Truly Pizza Partner Awarded Top Honors at Pizza Expo

BY BREEANA GREENBERG

Though Truly Pizza isn’t set to open in the Lantern District for a few more weeks, the new restaurant’s renowned pizza chef Michael Vakneen has already taken home a top prize in the 39th Annual International Pizza Expo and Conference in Las Vegas.

From March 28-30, more than 700 pizzerias and pizzaiolos from around the world vied for the title of Best Pizza in the World. At the expo, Vakneen earned first place in the Non-Traditional California Style Competition in America’s Southwest Region and second place in the world.

He was also awarded first place worldwide for the best International Italian Sandwich Competition.

John Arena and Chris Decker, Truly Pizza partners and fellow World Pizza Champions—a collaboration of professional pizzamakers—assisted Vakneen in the expo.

“It’s an incredible honor to have my pizza and sandwich recognized by my peers at the International Pizza Expo & Conference, and to have received this honor alongside my fellow pizzamakers John Arena and Chris Decker,” Vakneen said in a recent media release.

“I’m thrilled to bring these award-winning creations to our Truly Pizza menu and to continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with pizza and sandwiches with John and Chris who equally bring their passion and craft to our new community of pizza enthusiasts,” Vakneen continued.

Vakneen’s winning pizza and sandwich will be featured on Truly Pizza’s menu when the new artisanal pizza shop opens in the coming weeks.

The winning pizza is a non-traditional creation that featured Truly Pizza’s exclusive pizza dough recipe topped with a base that comprises caramelized dates, an onion jam, and whiskey-and-maple glazed pork-bellied lardons. The pizza also includes smoked mozzarella, Stracciatella, bleu cheese, date syrup drizzle, caramelized pecans and grated orange zest, edible flowers, micro greens and duck prosciutto.

As for his award-winning sandwich, it featured, among other things, lemon pesto, porchetta, Stracciatella, parmesan cheese crisps and a garlic aioli on a focaccia bread.

Truly Pizza will offer a range of artisanal handcrafted pizzas, sandwiches, salads and desserts made with locally sourced ingredients.

The restaurant was developed in partnership among friends bringing together a mutual love of pizza with Vakneen joining Donna Baldwin and Steven Muller, as well as Arena and Decker.

Combining Baldwin’s background in hospitality, Muller’s real estate development experience and Arena, Decker and Vakneen’s professional pizza-making experience, the five have come together to develop the artisanal pizza restaurant set to open soon.

Former Environmental Engineer Recalls 1st Earth Day Celebrations

BY BREEANA GREENBERG

As an 18-year-old University of Wisconsin Civil Environmental Engineering student, Dana Yarger penned a report on solid waste disposal for The Wisconsin Engineer. He presented his research during the first Earth Day “teachin” at the college in 1970.

Ahead of the first nationwide Earth Day celebrations, Yarger was tasked with developing a solid waste management plant to present alongside three other students speaking on environmental issues.

When then-Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson proposed the formation of an official Earth Day, the U.S. was in a period of tumult and protest over the Vietnam War.

“It was just the beginning of organized outrage,” said Yarger, a renowned local art director and owner of Gallery Dana Bay in the Lantern District.

“The Vietnam War was still on, there had been a lot of student activism, more people in the streets,” Yarger said. “It was kind of a wild time. And then there were some thoughts about, ‘we better take care of the earth’—really pioneered by an author, Rachel Carlson.”

Carlson’s book, The Silent Spring, which shed light on the use of pesticides and its impacts on the environment, sparked interest in environmental conservation, Yarger explained.

Taking a page from the “teach-ins” that began in protest over the war, Earth Day proponents gathered at university campuses, spreading information on how to better care for the planet and why it’s important.

Yarger added that there were Earth Day “teach-ins” celebrating the first national Earth Day on April 22, 1970 across many college campuses.

“Wisconsin captured a lot of the attention through Gaylord Nelson, the senator,” Yarger said of the Earth Day founder. “Therefore, the limelight of that shone on us, and we tried to do what we could to bring the public’s attention to these issues.”

As the editor of the Scientists for Social Responsibility magazine, Yarger said he was “kind of a voice between the technical people and social people, so I became aware of the issues.”

“We were very passionate at the time about being responsible environmental citizens,” Yarger continued.

The day ahead of that first Earth Day at the University of Wisconsin, Nelson and Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska were featured speakers.

