Communications. In 2008, she co-founded a pop-up called Mission Street Food, which turned into Mission Chinese Food (SF and NYC) and she's a partner in Commonwealth (SF).

She's co-written a cookbook with Chef Dominique Crenn, called Atelier Crenn: The Metamorphosis of Taste (Houghton Mifflin, 2015). She's also the co-author of Mission Street Food: Recipes and Ideas from an Improbable Restaurant (McSweeney's, 2011), written with her husband, Anthony Myint. Her writing has been published by Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The New York Times, Lucky Peach, Modern Farmer, Cherry Bombe, and other publications.