Bridges Restaurant & Bar, Danville, California, was facing seemingly intractable performance problems with its kitchen ventilation system and was willing to spend more than $20,000 on a new rooftop fresh air system.

Instead of reaching outside through the dual exhaust hood, smoke and food odors invaded portions of the 300-square-foot dining area, leading to complaints from guests sitting at tables near the kitchen.

The 24-year-old independent Bridges is best known in the San Francisco area for its casually elegant restaurants and as a famous setting for actor Robin Williams' comedic multiple costume changes in the Hollywood film “Mrs. Doubtfire.” According to Kevin Gin, executive chef and member of the restaurant's investor consortium, due to its upscale image and popularity, the annoying cooking smells in the dining area were detrimental to the business and detracted from the overall guest experience.

Additionally, drafts from the existing fresh air HVAC system sucked in smoke and grease that should have been contained in the hood and deposited it on the diffuser, walls, ceilings and other kitchen surfaces, resulting in an annual maintenance expense of over $1,000 US dollars required and cleaning supplies.

In addition to odor intrusion and maintenance costs, air conditioning drafts over the food preparation area resulted in prepared hot entrees being cooled prematurely, while employees in other kitchen areas were uncomfortably hot.

Find a cost-effective solution
A major HVAC retrofit expense seemed imminent until an arranged meeting between Gin and an HVAC ventilation product manager who was attending a dinner hosted by Bridges to mark the 25th anniversary of the nearby Food Service Technology Center (FSTC), one in San Ramon, California-based commercial foodservice equipment testing laboratory funded by Pacific Gas & Electric. Nick Paschke, product manager for fabric HVAC duct manufacturer DuctSox Corp., Peosta, Iowa, recommended a custom fabric air distribution system designed specifically for kitchens. The ceiling unit distributes the air flow evenly, parallel and in front of the kitchen extractor hood. The fabric diffuser is an easy-to-install replacement for metal air distribution diffusers that often cause kitchen hood overflow.

Instead of replacing the 5,000 cfm fresh air equipment, only the kitchen's single conventional 3' x 3' utility box and four metal diffusers were replaced. The diffusers were located above the food prep line to distribute air throughout the 1,000 square foot kitchen and were replaced with two D-shaped KitchenSox fabric diffusers measuring 8 feet long and 28 inches in diameter. Instead of the metal diffuser's estimated 500 feet per minute airflow, which caused turbulence and interruptions in the range hood's capture, the air is distributed gently and evenly through the fabric throughout the kitchen area at a significantly slower rate of 85 feet per minute . Without the previous high-velocity airflow and resulting turbulence, the dual exhaust range hood now efficiently meets its design standards, trapping smoke, grease particles and cooking odors without causing overflow.

CulinAire Systems, El Dorado Hills, Calif., a foodservice ventilation company specializing in on-demand ventilation controls and engineered kitchen ventilation equipment, fabricated the sheet metal plenum and metal/fabric adapters that feed the 16-foot-long fabric ducts. The fabric duct system and metal accessories were installed by CulinAire overnight without interrupting kitchen operations.

Without the draft, there is no longer any excess air smoke, grease buildup and dirt that the return air system once sucked onto diffusers, kitchen walls, ceilings and cabinets, speeding up daily cleaning and hygiene routines.

Gin also plans to do an annual cleaning, as the fabric diffuser can be disassembled by kitchen staff in minutes and cleaned in the laundry, a process that would take several days with an outside contractor using a metal system.

Green mission accomplished
By improving air distribution and preventing hot air from overflowing from the hood into the kitchen, significant energy savings are achieved, complementing Bridges' green mission, which is strategically marketed to its customers. Gin said it is difficult to accurately determine the energy savings of the new system because FSTC continually uses Bridges as a beta testing site for new technologies. However, Gin estimated that Bridges' recent conservation efforts saved the restaurant more than 20 percent in energy costs and quickly paid off the investment.

For example, FSTC monitors the results of the Bridges Intelli-Hood variable speed controller, manufactured by Melink Corp., Milford, Ohio, which won the prestigious AHR Innovation Award in the ventilation category at the 2012 AHR Expo was awarded in Chicago.

Other eco-friendly devices include:
· A 96% efficient Cyclone Xi water heater from AO Smith, Ashland City, Tennessee;
· Variable temperature control for more efficient operation of walk-in refrigerators from E-Control Systems, Sherman Oaks, California;
· High-temperature/reduced water kitchen and bar dishwashers from Hobart Corp., Troy, Ohio;
· A lighting conversion from standard lamps to compact fluorescent lamps;
· The highest efficiency appliances available today in deep fryers, convection ovens and ice cream makers from Vulcan-Hart Co., Baltimore, Maryland; the Garland Group, Freeland, Pennsylvania; and Manitowoc Ice Inc., Manitowoc, Wis.; respectively.

Bridges' HVAC ventilation challenges were completely solved with fabric diffusers, which cost less than ten percent of the approximately $20,000 for a new fresh air system. In addition, the energy savings and lower maintenance costs allow the air distribution system to pay for itself in less than a year. “This is really a common problem (insufficient draft in the extractor hood). I think a lot of restaurants are suffering from this and don’t realize there’s an easy, cost-effective solution,” Gin said. “We previously thought replacing the HVAC system would improve our kitchen ventilation challenges, but now we realize it likely would not have solved the actual ventilation problem that fabric ducts solved.”

