Farm to Table Dinners: Onward Ho!

Missed RBistro's Farm-to-Table dinners last week and I've been dying to hear how the spit-roasted goat worked out! In the meantime, Slow Food Indy gears up for the next one -- a joint-chef effort at Apple Family Farms in McCordsville on Sept 14.

Ragina Mahallick, Greg Hardesty, Chris Eley, Aaron Butts, and Thom England will all prepare dishes. Farm tour starts at 4:00 p.m., Dinner at 5:00. $65 per person. Buy tickets online. Proceeds to the delegation for travel to Terra Madre.

The Goose Farm to Table Dinner

Indianapolis area Farm-to-Table dinners are in full swing presented by many of the chefs heading to Terra Madre as part of our Slow Food delegation. Chef Thom England reports a huge success with his own dinner last week at Chateau Thomas. Tonight, Chef Christopher Eley (Goose, The Market) presents his sold-out dinner at the Good Life Farms. (We'll try to take some great pics.)

Want to support the chefs as they travel to this bi-annual international conference to learn and share the best techniques in utlizing local and seasonal foods? More dinners are on their way. (More info on Terra Madre and our locally participating chefs at Slow Food Indy.) Next up?

August 19: Farm-to-Table dinner, Chef Regina Mehallick, R Bistro; 6:30 p.m., $50

September 14: Regina Mahallick (R Bistro), Greg Hardesty, Chris Eley (Goose, The Market), Aaron Butts (Joseph Decuis), Thom England (Ivy Tech) will prepare one course each for dinner at the Apple Family Farm in McCordsville, Indiana. Farm tour 4:00 p.m., dinner at 5:00 p.m. $65, Tickets available online.

Early October: Farm-to-Table dinner, Chef Aaron Butts, Joseph Decuis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Check their website for details.

Midwest Cabernet, Chef's Alliance, April in Paris

It's a big food and wine weekend with some of the biggest events of the year. The Chef's Alliance dinner is sold out and folks are still looking for tickets. If you have tickets and can't attend, please post how to reach you. I'll connect you with some buyers.

Midwest Cabernet Experience
Friday, April 25
One of the best catalog tastings of the year, this one is all collector cabs and worth every penny! 75 Cabs all $30 retail and above (plus a spread from the Montage). Benefits Riley Heart Center at the Riley Hospital for Children. $75 in advance/$100 at the door. Collectors Club tix (cabs that retail for $100 or more) $125 in advance/$150 at the door. Get tickets at Kahn's or through Riley Hospital.

Chef's Alliance Dinner
Sunday, April 27
Hosted by Chef Ryan Nelson of The Oceanaire. As he's done for the past three years, Nelson brings together some of his top peers to cook an 8-course feast benefiting Riley Children's Hospital. Look for Chefs Nicole and Eli Anderson (H2O Sushi), Tony Hanslits (The Chef's Academy), Regina Mehallick (R Bistro), Greg Hardesty (Elements), Karl Benko (nee Peterson's), and James Beard nominee Dave Tallent (Restaurant Tallant) and Marc Urwand and Deidra Henry (Taste Cafe and Marketplace). $125 per ticket. Contact a participating chef or their restaurant for tickets. SOLD OUT

April in Paris
Sunday, April 27
This yearly benefit for Ivy Tech is a perfect showcase for culinary students and diners alike. Seven courses at The Fountains Banquet Center in Carmel. $125 per person. Information and tickets online.

Dates to Save for Food/Wine Events

That last weekend in April is starting to look a little crazy! Not only is Thursday, April 24 Dine Out for Life night, but the rest of the weekend is a star-studded food and wine fest!

Midwest Cabernet Experience
Friday, April 25
One of the best catalog tastings of the year, this one is all collector cabs and worth every penny! 75 Cabs all $30 retail and above (plus a spread from the Montage). Benefits Riley Heart Center at the Riley Hospital for Children. $75 in advance/$100 at the door. Collectors Club tix (cabs that retail for $100 or more) $125 in advance/$150 at the door. Get tickets at Kahn's or through Riley Hospital.

Chef's Alliance Dinner
Sunday, April 27
Don't miss the annual Chef's Alliance Dinner hosted by Chef Ryan Nelson of The Oceanaire. As he's done for the past three years, Nelson brings together some of his top peers to cook an 8-course feast benefiting Riley Children's Hospital. Look for Chefs Nicole and Eli Anderson (H2O Sushi), Tony Hanslits (The Chef's Academy), Regina Mehallick (R Bistro), Greg Hardesty (Elements), Karl Benko (nee Peterson's), and James Beard nominee Dave Tallent (Restaurant Tallant) and Marc Urwand and Deidra Henry (Taste Cafe and Marketplace). $125 per ticket. Contact a participating chef or their restaurant for tickets.

April in Paris
Sunday, April 27
This yearly benefit for Ivy Tech is a perfect showcase for culinary students and diners alike. Seven courses at The Fountains Banquet Center in Carmel. $125 per person. Information and tickets online.

