Read Local

Slow News Day

As the blogger known as Atrios would say, "I got nothing." So instead here's some good places to find eat local reading.

• The Editors at the Eat Local Challenge blog have taken to highlighting a few good eat local posts each day. See what they have today.
• Lenae is eating very close to her Rockford home.
• Valere with two extra e's covers Cincinnati quite well.
• This Farm Girl lives in two worlds.
• See what may be on tap for a future episode of Iron Chef.
• Here's another menu to inspire.
• One more.

Tomorrow I may brave to the scene to shop with Alice Waters; otherwise it's Oak Park Farmer's Market for me. Sunday night: Mado.

What's Local - Marion Street Cheese

Eat Hard to Find Local Cheese (and more)

Fromage fanatics, let alone locavores clamor greatly for one cheese in particular (leaving aside any general clamor from bootleg real Camembert and that kinda stuff). I'm talking the 2007 American Cheese Society Grand Champion of Cheese; the Midwest's own Raclette from the Leelanau Cheese Company of Michigan. Well, courtesy of a well-traveled source, Marion Street has it now. Rich and creamy with the intensity and complexity of an aged raw milk product. Get there.

Want more cheeses? Today was the day for retailers to poke and prod the wares at the 2008 American Cheese Society shindig in Chicago. I know some folks from Marion went with their wallets open. Check in with them to see what they got.

Eli's Cheesecake Lecture Series Update

My wife and I have been well enjoying the weekly lecture series at Eli's Cheesecake on sustainable entrepreneurship. Last Thursday, Lynn Peemoeler talked about her experience in food policies including urban gardening, starting farmer's markets and eliminating food desserts. The schedule has changed for this week. Instead of organic farmer, Stan Schutte, it's heritage poultry raiser, John Caveny.

He will speak from 1-2 PM. Eli's is located at 6701 W. Forest Park Drive, Chicago, which is not too far from Harlem/Irving.

My Latest Crush

Yes, what is the mockable?

Iron Chef + Iron Chef Summer Squash Recipe

You think I'm bitter about my lack of reference in the CTrib's Sunday front pager on eating local [ed., won't give one that one up, huh?], what about the lack of notoriety I got for breaking the Paul Virant Iron Chef news. My sole blog scoop! Anyways, in anticipation of seeing my favorite local chef (although these days he's ably challenged by so many others, especially Rob at Mado) on a forthcoming epsiode of Iron Chef, my wife and I have have taken to recording and watching the week's episodes each Sunday on TV Food Network. We had more reason to catch this week's episode because it featured the judging of Chicago food writer and woman of the world, Louisa Chu.

Would we watch Iron Chef America but for the inclusion of people we know? Probably not. We barely watched it until we learned of PAUL VIRANT IRON CHEF CHALLENGER. Still, we now watch regularly. Flat out, it's not close to the original. Sure, you cannot duplicate the camp value of that one, from the giggling ingenue du jour to the What's Up Tiger Lily voicing to the older woman judge whose varied titles include soothsayer. Still, we miss many features of the original.

Foremost, the competing version of Iron Chefs contain competing versions of what it means to be a secret ingredient. It seems that secret is not quite as secret in the USA version. This is apparent in the USA version. As soon as the bell rings, the chef-testants know what they are doing. Contrast to the original where there was a true sense of improvisation. You could literally see them thinking and planning their meals. The rules in our version specify five dishes. In the real version, you never knew how many dishes the chefs could create. There were episodes where the chefs could barely manage two dishes. My wife and I like watching what the chefs create on the US version; how they treat the ingredients, and especially, the techniques employed. We watch mostly because it is the best cooking show on the station. It is not, however, as challenging or as riveting.

Our other complaints are mostly of style. The original's opening montages, the overly dramatic introductions of the histories of the Iron Chefs and the biographies of the challengers is not duplicated in the least. Moreover, the upstart version misses the rivalries, contrived or not (I say not) running through the series: the Ohta Faction, traditional vs. modern, redemption of family honor. Nothing against Alton Brown, who brings some wit and food expertise to the program, but he cannot come close to Dr. Yukio Hattori who could whip out some obscure culinary tidbit out of his tush. Finally, the US version excludes one of the key moments in the original, the over-the-top voice-over descriptions of the prepared dishes. My wife and I watch, but we know what we are missing.

