Posts Tagged ‘local food’

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A Fresh Turkey from Fresh Fork

Monday, November 7th, 2011

If you have been following my blog, then you might have noticed a long drop off this summer.  There have been many changes with GLDC and myself.  Not to worry, my wit and keen insight will return shortly.  In the meantime, let me tell you about Fresh Fork Market.  I did some freelance work for Trevor at Fresh Fork Market two years running.  I did it as a swap (will work for food!), and was so impressed with the high quality local food and the mission of Fresh Fork to be the biggest distributor of fresh local foods in NE Ohio, that I asked him for a job.

What a great job for me.  I came in as a seasonal employee, loading trucks and delivering CSA shares to local drop off points.  Little did I know the impact a CSA can have on the local food economy.  This CSA pumped $700,000 back into the local farm economy in a single season.  That does not include the winter CSA programs or the holiday packages.  This is built on single buyers, making food choices in single one bag purchases.  Over the next year, you will hear more from me about Fresh Fork, and you can read the Fresh Fork blog, too.

But what I really wanted to talk about was the Thanksgiving packages and turkeys.

I prepared local, fresh turkeys like the ones from Fresh Fork Market on a regular basis when we lived in Portland.  Since moving to Cleveland, we have dinner with family, and they always make the turkey.  This year, I want a nice fresh bird so I looked at the Thanksgiving packages from Fresh Fork.

These turkeys are still out in the field, running around and living their little turkey lives.  But at the end of next week, they will be harvested for the dinner table.  These guys get to live out a real life.  They run around in a pasture, eat grass and bugs, have organic feed to supplement their diet and are sold fresh.

One of the things that I have discussed with people is the quality of fresh turkeys on Thanksgiving.  As Americans, we eat turkey every year.  Yet, what we buy is usually full of hormones, antibiotics, additives to make them retain water, and worse.  They are often not humanely raised or humanely slaughtered.  I was talking with a food buyer that I know and they assured me that those thanksgiving turkeys in stores now are surely months (if not years) old.

Fresh turkeys require a little more attention to prepare.  They are not self basted, and do NOT come with a little pop up timer.  You may need to baste a fresh bird a little more.  You will need to watch it cooking, and test it to make sure it is done.  The results, however, are so much worth the efforts.  I have found every good fresh turkey that I have made to need little in the way of seasoning.  They have more natural flavor and less sodium.  Because the birds are fresh and fed properly, I know that my turkey will be full of nutrition and tasty goodness.  A typical turkey?  Who knows.

In short, I am so stoked to have my fresh local turkey this year.  If you have never had a fresh, locally raised, hormone free, pasture raised, organically fed turkey-order one now!  Yeah, they are a little more.  Quality birds can not be properly raised for pennies a pound.  But if you want a meal that you can be proud of and proud to give your family, then nothing is better than a high quality turkey.  Order one from Fresh Fork Market.  Hurry before they are all gone!

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Markets Under Glass

Friday, May 6th, 2011

Thank you to Galleria Mall Manager Vicky Poole, who was able to score us a couple of VIP tickets to the 16th Annual Markets Under Glass event which benefited the Harvest for Hunger Campaign.  The event showcased “the culinary talents of many Northeast Ohio restaurants and beverages from a variety of purveyors”.  Robert was in heaven, being able to sample tasty bites from a myriad of chefs.  As in most cases, my selection was rather narrow since I try to keep Kosher, so I don’t eat pork products or mix dairy and meat together.  Try asking local chefs NOT to cook with bacon!

Under the beautiful glass roof were two floors of forty or so restaurants and about a dozen wine distributors/producers.  There were fabulous high points and a few failures:

The asparagus bisque from Washington Place Bistro & Inn was delicious (and they kindly served me a sample sans bacon!).  However, Susy’s Soups from Tower City wins as my favorite for there rich and wonderful (and gluten-free) Cream of Artichoke soup.   Naya from Highland Heights served small pita bites with humus, tabouli and kafta (seasoned lamb and/or beef like what is found in a gyro) which were phenomenal!

Robert’s favorite bite of the night had to be the sliced mushroom salad from Ristorante Chinato (one of Z. Bruell’s newest places).  It had a rich dressing and slivers of cheese that was a bit too forward for my palate, but evidently perfect for Robert’s.   It was certainly tasty, but not something I would want more than a small dish of.  Robert wanted seconds!