Joe's, Ivy Tech, and More Miscellaney

Joe's Butcher Shop Closed for Routine Maintenance: Don't panic! (with props to my man, Arthur Dent). If you went by Joe's this weekend and found them closed, don't worry. Joe is taking advantage of his slowest time of year for some specialized butcher shop maintenance. They're only expecting to be closed for seven days, so plan to stop in for great fresh meat and tidbits maybe as early as next weekend.

Ivy Tech's Culinary Expressions Cafe: It's time again for Ivy Tech's Culinary Expressions Cafe. The inhouse cafe is a chance for culinary students to run their own restaurant and they need actual customers to serve. Plan to stop in for lunch this Thursday (1/31) or Friday (2/1) for an extensive looking hot and cold Asian Buffet. They'll continue with lunches every Thursday and Friday though the spring featuring Mexican, Middle Eastern, Spanish, French, and more. For reservations or more info, contact Chef Thom England at 317.921-4619.

2008 Indiana Horticulture Congress: If you're interested in taking your knowledge about local foods and production to the next level, you might investigate the Indiana Horticultural Congress which starts Monday and runs through Wednesday at the Adam's Mark Hotel by the airport. The conference, sponsored by Purdue and featuring mainly Purdue speakers, has sessions and tracks for farmers markets, organics, wine grapes, fruit, raw agriculture, agritourism, vegetables, and botanicals. Look for some practical sessions (like labor and immigration compliance and grant funding for farmer's markets) and some growers specifics (like Apples: Where We've Been and Where We're Headed.) Additional sessions include details on organic certifications, land management, sustainability, and even weed management. The conference also serves as the annual meeting for the Indiana Winegrowers Guild with tracks each day on wine making and grapes. The conference is hosted by the Indiana Vegetable Growers Association, the Indiana Horticulture Society, Indiana Farm Market Association, the Indiana Wine Grape Council and others.) Registration, full schedule, and details available in a downloadable program from the site.

Thursday Duke's Mixture

Hey, kids, there sure are a lot of you playing on the Internets these days! Yesterday, we had a record high traffic day with significant new benchmarks set for both page views and unique visitors. After a record October, it's nice to know so many people care about great food (with a fair dose of snark) in Indianapolis.

Beaujolais Day on it's Way: It's that time of year again with the third Thursday in November -- Nov 15 -- fast approaching. If the foodie year had high holy days, Beaujolais Day would usher them in. (I keep typing "beaujolaid" day. What does that mean? I think I could get behind that holiday!) Dr. Vino's take? As long as you're drinking a high carbon footprint wine flown in from France, you might as well drink some good stuff. Skip the Nouveau. Go for the Cru.

Final Culinary Expressions Cafe: If you've been meaning to schedule a night at Ivy Tech's Culinary Expressions Cafe, next Thursday, Nov 15, is your last chance. Culinary students will cook and serve an a' la carte menu with dishes from Mexico, South America, France, Italy, and Spain. Cafe is open 6:00-8:00 p.m. in room 407 at Ivy Tech Community College on Fall Creek Parkway. Call 921-4450 for reservations. Cash only.

What I've Been Drinking: 2001 Carmen Reserve Shiraz/Cab blend from the Maipo Valley. Tasty.

RagingServer.com -- Want to get a first hand look at the life of a server? Raging Server -- a blogger in Nashville -- will give you that look. And it's usually not pretty. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll tip better.

Achatz Update: A big shout-out and thanks to regular reader and pal KC who emailed yesterday to note I'd missed an update on Grant Achatz. (I've been skimming Ruhlman's blog since I'm behind in watching Next Iron Chef and trying to avoid spoilers.) From Ruhlman:

"...grant finishes radiation this week I believe and tumor virtually gone, docs enormously hopeful. if surgery is necessary, i'm told it will be minor."

Achatz was also featured in People magazine a few weeks ago with a great picture (even hairless, he's cute) and update. The lesson? Patients have to educate themselves and take control of their own treatment. He reports no change in his palette so far except for a minor panic when he accidently downed a Diet Pepsi instead of his usual Diet Coke.

Culinary Expressions Cafe

Want to support a local culinary school student program? Then don't forget to make your reservations for the annual Culinary Expressions Cafe at Ivy Tech. For the next two Thursdays (they opened last week), students will demonstrate their newly learned skills serving the public cuisines from around the world. Coming up?

October 4 -- Asian Buffet

October 11-November 15 -- a' la carte menu with dishes from Mexico, South America, France, Italy, and Spain.

Cafe is open 6:00-8:00 p.m. in room 407 at Ivy Tech Community College on Fall Creek Parkway. Call 921-4450 for reservations. Cash only.

Monday Duke's Mixture

As if I didn't have enough to pass along over the weekend, here are a few more bits and pieces to get your through the early part of the week.