Beyond the inclusion of Ms. Chu, this week's episode hit home for the localvore, summer squash. The judges and commentators maligned the vegetable, but anyone eating local about now is happy to get recipe ideas. Not to give away too much if you have not seen the show yet; one dish really appealed to me, zucchini in a harissa-spiked vinaigrette. I made my version last night.

4 smaller zucchini (think about six inches)
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of Aleppo pepper
5 (or so) beads of allspice
1 lemon
Olive oil, salt, pepper

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. From the small end, cut in 2; from the fatter end, cut in 4--if your squash is fatter cut the whole thing into fourths.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil, add the zukes, cook for about five minutes until tender.

Crush the garlic, Aleppo pepper and allspice, then salt and pepper, add the juice of one lemon. Let the flavors mingle and the pepper hydrate.

Combine the cooked vegetable with the dressing. Pour only a bit of olive oil over. It should taste bright and spicy.

The Night Local Reigned - Green City BBQ - CLARIFICATION

Department of Whoops

A few nights ago, I raved about the annual Green City Market BBQ. I mentioned in my report how much food I consumed. On LTHForum, Ronnie Suburban confirmed my belief that the fete provided more fare than last year. I believe that food induced coma rattled my mind and weakened my reporting abilities, forcing me to rely too much on stringers, i.e., my daughters.

Any reported sightings of Chef Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago, a locavore chef if the city ever had one (and even more notable for his zero waste and recycling efforts); were mistaken and any reporting that the awesomely cute kidz hawking ice cream at the 312 stand were related to Chef Zanella was also mistaken. Those said kidz went with 312 pastry chef, Kim Schwenke. They do resemble their dad. It's just that their dad is not Dean Z.

Vital Information regrets its errors and blames all on the vast amounts of items he was forced to ingest.

Great Local Event

I've been way remiss in not posting this earlier.

The Oak Park Micro Brew & Food Review, produced by the Downtown Oak Park Association and Seven Generations Ahead, features tastings of 50 craft beers from 15 local microbreweries from across Illinois.

Sample beer from the most skilled craft brew masters. Eat organic food from Oak Park restaurateurs and local farmers. Listen to roving musicians and participate in festive activities that will delight and entertain. Enjoy the new Marion Street shopping area. Admission is $35 and can be purchased at sevengenerationsahead.org.

A VIP pre-event celebration will be held at the new "green" Marion Street Cheese Market, and will include a select craft brew and cheese tasting, a tour of the new facility and its green features, and a welcome from brewmaster extraordinaire, Pete Crowley, president of the IL Craft Brewers Guild; tickets are $65 and include the VIP event and the Oak Park Micro Brew & Food Review.

For more information and ticket purchasing go to here on the Seventh Generation Ahead web site.

You Go Girl!

Adam P has left this blog in VERY able hands.

Favorite Product Watch

Found in Local Markets Recently

• New potatoes - Fox & Obel, Green Grocer
• Gunthrop Farms smoked ham - Fox & Obel
• Trader's Point Creamery - Orchard Trio Yogurt (specifically Orchard Trio) - Green Grocer

These are the types of foodstuffs that make it good to be a locavore.

Eat Local Orange Juice

Well, there are many locavores that can wake up each morning with a refreshing glass of orange juice from oranges grown within their local area or local foodshed. If your oranges are out of season, you can even use some stuff you put away in your freezer. OK, that aint us here in the Chicago area. Anyone around here abiding by a local diet, whether a 100 mile radius or my more expansive Big 10 Conference, will not find oranges. Here, local orange juice?

Last night I had the chance to speak to a small group of people on my favorite's of topics, eating local [ed., you would like the chance to talk about the media issues, but no one's giving you that platform, right?]. As I am wont to do in such talks, my first bit of advice to the crowd is the way to starting eating local is to not eat local. In other words, don't make yourselves nuts eating local. If you want a glass of orange juice to start the day. No sweat.

