Can You Canoe?

Photo via Canoe Restaurant

During my visit to Toronto this past fall with my friend Cathy, one of the culinary highlights was Canoe.

Located on the 54th floor of the Toronto Dominion (TD)  Bank Tower, it was a big step for me, who doesn’t do skyscrapers–let’s say nothing higher than 30 floors–since 9/11. I know, it’s irrational. But that’s where I landed after the traumatic experience of that event. I figure I can run down thirty flights pretty quickly if I need to.

It was worth the trip once I got off the elevator. Opening a bottle of wine right away helped, of course.

But the real draw–besides the view of Toronto and Lake Ontario–was the chef’s creative use of artisanal Canadian ingredients. It’s all spelled out on the menu.

While our server assured us that the Chef chooses local ingredients whenever possible, not everything was regional. I’ve come across the same dilemma in the States as well. Sometimes you have to go to the prairie states or provinces to get the best pastured lamb because there may not be a supplier nearby that can accommodate a restaurant’s demands. At least it’s better than procuring from New Zealand.

So, I had the Alberta lamb with turnips and butterball potatoes that night. And it was divine. Nothing beats seasonal vegetables to accompany a meat like lamb.

Before the main course of lamb, I started the meal with a duck bacon.

And finished with artisanal cheese, nuts, and cranberry bread.

I think it may be one of the best restaurants in Toronto. And, if you’re not afraid of heights, it won’t be a challenge to zoom to the 54th floor of the TD Tower!

48 Hours in Ann Arbor for Locavores: Part 3, Grange Kitchen & Bar

While in Ann Arbor last weekend for a wedding, Bill and I ventured to the Ann Arbor Farmers Market and Zingerman’s Deli on the first day in town. We had hoped to try Eve for dinner that night but the farm-to-table restaurant closed in January. However, I found Grange Kitchen & Bar in my farm-to-table restaurant search and promptly made a reservation for Saturday night.

We were delighted. Chef Brandon Johns is all about the philosophy toward food that I appreciate: “Chef Brandon Johns created Grange Kitchen & Bar with the idea that the freshest ingredients, grown sustainably and sourced from people we know are the basis for the best food. At Grange, our commitment to local and sustainable sources reflects both our commitment to the community and our commitment to bringing the best of the farm’s bounty to the table when it’s fresh and at the peak of its flavor. Join us for seasonal menus inspired by the fresh flavors of local farms and farmers’ markets.”

Yes! If I were to own and operate a restaurant, this is the way I would do it. Another thing I always appreciate is seeing the list of local farms that provide produce, meat, cheese, etc. to the restaurant. Our server informed us that food is sourced within 100 miles of Ann Arbor.

Here was the menu for May 28, 2011.

We started with the housemade charcuterie, accompanied by an Orange Blossom for me and a Sazerac for Bill.

Here’s what was on the charcuterie plate (if I remember correctly!): lardons, pork pate with asparagus, duck mousse, pickled vegetables, cured ham in molasses, onion jam, ginger apple butter, stoneground mustard, and caraway crackers.

For dinner, I had the Pan Roasted Pork Loin with Ramps, Fingerlings and Fried Eggs. It was unbelievable….flavor, texture, and temperature.

Bill had the Pan Roasted Duck Breast Sweet Potato Puree and Pickled Rhubarb.

And, it was ideal to be able to order a bottle of Michigan Pinot Noir from Brys Estate Vineyard & Winery.

We were so thrilled with our meal that we went back for brunch the next day!

I had seen the menu the night before and already had my eye on the Goat Cheese and Asparagus Omelette with Sausage and Fingerlings. I don’t know how the sausage was seasoned, but it was delicious. The whole meal was excellent and I enjoyed it with fresh squeezed orange juice and a glass of L. Mawby’s sparkling wine–another Michigan favorite.

Bill also loved the sausage; he had his with fried eggs and fingerlings.

Grange has quickly become one of my favorite restaurants. I wish we lived closer to Ann Arbor so we could go more often!

Farm to Trailer: A Food Cart for Locavores in Austin

Photo via foodtrailersaustin.com

It’s not very often that I promote an eatery I haven’t eaten at. But the other night I was watching Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” on television when he visited the Heartland. His tour included restaurants in Livonia, MI; Columbus, OH; Austin, TX; Milwaukee, WI; and Minneapolis, MN.