Umami Moto offered an unusually flavorful Mushroom and edamame slider with Parmesan and the now ubiquitous ramps.  Palate from Strongsville had Chicken liver pate in a vanilla scented cone with black currant jam.  Robert liked it, but I didn’t taste it.  The vanilla cone seemed to overpower the filling, but Robert will eat anything with the word pate in it.  The highlight of the night for me was the pistachio dessert from Coquette Patisserie.  It was a delightful little French pastry with a perfect amount of flavor and texture.   We went back to get seconds but it was too late and they had already packed up.  Lucky’s cafe served rather large chocolate bombs, but the line was too long and by the time I got up there, they had run out.  Lucky’s also offered up a dish of macaroni and cheese, but it was bacon laden, so I had to depend on Robert’s judgment.  His take?  It was far too heavy and thick, but that’s just what quite a few people were looking for in a macaroni & cheese dish.  We passed by LaBella Cupcakes, which Robert has profiled on this site, but by the time we were ready for dessert they were decimated; people love a good cupcake!

There were at least four places to get sushi, and Robert tried them all.  The best was from Shinto Japanese Steakhouse. His second favorite was from Sushi 86.  Table 45 offered assorted vegetable sushi, rolled in a soy wrapper instead of seaweed.  It was nice for me to finally try some sushi, but honestly they just tasted like tiny wraps.  Unfortunately the sushi from Sushi Rock was tasteless and seemed a bit stale.  Another lowlight was the Seared pork belly from Sans Souci which Robert felt was tough and chewy instead of “melt in your mouth” the way good pork belly is supposed to.  Counter to this, Robert lit up when he tasted the Scallops and shrimp mousse canapés from Pearl of the Orient Restaurant in Rocky River.

Americano from Bratenahl had a grilled cocoa sirloin with a peanut slaw.  The sirloin was just okay, but the peanut slaw was excellent.  The Crowne Plaza Cleveland City Centre Hotel had cute little square sips of summer raspberry soup with truffle honey and mint.  I don’t know why they decided to call it a soup since it was really nothing more than a smoothie.  The raspberries and honey both made the drink very sweet, but it had the odor of truffles.  Now some people will die for truffles; the chemical/hormonal reaction makes them salivate, however I swear the scent is akin to…well, someone who has not been so cleanly after leaving the restroom.  One time I was seated at a restaurant and kept thinking the person next to me was “not so fresh” only to discover they were eating truffle sprinkled French fries.

The Melting Pot had fondue, which we both declined.  I don’t like the thought of other people dipping their food into the same pot of melted Gruyère, even if they don’t double-dip, plus it was early in the evening and it can be a very heavy food.  The Chocolate Bar had a chocolate fountain with dippables, but the same slight phobia applied.  Also, the chocolate that comes out of a fountain is a bit thin in order to flow correctly and therefore doesn’t really coat the diappable.  We skipped it as well.

At opposite ends of the spectrum, Robert liked the crab cakes from Don’s Lighthouse/Pomeroy House which featured a corn relish, remoulade and chipolte honey, but he didn’t like the jalapeño crab cakes with mango and watermelon coulis from the Galleria’s own Cafe Sausalito, which were pasty, dry and bitter.  One of our favorite companies is Great Lakes Brewing Company who presented a number of small bites and of course some of their exceptional beer.  I was disappointed in their bread pudding however, because although the sauce was delicious, the pudding itself was hard and extremely dense.  Bread pudding is one of those things that usually is best eaten hot when it can be moist and can really soak up the sauce; so it is probably not something meant to be served at this kind of event.

Most of the wine was excellent.  I even had a cheap Muscat from Sutter’s Home which would retail for less than $10.00 a bottle.  It wasn’t terrific, but it was palatable, bubbly, and sweet, which is typically a good combination for me. Robert used to sell wine, so his palate is far more refined.  He turned his nose up at the Muscat, but he enjoyed a few of the other samplings.  We both liked the ice wine from Firelands Winery.  It had a flavor similar to the Optima grape varietal you can find in parts of Canada, fresh, clean, with a slight hint of honey and apricot.  Upstairs in the VIP lounge was the state’s only Kosher vodka provided by Heidelberg Distributors.