An audience member last night, though, instinctively hit on one of my favorite themes. If you cannot eat it local, eat it as-if local. She talked about making her own orange juice. How different the amount of juice one gets when squeezing her own oranges compared with opening a carton, but this juice, her juice satisfied her more, and as we both agreed, came with the lack of packaging one associates with local. We further agreed that juice oranges, even those found up North, tended to be more flavorful oranges than the standard supermarket oranges and surely more flavorful than the standard supermarket orange juice. Good points all around. Then, another audience member added another good juice point. We used to know juice glasses as tiny glasses. We drank a standard portion in three ounces. It made sense, the amount of juice obtained from DIY squeezing. That's what it was supposed to be. So, I say. Go ahead, drink juice. Make it as-if local by squeezing it yourself.

Another key message (I believe) about eating local (beyond don't make yourself nuts) is that local is an imprinteur, a roadmap. Way more than organic, I find the word local, well not so much the word but the sussying out via label reading and other research, leads to the type of food that matters to me. Firstly, it leads me to food made with respect for the things that matter to me such as humane animal husbandry and good environmental practices. Secondly, it leads me to food made with care, artisanalship, quality, things together that equals what matters most, deliciousness. The corollary of this message becomes then, if it cannot be local, look for products that have the traits of local. Take my morning coffee. I would not survive, period, if I looked for local coffee. I do survive, however, on coffee that is fair trade (or better) and organic. Roasted by local companies like Blue Max, all the better.

Tomorrow morning, have a nice, small, glass of orange juice, secure in your knowledge that you are a locavore.

Kudos of the Day

Department of Expected and Unexpected

The man known far and wide as Eat Chicago has two new family members and a third on the way. Congrats to him and Petit Pois (or is that Cookie). What took you so long!

The woman whose surname dictated her career path, Cassie G, collects another honor; this one from Chicago Magazine's new Best of issue for her green entrepreneurship. Way to follow destiny.

The guy with the roving camera freelances in an unexpected spot and helps spread the fame of Chicago's best restaurant. I assume the next Sky Full of Bacon short will be on Spike TV.

I knew Marion Street Cheese would have a fine collection of local cheeses* in their new store. I learned that it was a lot more snazzy than I imagined during the whole wait for the open thing. Now, I find that this place already makes, what I believe to be the best danish in the Chicago area. I am going to have to scrounge around the vital information piggy bank and commission David the Hat Hammond to write an ode to this pastry as I do not have words to fully describe. Let me at least leave you with these words of encouragement: made with Zingerman's cream cheese.

*VITAL CORRECTION - I reported the other day that I found no BleuMont Dairy products at the newly expanded Marion Street Cheese. Well, I was WRONG. I was there yesterday and they had the bandaged cheddar.

What's In Season Now - July (Everything!)

The Only Guide to Seasonality That Matters^tm

It's Good to Be a Locavore!

I told you at the start of July that it was not time for an update seasonality guide (June guide here). It's time. What's in season now at Chicago area farmer's markets, local superstore's like Cassie's Green Grocer, Johnny welcome to the party, come latelies, like Fox & Obel; Irv and Shelly's Freshpicks. Everything. The burden of local now is to eat everything one acquires. At this time, there's a lot in season. Unless your guide's talking grapes, it has a chance as being as accurate as the one below.

Ending Soon
If you want to eat these, eat them soon, they won't be around much longer: cherries sweet and tart; some lettuces, snow peas.

Limited Window
Get these now: apricots have been around for a few weeks; they won't be around much longer. Certain types of plums, like the metheny may already be gone by the time you read this. Things like carrots and zukes and potatoes will be here for a long while, but them in tiny versions, well them's the time to get them. Now. Related, now you may also find squash blossoms.

Other things early
Garlic's pretty ossified now but onions are still in their soft stages. Look for Vidalia-ish (store in the fridge) onions as well as immature versions of other onions. Green garlic may be gone, but garlic scapes are around.

Stoned on Fruit
In the Chicago area, we are lucky enough to be near the SW shores of Michigan, some of the primest territory for growing stone fruits. The breezes over the lake keep things just warm enough, while the existence of cold brings extra sweetness to the fruits. Look for early versions of peaches and nectarines--I have not seen white versions of either yet. Mentioned above, apricots, cherries, plums. With plums, various varieties will be around for ages, with the Stanley and the like not get going until the fall.

Uncommon Fruits
The benefits to shopping local is access to items that will not find their way into grocery stores. In our fruit aisles you'll find currents and gooseberries and tayberries. Try, try, try. See here and here for a gooseberry ideas.