I was intrigued by the number of food carts in Austin lined up along Lamar Square and can’t wait to visit sometime. Even Bourdain was amazed at the offering from these street vendors.

One that caught my eye was called The Odd Duck on South Lamar Blvd. I love the tagline: “Farm to Trailer.” Has anyone eaten there?

Owner and chef Bryce Gilmore purchases products locally, creates a daily menu, and prepares your food on a wood-burning grill. Right up my alley. Did you see on The Odd Duck’s website that he’s listed all the farms and producers that source his ingredients? I love getting that information from a chef.

For a look inside The Odd Duck, check out this YouTube video by Vendr TV‘s Daniel Delaney, who is on a mission to find “the best street food imaginable.”

Whenever I make it to Austin, I promise to do a blog post about The Odd Duck!

Ecocentric’s Best of the Ecoblogosphere

 

I just discovered Ecocentric, a blog about food, water, and energy–and their interconnectedness–created by Grace Communications Foundation.

Yesterday they posted their Best Blogs of the Ecoblogosphere. If you’re a green geek, you should check it out. And if you’re a happy food fan, pay special attention to the list of blogs about sustainable food.

Two of my favorites on their list are Greenhorns, a land-based nonprofit serving young farmers across the United States, and Animal Welfare Approved, which helps create awareness about how farm animals are raised, where food comes from, and how it is produced.

Here’s a little background on Grace Communication Foundation, which supports:

• The development of sustainable, community-based food production and regional food distribution networks
• Public awareness of how sustainable agriculture contributes to social, environmental, economic and personal health
• Policies that promote sustainable use of water resources for energy and food production
• Policies that protect and promote clean drinking water
• The development of small-scale distributed renewable energy systems
• Increased public awareness of how individuals can improve their physical and emotional health.

America’s First Organic Restaurant: Nora

While planning our recent trip to Washington, D.C., Bill and I went right to AmericanFarmtoTable.com for dining ideas. Only two restaurants were listed within the district’s limits: Equinox and Nora, but Nora is the one that caught our attention. It might have been that Nora is the first organic restaurant certified in the United States. Or that one of our waiter friends at our local favorite, Everyday People Cafe, had recommended it to me when I ran into him in the grocery store. Or, maybe it was simply the proximity to our hotel in Dupont Circle! In any case, we made a reservation and, on our last night in the district, Bill and I had a delightful meal at Nora. It was the best place we ate during our six-day visit to the D.C. area.

Originally constructed in the 19th century as a grocery store, the main dining room feels cozy and intimate. The eclectic menu, which changes daily, serves organic new-American cuisine in Nora’s own creative style.

In April 1999, Restaurant Nora became America’s first certified organic restaurant, which means that 95% or more of everything that you eat at the restaurant has been produced by certified organic growers and farmers who share in Nora’s commitment to sustainable agriculture. Nora’s focus is on seasonal, fresh organic food, prepared in a healthy, balanced way–from grassfed beef to hand-made cheeses, and fresh seasonal produce. And it’s obvious from the menu and when asking the staff about the sources for the food. (Check out Nora’s list on page 2 of the dinner menu that details sources for everything from water to coffee to herbs to energy. It’s amazing!)

I had a delicious New York strip steak, which usually isn’t my favorite cut of beef, but I was so happy to find grassfed meat that I ordered it, and was glad I did.

I had other courses to show but the lighting is pretty dark so several of my photos via smartphone did not turn out, except for this delicious raspberry tart.

You should know a little bit about Nora Pouillon, because her philosophy behind this restaurant is so impressive. The following information comes directly from the restaurant’s website.

Nora Pouillon is a pioneer and champion of organic, environmentally conscious cuisine. Born in Austria, Nora promotes and embodies healthy, sustainable living. Her inspiration in the kitchen comes from her parents who understood the value of simply prepared seasonal foods. When Nora came to the U.S. in the late 1960s, she was disturbed by the amount of processed and chemical-laden foods Americans were eating. That’s when Nora began her search for seasonal and organic food and her crusade for healthier living.

She made a lifetime commitment to nutritionally wholesome food, balanced eating and sustainable living that is based on the premise that you are what you eat, drink and breathe, and that it is important to take responsibility for one’s own health. Nora’s approach also includes a daily exercise routine that strengthens and focuses the body and mind.