Community Meetings

MONDAY, APRIL 24

Dana Point Planning Commission

6 p.m. The Dana Point Planning Commission will hold a regular meeting. This meeting will also be livestreamed through the city’s YouTube channel. A link for livestreams and replays is available on the city’s website. Dana Point Council Chambers, 33282 Golden Lantern Street, Suite 210, Dana Point. danapoint.org.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25

Because I Love You (BILY)

6:30-8:30 p.m. The organization

Because I Love You (BILY) will continue conducting its weekly meetings on Tuesdays via Zoom. For detailed instructions on how to participate, email bilysanclemente@gmail.com. The Noble Path Foundation, 420 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente.

Dana Point Harbor Revitalization Town Hall

5 p.m. Orange County Fifth District Board Supervisor Katrina Foley will host a town hall with the Dana Point Harbor Partners to present updates on the Dana Point Harbor Revitalization plan. Visit the supervisor’s weekly newsletter to RSVP. OC Sailing & Events Center, 34451 Ensenada Place, Dana Point.

Victoria Boulevard Apartments

6:30-8:30 p.m. Toll Brothers Apartment Living will host a community meeting to discuss the proposed apartment project at the former Capistrano Unified School District Bus Yard site. The community meeting will be an opportunity for residents to provide feedback and ask questions about the project. To RSVP, visit victoriablvdapts. com. Capo Beach Church, 25975 Domingo Ave, Dana Point.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26

Dana Point Historical Society

7 p.m. The Dana Point Historical Society meeting will include a presentation by Bob Zamora, retired Capistrano Valley High School baseball coach. Zamora will present on family history of Basque immigration, sheep herding in the Dana Point area and other Southern California connections. The Historical Society meeting is open to members and non-members alike. Dana Point Council Chambers, 33282 Golden Lantern Street, Suite 210, Dana Point. danapoint.org.

(Cont. from page 5)

Yarger was featured in one of a series of discussions that touched on the engineering, sociological and biological aspects of pollution, where he shared his findings in his report, “Solid Waste Disposal.”

As editor of The Wisconsin Engineer, Yarger was tasked with researching solid waste management for the city of Madison, Wisconsin and “use it as a model to come up with a solid waste management plan.”

“That’s where my article—written as a young man at the time—people think that solid waste management is taking the trash out to the curb, they don’t think where it goes, how it has to be handled and all the economics of getting it somewhere, using it for something,” Yarger said.

“Solid Waste Disposal” was published in the March 1970 issue of The Wisconsin Engineer

“It had these principles to help people, help the students understand, this is what air pollution is about, there’s things you can’t even smell. This is what water pollution is about and this is what solid waste management (is)—I don’t think I got the sexiest one,” Yarger joked.

As environmental scientists, Yarger noted that he and his peers “tried to give logic and practicality to the decision makers and leaders,” adding that the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency was a measure of success for early Earth Day proponents.

The EPA would not be formed until December 1970. Prior to the formation of the EPA, there had been a large oil spill in Santa Barbara in 1969 that had brought more attention to the lack of air and water quality regulations.

Yarger’s first job in government as an environmental engineer was to test wastewater treatment and chemicals. Yarger recalled facing animosity from businesses opposed to environmental inspections and regulations.

“I remember this one place that I was supposed to inspect, the guy asked me to leave his property with a shotgun in front of him,” Yarger said. “So, there was a lot of animosity from industry, even small industry, for people interfering with their business.”

“When you go into some family farm cheese factory and say, ‘you’ve got to stop dumping all this whey in the creek, it’s just a ditch which gets in the river, and it kills all the fish,’ they don’t care about that,” Yarger said.

Yarger added that his colleagues who stayed in environmental engineering did a lot of successful work.

Fifty-three years after the first earth day, and no longer working in the environmental engineering field, Yarger still works in conservation as U.S.A. Chairman of the Elephant Parade. Through the Elephant Parade, Yarger promotes awareness and support for endangered Asian elephants.

Yarger emphasizes, “E is for elephant and everything essential to our environment.”

Looking back at the birth of the Earth Day movement, Yarger added that people nowadays could learn from the early focus on finding solutions to environmental concerns.

“Life has gotten so complicated, and government is so contentious it’s hard to get people focused on a problem and coming up with a combination of solutions,” Yarger said. “Even the best of intentions and the best of planning gets derailed by other people having other priorities.”

With this Saturday, April 22, marking the 53rd anniversary of Earth Day, Gallery Dana Bay will offer 15% off Elephant Parade replicas through the weekend.

by Dan De Neve

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