Common Fruit
Hard to imagine with all of the summer fruits in season that now is also the season of the apple. Several varieties of apples come to fruit now; now, when you think you should just be munching a peach. Summer apple varieties tend to have a few things in common. Most, if not all, are quite puckery in the mouth. They tend to be soft and are often (typically) used for sauce. Most importantly, they are not apples to keep. In selling me a few apples today (for a daughter who somewhat unexpectedly* had a taste for apples) Lloyd Nichols warned me that they would only last a few days.

All the Rest of the Fruits of the Season
OK, don't forget the raspberries (black, red and golden), blueberries, and blackberries around now. Theses berries will peter out for a bit then will reappear into the fall.

All the Rest of the Vegetables
Can I name everything in the market these days. Maybe. Maybe because this is the time of year it's all here. All you think of as summer produce at least: tomatoes (the ones now are mostly grown in hoop houses or early varieties of cherries); eggplants, cucumbers, hot and sweet peppers, summer squashes, sweet corn, cabbages, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, chard, collard greens, fennel, celery, beets, and the dreaded k word, kohlrabi (which we took to calling jicama in our house, especially after we realized we really liked it!).

Mushrooms/Herbs
As always, there's River Valley with their organically cultivated mushrooms. I have not seen any wild mushrooms of late, although someone, somewhere must have some chantrelles. You should find plenty of fresh herbs in your market.

Speciality Vegetables
Oh, there's more baby. Kinnikinnick Farm at Evanston and Green City; Green Acres at the Tuesday Federal Plaza market as well as Green City and Evanston; Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers at Oak Park and Green City; Sandhill Organics at Oak Park; Henry and his farmstand at Evantson; Nichol's Farm all over the place; these guys will have plenty more things than I thought of tonight. It's good to be a locavore.

Coming soon: the melons, heirloom tomatoes, more types of potatoes, more types of peppers, okra, fresh (shelling) beans. It's good to be a locavore.

*One of the things that warms my local heart is the ability of my kidz to never tire of apples.

The Night Local Reigned - Green City Market BBQ

Once upon time, an erudite culinary historian and linguist with the nom de Internet of Antonious stormed around LTHForum reminding us that the proof was not IN the pudding but rather in the eating of said pudding. Mr. B would agree then, if he attended last night's Green City BBQ that the proof of local came not in the local pudding but in eating said putting, although really we did not have pudding we had cheesecake made from local goat cheese (my pals at Eli's) that was like pudding and sweetened farmer's cheese from Fox & Obel that was pudding-ish (as was the filling in the Spring/Green Zebra/Custom House ravioli). This night was a very worthwhile celebration of all things local, and nothing could convince you more, the local food offered.

Really, this fete has been recorded as the homage du porc, but unlike last year where literally (about) every other stand offered a take on pig belly, I found pork not quite as prevalent. It was more, I believe, the year of the sausage: bunny weiners from Blackbird/Avec, a locavore version of the Chicago hot dog from Four Seasons, a newly emancipated chef at the Peninsula making a foie gras Polish saw-sage; clever square breakfast sausage "sliders" from Iron Chef-testant, Paul Virant's Vie, and my favorite, the Greek flavored pork sausage from Mint Creek Farm served by Prairie Grass Cafe.

I stuffed myself on encased meat. So stuffed, that well past mid-day, I have had nothing to eat beyond coffee (fact: we anticipated this yesterday and cancelled our planned Shabbos "Southern Night*" dinner in light or our need to eat spa food for a bit). Stuffed aside, my favorite foods were not the sausages. For all the efforts of all the chefs, the things that impressed me the most were the La Quercia ham and the sustainably caught hot smoked whitefish from Plitt Seafood. Perhaps because I am so stuffed still, ultimately it was not even the food that most made the night.

The closest I've come before to meeting someone who has inspired so much envy and admiration in me was when my wife and I kinda, sorta intermingled with the sister of Gus Hanson in Las Vegas. Last night I got to meet and schmooze with the most hated one herself, the Washington Island dwelling Martha Bayne. Of course where would I find her, but hanging out with the Death's Door Spirits people. For me it was a chance to meet Martha and also meet, in person at least, my editor at the CTrib, Colin; for one daughter it was the chance to chat up Dale Levitski in the potty line. The real celebrities of the night, the farmer's were in abundance. Look there was Mr. Nichols and Nick and Chad were both espied. Beth Eccles of Green Acres looked very happy as did the Heartland Beef people (why not it tasted delicious). And if the farmers were tops on the list of market heroes, and there were reporters with the best of beats; and chances to meet the Top Chef (and I swear I saw someone who looked like the man with the culinary boner, Andrew); there were also chances to meet with many more top chefs like Bayless and Zanella (fact: your kids are cute AND look a lot like you) and Carrie can't say your last name and Sarah who must just be proud of it all (all except Virant who was face deep in flames) and finally all the bedrock foodies of the city, especially the crew from LTHForum.com. We all got a chance to eat our local. Get your tickets early for next year's event.