She opened Restaurant Nora in 1979 and was immediately recognized for her ability to create not only healthy but also delicious organic dishes. In 1999, twenty years later, the restaurant became the nation’s first certified organic restaurant. Only three other restaurants have since achieved this goal.

Nora was instrumental in creating the organic certification standards for restaurants that guarantee at least 95% of all food served originates from certified organic sources. In the early 1990s, she launched the farmer/chef connection by introducing the farmers of the Tuscarora Organic Growers Coop (TOG), to other local chefs, helping to ensure their farms’ economic viability. She also initiated the very first producer-only farmers markets in the nation’s capital, now known as Fresh Farm Markets, which has grown to include eight active markets. While serving as a board member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Nora established an organic internship program and still receives five interns each year at Restaurant Nora. She is the author of Cooking with Nora, a seasonal menu cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Cookbook Award.

If you live in D.C., or plan to visit, check out America’s first organic restaurant!

Eating in Season at Mas

While in New York City for the Taste of Greenmarket earlier this month, Bill and I tried to visit as many farm-to-table restaurants as we could in New York. One of them was Mas (farmhouse) in the West Village.

What I love about farm-to-table eating is the spontaneity of the menus because they’re seasonal. In fact, restaurants that change their menus daily are my favorites because it means they’re in sync with what’s fresh and what’s local. I believe this is what’s best for our bodies as well.

Mas has a unique offering. You can either try the tasting menu, order off the printed menu, or do a combination of the two. While it’s almost too many choices, I really appreciate a chef such as Galen Zamarra who can accommodate so many palates, preferences, as well as allergies. Plus, all the meat at Mas is grassfed and happy. Perfecto!

Thanks to our server, Jason (aka Tad), as well as general manager, Christopher Bender, it was easy to make our decisions for dinner. I decided to go with the tasting menu while Bill ordered four courses from the menu with adaptations made by the chef to accommodate his cow dairy, wheat, and corn allergies.

I started with the duck rillette on a mini burger bun.

It was followed by the tomato tart with parmesan and pine nuts (yum!).

Then fluke (one of my favorite types of fish) and monkfish.

The next course was duck breast….one of my favorite fall meats.

Followed by lamb…another of my favorite meats (anytime!) served with paper-thin slices of potato.

For a palate cleanser, the chef offered a sorbet with lemon verbena soup. Excellent combination of flavors!

And for the finale, a birthday surprise. (We celebrated in New York since I spent my birthday, September 30, doing a volunteer event in West Michigan.) This was a hazelnut mousse with caramel ice cream. Fabulous!

Thanks to the Mas team for a special night in the West Village, sampling local ingredients in season and in their prime.

I Love Chefs that Shop at the Local Farmers Market

Check out what Executive Chef Galen Zamarra picks out for dinner at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City to serve at Mas Farmhouse–one of the restaurants I hope to visit the next time I go to New York. I love how he supports the local farmers while choosing fresh, seasonal food for diners.

You just can’t beat farm to table dining.

And the Chef Panel Says: Go Organic

 

The current issue of Time magazine focuses on the organic food debate. One segment includes the results from a blue-ribbon panel of nine New York chefs who reveal their preferences in a taste test: Farm vs. Supermarket.

Although the subtitle of the article leads you to believe that “organic and small-farm products aren’t always better,” the results indicate a definite lean toward preferring organic. In four out of seven of the tests, organic was the winner and in two of the tests it was a draw between organic and nonorganic. Even the preference for beef (grass-fed vs. grass-and-grain-fed prime steak) points toward an inclusion of grass in the cow’s diet, as opposed to a totally grain-fed piece of meat.

The two taste tests that each ended in a draw were for carrots and goat cheese. Both the Organic Bunny Love carrots and the Dole non-organic carrots were “almost exactly the same,” according to Chef Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy.

Anne Saxelby, owner of Saxelby Cheesemongers, tasted the organic and nonorganic Farmstead goat cheeses. Her conclusion? “Cheese needs milk–and milk, like wine, needs terroir. The pasture, the cheesemaker’s prowess and the technique–that’s where you get your flavor. These two cheeses are equally delicious; there really is no difference.”

The other tests, in which organic was the winner over nonorganic, focused on white nectarines, tomatoes, pork, chicken, and eggs. (With all the violations among Iowa egg producers right now, who wouldn’t choose organic? And local!)

