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About Pauli/ Contact Pauli Halstead
Contact Pauli: pauli@cuisineforwholehealth.com
Pauli Halstead began her culinary career in 1973 at a tiny vegetarian restaurant, Ma Goodness, in Berkeley, California. In 1975, she put her name on the window of Pauli’s Café at the corner of Fillmore and Washington Streets in San Francisco. Pauli’s was one of those wonderful neighborhood restaurants for which San Francisco is famous, and it soon became the place to have a delicious week-end brunch and read The San Francisco Chronicle.
An old farmhouse in Oakville, Napa Valley, was the weekend retreat of choice for Pauli and friends. A crew of wonderful folks would typically show up to share in the cooking of great food and enjoy wines produced by soon to be famous wineries such as Chateau Montelena, Caymus, Grgich Hills, and Stags Leap. Of course, those were the days just prior to the famous French wine tasting which made California wines world class. Eventually, the Napa Valley became too strong a lure and Pauli purchased a circa 1880 farmhouse in St. Helena and in 1981 launched her catering company, The Best of Everything, at Beringer Vineyards.
The Best of Everything became recognized for the high quality of its cuisine and artful presentation. Over the years, Pauli worked with many well known Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley wineries, businesses, event planners and wedding consultants to create elegant and memorable events. For many years The Best of Everything was also the exclusive wedding caterer at The Kenwood Inn, a beautiful Italian style village, in Sonoma Valley.
Quality ingredients were always a priority for Pauli, and she regularly shopped for organic produce at the local farmers markets in addition to having her own garden. She also made it a point to utilize the available bounty of The Napa Valley, such as its local stone crushed olive oils and small batch balsamic vinegars. The Best of Everything also produced popular spreads, Fig and Olive Tapenade, Sundried Tomato Pesto and Magical Muhamara, which were marketed in local stores.
After retiring from catering in 2003, Pauli moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. While there she had the opportunity as executive chef to open a café at the idyllic, Inn of the Five Graces, located in the historic section of the city. The café opened to rave reviews in the Pasa Tiempo newspaper.
Pauli has brought her many years of experience with fine California wine country cuisine and organic, whole, natural foods into her first cookbook, Cuisine for Whole Health, Recipes for a Sustainable Life. Her focus on fine food, lovingly prepared, is coupled with her philosophy that organic vegetables and fruits, grass-fed meat, sustainably caught wild fish, “pastured” poultry and dairy are the basic building blocks to optimum physical and mental health.