*Planned dinner included local collards slow-cooked with local smoked turkey from a Wisconsin farmer; summer squash casserole, pickled beets, etc.

Eat Seasonal Food - Latest in Stuff

It bears repeating, but one of the coolest things in the markets now are true new potatoes, or to use the terminology I've seen some of the farmer's use to distinguish them from the misuse of new to mean any smaller, red potato; freshly dug potatoes. Chad Nichol's at Nichol's Farm told me today how they get way less (way, like 80%) when harvesting the potatoes as new potatoes instead of letting them grow out. The benefit is all for us, the eater. These are a true seasonal food, a taste that will be gone soon, a taste, my daughter declared last night, "the best potatoes ever." We purchased two pounds from Chad, hardly expensive at $3/lb. We also got our weekly CSA today. It was a good week on Farmer Vicki's plot.

Latest local stuff below.

Marion Street Cheese Market - 7/16/08

• Apricots

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/17/08

• 2 Daikon radish (eat the greens too!)
• 2 bunches of collard greens
• Mizuna (the one crop I could do without)
• 3 medium size and 1 small zucchini
• Summer onion
• Basil
• Beets (eat the greens AND the stems)
• Oregano
• 2 medium sized cukes

Eli's Cheesecake Factory Farmer's Market - 7/17/08

• Nichol's Farm - New potatoes (Keep 'em in the fridge)

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/19/08

• Genesis Growers - mint, 2 types of hot peppers, 2 types of cherry (ish) tomatoes
• Catalina Garden - jalepeno peppers, multi-color baby carrots
• Nichol's Farm - apples
• Harden Farm - apricots, red (methany) plums, peaches, tart cherries
• Walt Skibbe - tayberries, blackberries, raspberries, tomatoes

Eli's Cheesecake Market - 7/24/08

• Nichol's Farm - artichokes

Genesis Growers CSA - 7/24/08

• 12 eggs
• Green beans (a lot)
• Peaches
• 6 ears sweet corn
• summer squash
• cucumbers
• pickles (4)
• kale
• savory
• 4 green bell peppers

Oak Park Farmer's Market - 7/26/08

• Genesis Growers - jalepeno peppers, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes
• Catalina Farm - heart shaped baby tomatoes
• Hardin Farm - peaches, nectarines, apricots
• Stover's U Pick - sweet cherries
• Walt Skibbe - tart cherries, apples (Lodi), tayberries, red raspberries, tayberries, golden raspberries

Costco - 7/27/08

• Michigan blueberries
• Carr Valley Bread Cheese

Previous inventory here.

What's Local Oak Park - Marion Street Cheese Emporia

Remember this post? Have you been waiting as patiently as me for the expanded Marion Street Cheese store/cafe/restaurant in downtown Oak Park? Your wait is almost, kinda over. I will tell you the bad part first, then the dissenting part, and last the gushing part.

The bad part. About a year ago, the folks at Marion Street Cheese in Oak Park announced plans to expand their cheese shop into a space on the other side of the tracks from their current location. In the space of the old space would go a genuine butcher shop, one specializing in local meats. Cheese shops the world has. Butcher shops are few these days, and one specializing in local meats; that the Chicago world needs (bad). That part of the operation awaits.

The dissenting opinion. I visited the new Marion Street Cheese yesterday with my wife. In a nit-picking mood, she complained of missing local. "Why Vermont maple syrup" (instead of locally sourced syrup.) "I think they have more cheeses from Massachusetts than Wisconsin" (I think she's wrong on that count.) "I thought the gourmet products did not have any Midwestern feel to it--they had the peanut butter [Cream Nut] but that was it. I want grains." She ended her diatribe, "I'm ready to go there today."