Ivy Tech Releases Plans for Campus Expansion: If you haven't seen the plans yet for the new buildings on the Ivy Tech campus at Meridian and Fall Creek Parkway, you've been missing out! When their growth spurt is over, they will have built out and moved into the old St. Vincent's hospital building, built a new building behind it on Capitol, and two new parking grarage/mixed-use buildings on Illinois. Plans went out to the neighborhood last week since they'll begin demolishing buildings attached to the St. Vincent's stucture this month. Kudos to them for keeping the original structure intact and demolishing the "modern" eyesores. Kudos also to their commitment to sod the space and green it up during the construction. Congratulations to Ivy Tech for their fantastic growth due to success of programs like their culinary arts program.

Wither Buggs? Over the weekend, I was on the canal and wondered what the Sam Hill was up with the opening of Bugg's Temple? My question didn't go unanswered long. Susan Guyette reports:

And Chuck Mack's Buggs Temple project on the Downtown Canal at 337 W. 1th St. is getting closer to completion. Owners are looking at a late May or June opening, according to Amanda Cravens. The project will include Cornerstone Coffee, Ritter's Frozen Custard and a restaurant that will feature chef Brad Gates in the kitchen.

Well, that's what they were saying *last* year, so we'll see if they actually make it. Even May or June will be late for the summer canal traffic season.

Capital Grille Cometh: Speaking of an on-time opening, Capital Grille, opening in the former Restaruant du Soliel space at the Conrad touts May 2007 on their front windows. Sounds like they'll make it with training openings beginning later this month. Guyett reports the official opening day is April 30.

The Scoop on Caterers: If you want all the information you could every need on caterers, look no further than this week's issue of the IBJ. They feature Indianpolis' largest independent caterers in their Forcu list. The top 10?

1. Crystal Catering, Carmel ($22 million last year)
2. Kahn's Katering, Carmel ($7.4 million last year)

3. Ritz Charles, Carmel ($5.9 million)

4. Indy Anna's Catering , Indianapolis, ($4.7 million)

5. Thomas Caterers of Distinction, Indianapolis ($3.8 million)

6. MBP Distinctive Catering, Indianapolis ($3.1 million)

7. Hoaglin Fine Catering, Indianapolis ($2.6 million)

8. Execudine Corporate Catering, Zionsville ($2.0 million)
9. Jonathan Byrd's Catering, Greenwood ($2.0 million)

10. Malone's Catering, Indianapolis ($1.8 million)

Many of the above caterers provide higher end fare while Malone's specializes in fried chicken, ribs, pork, and fish in classic BBQ style. Sahm's was the top restaurant caterer weighing in at number 12 with Primo right behind at 13, and Qdoba Mexican Grill at number 16. The IMA has recently added Kahn's and Ritz Charles as two additional options for events at the museum in addition to Puck's which didn't appear on the list.

Three Latest and Best

Move Over Quattro Fromaggio: I'm in love with a new Bazbeaux Pizza -- the Greek. It's the closest thing I've ever found to North Beach Pizza's Verdi Special with spinach, onion, and feta cheese. However, I reserve the right to re-visit the four cheese as my favorite at any time. Any cheese pizza with bacon on it is OK with me. (For bonus points and a special San Francisco prize, can any ex-SF resident tell me the one big difference between Bazbeaux's Greek and North Beach Pizza's Verdi Special? No menu peeking!)

Perfect Flan and Sweet Berries: What a great turnout last Thursday for the Ethnic Food Feast at Ivy Tech, a dinner put on by the culinary program and Indy Ethnic Food.com! In a meal featuring everything from Spanish tapas to veal marsala, the star of the evening? The vanilla flan with fresh sweet berries that were perfectly fresh on a rainy, winter evening. Great work by all the students and professors all under the watchful eye of program chair and host, Chef Thom England.

Pumpkin Schmear and the Perfect Coffee: This weekend was a never ending round of holiday parties. After three on Saturday and one on Sunday, I'm already full of holiday cheer along with cookies and spinach dip. (And bourbon balls and smoked salmon and chili and chocolate cake and petit fours and...and...and...uggh.) After a party on Saturday that involved a punch fountain and a lot of cranberry juice and vodka, I enjoyed the perfect antidote on Sunday morning: A piping hot everything bagel from Einstein Bros and their holiday pumpkin cream cheese. So spicy, sweet and perfect accompanied by a perfect cup of coffee. Ahhhh, life's simple pleasures. Just what a hangover needs. Well, that and lots of water.

Indy Ethnic Food Feast

Don't forget to making your reservations for this Thursday. Students from Ivy Tech's Culinary program are taking diners on a culinary trip around the world with a five course meal representing five distinct international cuisines. Students in Chef England's program have partnered with IndyEthnicFood preparing and serving the five course meal as a practical final. Tickets are $50 per person. Seating is limited to 110 diners. Reservations are required and will be accepted until November 22. (Oops, Sorry for the late notice. I'll be you can still get in.)
For more information and to make reservations log onto http://www.indyethnicfood.com/index.cfm?Fuseaction=FieldTrip

Thursday, November 30
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
4th Floor Auditorium, N. Meridian Center Campus Auditorium
50 W. Fall Creek Parkway.