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Just before the Hood Mountain Regional Park parking lot, a narrow road barely big enough for a car climbs into the forest. Paved in parts, the road twists and rises until it reaches a mountain meadow that has served as a family’s gathering place for five generations.

Offering sweeping views of Sonoma County, the 289-acre property, called El Recreo, burned in both the 2017 and 2020 wildfires.

But it has recovered slowly, and all the while shaped the lives of its caretakers in the Perrin, Bucklin, Tilt and English families. Now, in a deal with the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, El Recreo is set to remain preserved as conservation land.

The district is in the homestretch of purchasing a $898,000 conservation easement for the property – a complicated process that has taken about nine years, needing buy-in from all of the property’s 13 owners. The easement will extinguish future development rights on the land, meaning it would be permanently protected even if sold.

“It just seemed like the natural thing to do,” said Arden Bucklin-Sporer, whose family owns the property.

It borders Hood Mountain on the north side, overlooking Oakmont. The property will not be opened to the public and will remain available for the family’s private use.

But the benefits of preserving land like El Recreo as a conservation area extend beyond public recreation, said Lauren Alpert, a community relations assistant for the open space district.

“When you’re protecting areas like this you’re protecting watershed, clean air,” Alpert said. Wildlife habitat – the property takes in headwaters for both the Santa Rosa and Sonoma creek drainages – and scenic viewsheds are other conservation benefits.

Alpert added that El Recreo will also serve as an important wildland buffer for its neighboring developed communities including Oakmont and Kenwood.

This is not the family’s first foray into conservation. Bucklin-Sporer’s mother and stepfather were Anne and Otto Teller, local land stewardship visionaries who helped found the Sonoma Land Trust.

It was Bucklin-Sporer’s grandmother, Adelaid Perrin, who began that family legacy, when she purchased El Recreo for around $48,000 in the 1950s.

Born in Guatemala, Perrin spent her early childhood on a coffee farm until the family moved back to California following her father’s death from malaria, Bucklin-Sporer said.

An “ardent admirer” of nature, independent and with “energy off the wall,” Perrin turned her attention to finding a family retreat once her three daughters were grown. It was El Recreo’s wild meadow nestled near the top of the mountain that sealed the deal, Bucklin-Sporer said.

Over the years the family left much of the land untouched, but built two homes and a swimming pool near the meadow. It was there that Anne Teller would bring her four children from their home in San Francisco during the weekends, and for weeks during the summer. She used it to teach them self-sufficiency, economy and an appreciation for the natural world.

“I think all of us are the way we are because of this place,” Bucklin-Sporer said.

Growing up, Bucklin-Sporer and her siblings would ride horses, care for injured birds they found including owls and a vulture, and acquired skills including identifying animal tracks.

Many have since pursued careers connected to land stewardship and ecology, including farming, restoration and nonprofit work, Bucklin Sporer said.

Supervisor Susan Gorin, who represents the area encompassing El Recreo, praised the family’s “extraordinary legacy they have, and continue to leave.”

“You need to take responsibility and manage the land,” Gorin said. “Especially in threat of fire.”

The family is both city and country, Bucklin-Sporer joked as she walked a grassy path to a knoll on a recent sunny morning.

Strolling along in Birkenstocks, undaunted by the prickly underbrush and ever-present threat of rattlesnakes, Bucklin-Sporer chewed on a blade of grass and led the way to a knoll overlooking Hood Mountain. Her rescue dog Xochi followed behind.

The destination held special meaning. It is where Bucklin-Sporer’s brother got married, and where their grandmother, mother and aunts’ ashes now rest.

“They burned twice so that’s good,” Bucklin-Sporer said, sharing some of her dry humor as she referenced the 2017 and 2020 wildfires

The wildfires ripped through El Recreo, leaving behind scorched trees and taking the family’s two homes.

The foundation and chimney of the house that Bucklin-Sporer’s parents built stood still. A partial brick wall also remains, holding a rusted sign bearing the home’s 8000 address.

Bucklin-Sporer said she visits the site frequently to check on its status.

The loss was devastating.

Though the family’s many generations are now far flung, with members in San Francisco and beyond, El Recreo remains their heart, Bucklin-Sporer said.

The property now serves as their camp. Two tents and an Airstream trailer sit around a pool that survived the fires at the far end of the meadow. An outdoor wooden stand spruced up with string lights and complete with a sink, grill and griddle make up a kitchen of sorts.

The choice to keep the property “wild” is a reflection of Perrin’s love for all things nature, and Anne Teller’s commitment to low-impact living, Bucklin-Sporer said.

“That was my mother’s perspective,” she noted. “You want to keep it simple, you don’t want a lot of water use, you want to keep it thrifty.”

Following the wildfires, the family has watched the land grow back slowly and in some surprising ways.

Bucklin-Sporer said they have seen new types of woodpeckers on the property, as well as more quail.

Her youngest son, August Sporer, 30, observed that more wildflowers are visible in the places where trees burned.

The conservation deal allows the owners to build two homes on the property, to replace the ones that burned. Bucklin-Sporer and her siblings and cousins ​​have left that decision to the next generation.

“I’m curious and keen to know what they want to do with it,” Bucklin-Sporer said.

The rest of the property will remain as is, and much like it was decades ago.

August Sporer praised the decision.

“This was a fantastic way to make sure this stays in the family,” Sporer said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.

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