After all, it is the only area store nearby for her crack, Trader's Point Creamery Orchard Trio yogurt. One item of many local. We did not see the produce displayed, but we ran into Chef Mike on his way in from the market. He took us into the kitchen and showed us his bounty (some to be used in their recipes); apricots and peaches, currants, bunches of white and pink French breakfast radishes that looked like a coral reef creature; apples (believe it or not) and more, we did not peek into every bag. Mike sold us the apricots at a very reasonable 35 cents each.

Reasonable. I could not, at all, believe it, when they rang up my fresh made, already one of the best local, pan au chocolate, at $1.33. I said to my wife, that maybe I should have mentioned to Chef Mike to increase the size of the item and raise the price. She shushed me on that one. That, I think she's right. Getting back to the local though, the chaucuterie case was filled with local hog. Four or five versions of La Quercia products, including stuff I had not seen before like local lardo. They had Nueske bacon in a slab the size of an old phone book. They carry local eggs too. Cheese, I guess the only place that I might agree with my wife would be on the cheddars. I saw Grafton cheddar, but no high end Wisconsin. I know Marion's carried BleuMont's stuff before. I'm betting it will be there soon. Still, throw me a bone, a Widmer or something. Still, the local goat got its day, with several offerings from Prairie Fruit Farms and Capriole. There's notable Wisconsin names like Sarvecchio (becoming one of my favorite local cheeses, read nice things about it here) and Roth Kase. Who can complain when this is the only place I've seen locally carrying Zingerman Creamery's exceptional cheeses--including the best cream cheese I know.

Like I was saying, Chef Mike's haul from the market (Green City) was partially going to use in the kitchen. We thumbed through the menus, breakfast, lunch AND dinner, and it seemed all good. Summer be damned, I am looking forward to the raclette, a fancy way of saying cheese melted on potatoes. And the aforementioned pan au chocolate showed consideable skill already lurking.

I'm saving the best for last. Of course I would be ga-ga over a store with so much local. The four beers on tap for the restaurant: Bells, Goose Island, Two Brothers and 3 Floyds, etc. What most blew me away, however, was the space. I think it was Mike, it may have been his cohort, Eric, that I said, "I can see why it took you so long to open." I have a hard enough time coming up with descriptors for good food, I'm at a loss for words for incredible design. What I said yesterday on LTHForum is that the place reminds me of Vegas, and I do not mean that to mean slick or artificial or faux. If you've been to Vegas in recent years, seen any of the Adam Tihany or David Rockwell conceived works, you would recognize Marian Street Cheese's new store. Serious work and serious capital went into this space to great effect. Again, let me backtrack, it is not Trump-y, show-off-y big bucks design. The burnished golds were not gold leaf.

Think they'd add a poker room for me. I could easy while away the hours, munching on Prosciutto Americano and other local faves when hunger strikes.

Marion Street Cheese Market
100 S. Marion, Oak Park
708-848-2088
Open every day, 9AM-9PM

It's Good to be a Locacovore - 7+ Days of Local Eating

Local as I Wanna Be

Before all these meals drift off into happy memories, here's how we use our local bounty. I'll go has far back as I can remember.

Last night - The first of the year tomatoes (grown inside but in soil) dotted with Hidden Springs Creamery "Driftless" sheep's milk cheese. Chicken from Farmer Vicki's Genesis Growers new avian CSA, spice coated and grilled; chard leaves and beet greens sauteed with garlic and keeper onion (yes we still have); grilled radicchio; leftover bread pudding.

The night before - Batter fried squash flowers, then Pleasant Springs Hatchery farm raised perch "puttanesca" and a salad of kohlrabi, carrots and pea shoots.

Sat/Sun - Madison, WI

Shabbat Dinner - The Jews who eat pork for Shabbos! Fava beans grill/steamed in their shells for nibbling. Smoked Wettstein Organic Farm's pork shoulder, grilled summer squash, last year's fingerlings grill roasted and dressed with a cumin-allspice lemon vinaigrette; Farmer's All Natural Creamery buttermilk cabbage, carrot and kohlrabi slaw; roasted cauliflower with olives; bread pudding with Michigan dried cherries and freshly whipped Farmer's All Natural Creamery cream.