I was glad to see these results from the New York panel, which, by the way, also included the following chefs:

Marco Canora of Hearth

Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson of Minetta Tavern

Floyd Cardoz of Tabla

Joey Campanaro of The Little Owl

April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig

George Weld of Egg

Put Your Voice on the Table Video Contest

Recently, a person who commented on one of my blog posts suggested I visit Farm to Table since I’m always looking for local and sustainable foods wherever I go. This looks like a really great site with lots of information.

And, guess what? They’re having a contest! To support the growing call for change in the American food system, Farm to Table is creating a video collage of people who eat food from farmers. The video will be sent to the USDA, the White House, and The Food Revolution Team to convey the need for change in our food system.  It’s like a video petition and it’s called: “Put Your Voice on the Table.”

Now through August 31, 2010, you can submit a short clip of yourself in your chosen locale and mode of dress saying the phrase, “My Farm, My Table,” and/or “Your Farm, Your Table” (or any combination)–however you can creatively express the connection between food and farms. Between 50 and 80 clips will be selected for the final video.

For further details about the contest, including submission guidelines, visit their website.

A Farmer’s Feast: Blue Hill at Stone Barns

For me, going to Blue Hill at Stone Barns was like a pilgrimage. I’ve been reading about Dan Barber and his farm to table philosophy for about a year and planned to visit this locavore destination the next time I took a trip to my old stomping grounds of North Jersey.

Last weekend, I made the pilgrimage. Located outside of Tarrytown, New York, it’s a short drive from my friend Cathy’s house. She accompanied me to the “farmer’s feast” as they call it at Stone Barns.

But first, we took a walk around the grounds at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a working four-season farm and educational center, where the restaurant is located. This is where the restaurant sources some of its seasonal ingredients, in addition to other local farms in the Hudson Valley. (I really wish I lived closer to this place. When we went to the visitors’ center, I picked up a flyer that listed all the programs happening in June and July–from tours to egg collecting to writers’ workshops!)

After exploring, it was time for dinner. Here’s the entrance to the restaurant.

There are no menus at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Instead, you have the option for a five-course or eight-course tasting menu–the farmer’s feast–which is derived from over a hundred ingredients and updated daily.

Cathy and I chose the eight-course tasting menu.  But first, we started with a glass of champagne to celebrate our vacation time together. (Our bottle of Cristom Pinot Noir is breathing patiently in the foreground.)

From then on, it was pure locavore heaven. Although we took photos of everything we ate, there were so many tastes it’s impossible to include everything in this blog post. Here’s a sampling of what we ate that night. (To the staff at Blue Hill at Stone Barns: I did my best to name them from what Cathy and I could recall the next day!)

Grilled Fava Beans with Saffron Salt

Vegetables on a Fence

Mini Pea Burgers with Goat Cheese

Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Sesame on a Stick

Frittata with Capicola

Bologna, Pancetta, and Capicola from the Stone Barns Charcuterie

American Sturgeon Caviar and Veal Marrow

Red Fife Bread with Marmalade of Fresh Greens and Ricotta

Salad of Fresh Greens with Yoghurt

Fresh Bread and Butter with Variety of Vegetable Infused Salts

Blowfish and Sweet Peas with Mint

Baked Eggs with Herbs in Rice Paper

Pasta with Embryonic Egg Yolk Truffle

Pork Tenderloin with Salt Fat in Mustard Sauce

We didn’t end it there with a savory course; we moved on to the sweets, but it was getting pretty dark for photography by then. Our feast was rounded out with:

New Blueberries in a Cup
Raspberries and Cream
Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Bar
Honey Truffles with Honeycomb

Cathy and I had an enjoyable evening, leisurely eating our way through the farmer’s feast, and sampling myriad ingredients assembled with so much creativity–all in the presence of a very attentive wait staff.

During the feast, we observed Dan Barber mingling with guests in the dining room. At the end of our meal we were pleasantly surprised to be invited by Yates, our lead server, into the kitchen where we had the privilege to be introduced to Dan and have a peek at what goes on behind the scenes. This was the icing on the cake for me–to meet one of the people in this country who, I believe, is taking the right approach to growing, cooking, and eating happy food.

On top of that, he’s instrumental in his education and awareness efforts to help others learn how to make conscious decisions about everyday food choices by bringing the principles of good farming directly to the table.

Thanks to everyone at Blue Hill at Stone Barns who brought the farm to the table for Cathy and me, giving us an authentic tasting experience.