Importance of local sourcing



morels as they are found

Do you sometimes feel that your choices in food options are controlled by large food congolomerates? Unless you are sourcing your food locally, you are! Wish there were fresher ingredients? Shop locally! As the gardening season shapes up, you can make those choices now for what you want to see in your garden and on your table. If you grow your own plants from seed you can go so far as to enjoy heirloom varieties. Ever wonder why you don't see some of the more exotic varieties on the grocery shelves? It is primarily because those varieties are more tender. That translates to shorter shelf life and more loss due to shipping long distances. Therefore, you will most likely see the tender varieties in your own garden or the farmers' market. One of my first experiences with that was while living in Florida. While south Florida can grow cantaloupes year around, the variety "ambrosia" is not shipped. It has very deep ribs and a tender skin and bruises easily. But the flavor!!!! Wow! The flavor was significantly sweeter and MUCH juicier. The same thing happens here with tomatoes, peppers, peaches, melons, etc. 
By sourcing locally FIRST, you are investing in the local economy and keeping the money in the region. We are slowly building our local sources and hope to have a dedicated group of local suppliers who can, together, keep us in a fresh supply. Do you know any local chemical free growers? Will you be participating in the community garden? If so, please let me know when you have a bumper crop!  I'll be looking for fresh peas, spring onions, carrots, lettuces, spinach, herbs, peppers, squashes, melons, corn, etc. Many of those come later in the year and from many sources simultaneously. I am first supporting Maranatha Farm's organic produce. Mary and Skip have done much to help promote our business and I am delighted to use their produce as much as we can. They have many long-time customers who get their orders as a first priority. I totally understand that and realize we'll have to look beyond them as a supplier, at times. That's where you might help. Please keep your eyes open for such.

Right now I would love to get my hands on local fiddleheads (fern fronds just as they come out of the ground), local morels and other edible mushrooms (must be clearly edible varieties), pea shoots (the new plants' fresh sprouts) and other wild local foods and herbs. Foragers? START!!!!

As we move into the salad seasons and away from the soup seasons, we'll be expanding your salad options and phasing out the hot soups. Last week we served real Caesar salads. If you think Caesar dressing is creamy and comes from a bottle, you haven't experienced the real deal. In actual fact, the real Caesar dressing contains fresh egg, worchestershire, mustard, wine vinegar and lemon juice and very little else. The croutons are made fresh from the oil the garlic is toasted in. To that are added anchovies and capers. Shaved parmesan  and garlic chips top it all. We are adding it to our everyday menu. It will be available alone, or with wood-fired chicken, wood-fired wild caught Alaskan salmon, wood-fired gulf shrimp or even wood-fired fresh Rockbridge trout.

We are also putting the spinach salad back on the menu. Maranatha Farm's organic spinach is the best place to start. To that we are adding hard-boiled local free-range eggs, red onion, roasted red peppers (we do our own), cajun seasoned pecans and feta. The dressing is a sesame vinaigrette or choose another favorite from our in-house made dressings. Like on the Caesar salad, you can add wood-fired chicken, wood-fired salmon, wood-fired trout or wood-fired shrimp. Holy Moly! We are having fun now!

The Roman Sandwich I added a couple of weeks ago has been well received. We have increased the volume of meat and added a larger size. The larger one gets 1.5 times the meat of the smaller one. In case you missed it, we are making a Roman bun that has chopped onion baked into it. We toast it, add coarse mustard, cheddar, Monterray jack, ham, hard salami and genoa salami. That goes into the toaster oven. When it comes out we add chopped black olives, tomato and spicy sprouts. They are served with a bag of potato chips. I think you will like it. Several people have told me it is their new favorite.

I am truly excited to add Rockbridge Trout Ranch to our list of local suppliers. Often, farm-raised means serious compromises are made in the rearing of the fish. Not so at Rockbridge. Each egg is hand fertilized and the fish are hand fed with high quality feed. The trout ranchers really brag about the quality of the feed they provide. As the fry grow, their home then becomes Spring Creek where they are getting fresh water constantly. We got our first order in time to serve it Friday night. Eight orders sold out by 6:15. I missed out getting to eat some of  the first batch. We cooked more at home. The trout was the most tender I have ever had. We took the rest of our order of 20 fillets and wood-fired them with the salmon, chicken, tilapia and shrimp. I think you will be over-joyed to add this taste sensation to your palate.

Okay—now we are OVER THE TOP!!! How about that wood-fired trout on the Roman bun with wasabi mayonnaise, tomato and spicy sprouts. Yeowza!  $7.50 with choice of chips or fruit.

Vegetarians take note!! We are going to add a dish of brown rice and wood-fired portabellas with stir fried fresh veggies to the menu. The only salt will be that in the rice. We'll provide raw soy sauce, too. You can add tofu for a bit more protein. Meat-eaters may wish to add the wood-fired options—chicken, salmon, trout or shrimp. $5.99/ tofu add .75/chicken add 2.50/shrimp or salmon add 3.50/trout add 4.00

This week's flavor journeys—
Monday~ stir-fried chicken with pineapple, pine nuts and mung sprouts over brown rice.$6.25 Soup: chicken noodle 3.49/4.99/5.59 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Tuesday~ It's Mardi Gras!!!!! Shrimp and grits plus side of fruit $6.25   Also Caribbean tamales $6.25 Soup~Red Beans and rice with boudin sausage(of course) 3.49/4.99/5.59  Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Wednesday~Egg Salad Sandwich—local free-range eggs star in this mixture. We add tomato and sprouts and a side of fresh fruit. $6.25 Soup~Red beans and rice.Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Thursday~Vegetable quiche—onion, zucchini, tomato, red pepper w/side of fruit 6.25 Soup~Portabella/Brie 3.49/4.99/5.59 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above)

Friday~Lunch—Wood-fired trout & marscapone omelet with side of fruit $6.75 Salad: Spinach and Caesar (see above) Dinner—Entree#1 Pan-fried trout and oven-roasted potatoes with side salad $12.00; Entree # 2 Chicken Pasta Alfredo with side salad and bread  $10.00

Desserts this week—
            Angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream   $4
            Key Lime Pie $4
            Pavlova with fresh fruit and whipped cream $4
Have a lovely week. We look forward to seeing you in our space.