To help the Slow Food Indy delegates to Terra Madre with the expenses of traveling to Torino, Slow Food Indy is pleased to partner with area chefs and restaurants in a series of Farm to Table dinners. More details will be coming (or you can check updates at Slow Food Indy's blog). But in the meantime, mark your calendars!July 14: Chef Neal Brown presents a Farm to Table dinner at L'Explorateur (note the corrected date)
July 31: Chef Thom England and Ivy Tech culinary students present a Farm to Table dinner at Chateau Thomas Winery. To make reservations, call 317-837-WINE (9463).
August 3: Chef Chris Eley of Goose the Market presents at Farm to Table dinner at Good Life Farms.
Off topic, but has anyone heard about a place called Bonjour Cafe and Bakery, opening up at 24th and Meridian?
ReplyDeleteHow does one go about reserving for these?
ReplyDeletere: Bonjour -- Kirts is closely following it, but I know nothing about it. Maybe he'll be along to share soon?
ReplyDeletere: Reservations. I'd call L'ex, Chateau Thomas, or Chris at The Goose directly.
The Dish on 6/3/08 said this:
ReplyDelete"Bonjour Cafe & Bakery is slated for the building going up just south of Fall Creek Parkway on Meridian Street..."
There's also a classified ad in Nuvo for baristas, bakers and cashiers to interview this Friday.
They must be close...
The Goose Blog has been updated with the menu Chris is planning for Farm to Table.
ReplyDeleteFirst
La Quercia Rossa Culatello 1 year Honeydew fizz
Col. Bill Newsom 2 Year Cantaloupe roll up
Benton’s Country Ham 14 month Plum preserves
Country Lomo 60 days Tomato confit
Second
Roasted eggplant, squash blossoms, garlic, lemon, white anchovies
Smoked pork tongue, peaches, spiced pecans, white balsamic, field greens
Rabbit terrine, pickled watermelon rind, blackberry mostarda
Third
Viking Lamb in a Box
Duck, apple and acorn squash sausage
Salsa verde
Mint-melon relish
Crispy new potato, Calabrian chile, herb fine
Polenta, Pazia, oyster mushrooms
Cauliflower, cuitlacoche, leeks
Roasted carrots and celeriac
Sweet corn panna cotta
Fourth
Sweet cream bourbon pie, pecan crust, macerated stone fruit
Dinners First
La Quercia Rossa Culatello 1 year Honeydew fizz
Col. Bill Newsom 2 Year Cantaloupe roll up
Benton’s Country Ham 14 month Plum preserves
Country Lomo 60 days Tomato confit
Second
Roasted eggplant, squash blossoms, garlic, lemon, white anchovies
Smoked pork tongue, peaches, spiced pecans, white balsamic, field greens
Rabbit terrine, pickled watermelon rind, blackberry mostarda
Third
Viking Lamb in a Box
Duck, apple and acorn squash sausage
Salsa verde
Mint-melon relish
Crispy new potato, Calabrian chile, herb fine
Polenta, Pazia, oyster mushrooms
Cauliflower, cuitlacoche, leeks
Roasted carrots and celeriac
Sweet corn panna cotta
Fourth
Sweet cream bourbon pie, pecan crust, macerated stone fruit
it's all for just $65 and space is limited.
http://goosethemarket.blogspot.com/2008/07/august-3rd-goose-brings-farm-to-table.html
Off topic, but do any of these Chefs, but Chris at the Goose, care about local produce? I really don't see any other of these Chefs caring about local.
ReplyDeleteYou may not be as familiar as their involvement with local producers as The Goose, but Neal Brown and Thom England, and arguably *all* the chefs on the Terra Madre delegation have been long-time leaders in using local producers in both produce and meat.
ReplyDeleteIf you dine at L'explorateur, most ingredients on the menu have local provenance from the produce to most of the meats as well as specialty items like mushrooms, cheese, and ice cream. Many fine dining chefs work with some of the same meat suppliers Chris does -- like Viking Lamb and Fisher Farms for beef. Neal has long structured his menu around "what's available" which is why it changes so often.
Thom England is an instructor at Ivy Tech, but lectures and consults professionally working with local ingredients, and has helped bring Slow Food Indy back to life. (Many Indy chefs have been active with the Bloomington group for along time.) Thom's influence goes directly to his students who are filling up lines in restaurants across the city. Thom's been an early proponent of CSAs and farmers markets in Indiana. Many culinary schools don't even mention issues like local use and sustainability.
And they're not the only ones. You'd probably be surprised as how much local food is on menus in the city. If you have a steak at The Oceanaire? Local. Everything possible on the menu at RBistro? Local. Exotic meats like elk and buffalo at Restaurant Tallent? Local. Many midwestern states like Indiana are actually further ahead in the eating locally movement than the more populated coastal areas. In SF and NY, many chefs find it much more difficult and expensive to choose regional producers.