A Chat With Helene Henderson, Founder of Malibu Farm

How does Lido differ from your original Malibu Pier venue?
It’s slightly more upscale than our Malibu location and features a coffee and ice cream shop, which we are very excited about. We also have our first home goods store, available to rent for private events.

Will Malibu supply many goods to the Lido location?
We will use some of our established Malibu farms, but we also have a rep at both the Santa Monica Farmers market and the Hollywood market, with plans to shop the Irvine market, too. Lido Marina Village also has a fabulous farmers market each Wednesday!

What differences are there in O.C. diners?
Not sure just yet, but we do hear that O.C. is more “late night” than Malibu, where the entire town is basically asleep by 9 p.m., aka Malibu Midnight. We’re excited to see if Lido will give us more of a night life!

What is your favorite growing season?
I love autumn. Persimmons usually get me pretty excited, since their season is so short.

What holiday food traditions do you hold dear?
I love the holidays and hope to bring all of our Malibu events to Lido—gingerbread decorating, Thanksgiving dinner, breakfast with Santa and, of course, my favorite of them all, Santa Lucia, a traditional Swedish celebration of songs, pastries and light, usually held on Dec. 13.

Sweets or savories—what team are you on?
Do I have to take sides? I love my fika (Swedish coffee and cake break), and partake daily at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. For the rest of the day, I am all about savory.

Growing up, what was your favorite childhood meal?
My first love was always the potato. I grew up in the north of Sweden where they grow the most amazing potatoes. I always feel slightly deprived if my meal does not contain potatoes, and don’t consider it a real meal without them. I even love potatoes on my pizza and in my pasta!

What is your most valuable kitchen skill or talent?
I think because I come from catering and private chef work, I have a thorough understanding of what customers like to eat. There needs to be a balance between healthy and friendly, because eating healthy should be fun.

What truth about you would people be surprised to know?
I always have my own chickens, but I don’t like eggs very much. Also, my knife skills are pretty poor, as I’m a self-trained chef.

What’s been your career path?
Mostly, I’ve been in the food industry, as a caterer and private chef before work opening Malibu Farm pier cafe. Prior to all that, though I wouldn’t necessarily call them careers, I dabbled in graphic design, retail, and modeling.