Thursday - Tuscan Night. Wettstein Organic Farm's thick cut pork chops, marinated in rosemary and garlic, grilled, served with salsa verde; kohlrabi arugula salad; grilled tropea onions.

Wednesday - Pasta with garlic scapes, asparagus, cultivated local mushrooms, green salad with fresh shallot vinaigrette. Strawberries and sour cream, brown sugar.

Tuesday - Northern Italian Night. Riso con asparagi with plus beets/beet tops with lime butter.

Monday - Big salad of local greens, carrots, sugar snaps, turnips, Saxony aged cheddar and Gunthrop Farms ham, shallot vinaigrette.

Sunday - Sandwich of leftover ribeye steak, local provolone, giardinara; cucumbers with sweet onions.

Saturday - Mado

Other Shabbat Dinner - Herbed farmer's cheese to staunch hunger followed by fava beans grilled/steamed in their shells; sitting down to bowls of fresh pasta dressed with arugula-black walnut pesto followed by locally raised ribeye steaks, grilled; salsa verde on the side; grilled beets, grilled tropea and cipollini onions. Eli's cheesecake.

Any themes emerging?

Hear Me Talk Local

Chicago Amplified

Cathy(2) Lambrecht and the Midwest Foodways Alliance provided me a platform (in fact a cool Emerlesque cooking theater) about a month ago to talk local. For those interested in what I said, you can now find the podcast at WBEZ's Chicago Amplified page.

Eat Local Events

Land Connection Summer Abundance Meal

The Land Connection and Va Pensiero (1566 Oak Ave, Evanston, IL) invite you to their Summer Abundance Dinner on July 26 from 6:30 to 10:00 pm. Enjoy a delicious meal created by owner Jeff Muldrow and chef Eric Hammond from fresh, seasonal produce from Henry's Farm, supplied that day from the Evanston Farmer's Market!

Megan Lewis, executive director, and Terra Brockman, founder, will share what The Land Connection is doing to increase the number of sustainable farmers in Illinois and increase the amount of acres being used for local food production. The 3-course menu with wine and hors d'oeurve reception is only $80, all inclusive. A portion of the proceeds will go to support The Land Connection's work. Please call 847-475-7779 to make your reservations today. Limited to 60 guests.

Purple Asparagus's Project Dine Out

August 3, 2008 5:00pm-7:00pm

Join for an evening of music, food and fun at Uncommon Ground on Devon Street. The second Project Dine-Out includes a family-style meal created from locally-sourced ingredients. The menu includes:

Roasted Green Acres Farm Eggplant Salad with Mint Tzaziki & Pita

Zucchini & Carrot Fritters with Capriole Goat Cheese

Gunthorp Farm Pulled Pork with Seedling Farms Cherry BBQ Sauce
on Jalapeno Corn Bread

Asian-Style Heartland Flank Steak with Asian Market Greens, Cucumber & Herbs

House-made Chorizo Empanadas & Smoked Jalapeno Creme

Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta with Fresh Mozzarella

Market Green & Fruit Salad

Dessert Platter

$40.00 for teens and adults, $20.00 for children 5-13. For $10.00 more, adults can purchase a wine, beer or spirit package. To purchase tickets, please visit Brown Paper Tickets.

Uncommon Ground is located at 1401 West Devon Street, Chicago

What's Local, Whole Foods - River Foods, IL

Stopped in at Whole Foods last night for some bread and milk. Lo and behold, the aisles were loaded with local. Well, not really, but much more local than normal for this Whole Foods: Michigan blueberries; cucumbers, collards, kale, herbs from farms scattered around the Midwest.

Still Mad for Madtown - Madison, WI

Schedule Your Staycation?

I am mad for Madison, Wisconsin. Not the least bit mad that my usual choice of stay, the Concourse, was out of my budget this trip, nor was I mad that Priceline found me no place within my budget at all. Instead, I turned to Plan B, Hotwire.com, which provides the uncertainity of a hotel name with the certainty of a price--with both Priceline's "name your price" and Hotwire, you do not know the name of your hotel until after you hit the pay button. Anyway, I'm mad enough to say OK to a $32 "two star-er" on Hotwire in West Madison. After all, my wife, who will not be known as the Condiment Queen, takes it as a matter of pride and principle to spend less that 12 hours in a hotel room, check-in to check out. How bad could the Rock Star Inn (i.e., Road Star) be. I mean it did not get featured in this apt cover story in this week's Isthmus. Answer: gross, but just barely tolerable. Vital advice: take slippers when ever staying in Hotwire 2 star hotels. Cheap room equals more food budget.

