First of Many

Time Out Chicago 2008 Eat Out Award to Green Grocery Chicago

The envelope please:

Best Localvore Leader
Green Grocer Chicago
Unless you live in some fairy-tale neighborhood whose local market brims year-round with local produce, freshly butchered, grass-fed meat and still-warm bread, you have to expend a lot of effort to be a localvore in Chicago. That is, until Cassie Green and Gary Stephens decided to jam as many local products as they could get their hands on into their five-month-old Green Grocer Chicago. They pack a lot into their small store: Papa Lena’s veggie chips, Temptations soy ice cream, Mu Tofu tofu and tempeh, Terry’s Toffee, Metropolis Coffee, Bennison’s breads…all made right here in Chicago and all finally under one roof. 1402 W Grand Ave, 312-624-9508.

Congragulations!

In other Green Grocer news, Cassie e-mailed me this weekend on some of her ever expanding inventory of local stuff:

Fresh lettuces and greens from Windy City Harvest (greenhouse at 28th and Western) [this is a new one for me, very intriguing and exciting]
Tilapia, lettuces and herbs from Aquaranch (IL)
Mu Tofu and Tempeh (Roger’s park)
Rishi Tea (Organic tea, fair trade offices in Milwaukee but tea is clearly not grown locally)
Grass fed, pasture raised beef (steaks and ground beef) from James Family Farm (Sherman, IL)
Grains and flours from Ted’s Grains (IL)

Stop by to try the new products. And give her and her husband to be, Gary Stephens, congragulations.