So, I'm not the least bit mad over the prices at Lao Laan Xang, Madison's foremost Laotian restaurant, which seem a bit high, about $16 for house specials. We hit Lao Laan Xang because my older daughter, on the verge of birthday, felt Laotian would cleanse her after two nights of Ann Boylen (i.e., our Wettstein's Organic Farm hog, so named because it's head had been lost). (Also, Mom and Dad had just watched Tony Bordain mope through Laos on the DVR.) To daughter's chagrin, we ordered more pork as well as catfish, not a fave either.

I'm madly in love with Laotian food, at least as served at Lao Laan Xang. I cannot say I know much in the way of Laotian food. I figured the best way to start was with the four house specialities on the Lao Laan menu. My younger daughter balked, something about house specialities and spice or what not through her off (and she was mad we were not at Old Fashion or the Washington (Island) Hotel Coffee Room). Utilizing her enormous skill to pick dishes she will later dislike, she opted out of the family plan for a private beef salad. Trouble brewed further as goaded by her sister, she switched her heat level from careful to adventuresome (the rest of us going for "native Lao"). Her lunch turned out to be mostly gobs of sticky rice. We on the other hand, loved-loved the beef salad, heavy with fish sauce and maybe something else that gave it a funkier taste than similar Thai salads. Of course the adventuresome spice level helped.

I'm not mad that I did not pay attention to the name of one house speciality, tum som to realize it was papaya salad (in Thai, "som tum"). The menu describes

pounded in a mortar, fresh garlic, chiles, shrimp paste, tamarind, lime, cherry tomatoes, Thai eggplant, fish sauce, unripe papaya

I had in my mind, nam prik, pounded dishes used as dips. Instead, papaya salad and a quarter of fried chicken. The other funny (not as in ha-ha funny) thing about this dish was about 25 minutes (at least) after we ordered it; the waiter came by and said they currently had no papaya on hand. They were in the process of getting some though. Would we like the dish with cucumbers they asked. We said no, papaya, just bring us the other dishes first. Without going into a detailed review of Lao Laan Xang, let me say that the restaurant showed why they needed the time and the money. Our dishes, the papaya salad with chicken, a catfish stuffed with herbs and grilled-steamed in banana leaves and a variation on that dish, the catfish with ground pork, all tasted complex and labor intense. Ordering Lao meant eating fire, but it also meant eating a range of intense flavors. Nothing was dumbed dumbed down for us. I'm madly in love with this place.

And not the least bit mad that our raison d'etre for Madison, the World's Greatest Farmer's Market^tm gave ground this weekend for Art Fair. All the more excuse to visit a new market. We highed early Sunday morning to the Northside market [ed., could not wait to get out of the Rock Star huh?]. As a known flamin' liberal, I got the cred to say this market mimicked the Democratic National Convention. The vendors: a Mexican, a few Asian, the organic, the lesbians (no stereotyping, they flew the rainbow flag at their booth), an African-American, the not bitter white working class, the yuppies with the yogurt enterprise. As a flamin' lib, I enjoyed the hell out of it all. The Mexican guy, who spoke nary a word of English had squash blossoms nearly the size of sunflowers and herbs like epazote and papalo--of course I had to buy. My wife and I had to buy something from nearly every vendor. We are madly in love with this market from its dairy to its fish farm called Pleasant Springs Hatchery to woman who makes caramels from local elderflowers and various jams at her Pamplemousse Preserves. I think I captured all our purchases here (scroll down), but don't be mad if I forgot something. You can do no worse if in Madison on a Sunday than visiting this market.

I am certainly mad that this post has gone on much longer than I wanted. I'm mad that the IGA market, Pierces, contains more local than any Whole Foods, but I'm not the least bit mad that we joined the Willy Street Coop (I'm just mad we don't get to use our membership more often). I'm mad for Old Fashion, the supper club-y place on the square and especially mad in the best of ways for an event my wife luckily, oh so luckily, found while reading the Isthmus, namely Pie-palooza, an eat local benefit. Eating local is as easy as pie they said. So, don't be mad if it takes me a bit to blog about it.