Overall it was a delightful evening of good food and tasty drink!

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Outsiders welcome!

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

I spent a few weeks in Seattle, and it only made me miss Cleveland more.  Being a transplant from the Pacific Northwest, it was quite a culture shock moving to Cleveland, Ohio.  America’s heartland, land of manufacturing, steel country.  But after living here for a decade, it is clear that things in the region have changed.  Out of necessity and a change in the general economy, Cleveland has burst forth with new ideas and is poised to be the cutting edge of sustainability with a new “green” economy.

Sure, there are a lot of things going on in the Seattle/Bellevue metropolitan region that make Cleveland pale by comparison.  Jobs comes to mind.  I heard on the local news that Bellevue, Washington has an unemployment rate of just over 5%.  That is lower than the Puget Sound region in general by nearly a percentage point and almost half of the national average.  But before you pack up the station wagon to head west, keep this in mind.  The AVERAGE house price in Bellevue is nearly $500,000.  The city is not populated with mansions, it is just a very expensive market.  Also, keep in mind that much of the economy in and around Seattle is built on technology-Microsoft and the like.

What is Cleveland doing?  We have lost much of our manufacturing base and the jobs that go with them.  As we strive to reinvent ourselves, we are tapping into our roots to find new products to make use of our real estate and form alliances to bring new manufacturing and new technologies to the region.  Let’s face it, California cannot keep up with the manufacture of solar panels, so Toledo is filling in the gaps.  If we can do the same with things like wind turbine parts and smart grid pieces, then the future of Cleveland’s new economy is bright.  Furthermore, as technology shrinks the world, major players in corporate America begin  to see Cleveland as an attractive place to build a new hub.  Centrally located to much of the country’s population, and with a low cost of living, it is an ideal place to set up shop.  Where else could you put a brand new headquarters right on lake front property, within an 8 hour drive of 75% of America’s populace and do it for about what a nice house would cost in a Seattle neighborhood.  And a CEO pulling down a million dollars a year can live like a Saudi prince in NE Ohio.

Seattle also beats out our region in traffic.  Commutes can be two hours each way and people do it every day.  Spending an hour in your car to get anywhere is not surprising.  This has, however, led to the development of dense urban neighborhoods.  If you want to be i the city, then they need to build a lot of stuff in a small area to make room for all those urbanites.  Every little neighborhood sports shopping, groceries, restaurants, and services.  Conversely, suburbs also have to provide more amenities, as the ability to “run into town” is nearly impossible.  This is where Cleveland can learn a thing or two.  Urban flight and suburban growth has led to sprawl and the loss of a vibrant downtown.  Gone forever is the Cleveland “garment district” and the downtown shopping at such renowned locations as Halle’s, the May Company and Higbee’s.   Replacing it are upscale suburban malls like Beachwood Place.  Tower City has given way to lifestyle centers like Legacy Village and Crocker Park.  Ease of access to the city center has made suburban living and downtown employment attractive and led to great buildings being replaced by surface parking lots.  In Seattle, as traffic worsens, public transportation has finally begun to take on a more meaningful role in the region.  Cleveland, however, continues to provide public transportation that is geared toward serving those who cannot private transportation.  Further, it cuts services and routes to the areas that could most benefit from expansion.

In the ares of waste and recycling, Cleveland is on par with much of the services of the Puget Sound area.  Just like Ohio, Washington has no bottle deposit, so cans and bottles are routinely tossed into garbage out of convenience.  From my observations, curbside recycling is not uniform within all the various city designations around the Seattle area and public awareness does not seem to be a priority around the region.  While this is similar to the current state of things around NE Ohio, things in Cleveland are improving.  While I saw a few recycling receptacles on Seattle city sidewalks, next to the garbage cans, and some areas had broad based curbside programs, Cleveland has a long term goal of full city curbside recycling over the next few years.  I spotted one compost bin on the sidewalk, whether that was a regular part of life, I do not know.  Cleveland has a pretty active grassroots movement for composting and recycling and major players like the Q and Tower City are implementing big composting plans within their facilities.  With the big companies on board, Cleveland could easily outpace Seattle’s current capacity in a very short time.PhotobucketAnd don’t forget that Cleveland is soon going to be turning its waste into energy, with its new electric facility that is scheduled for the near future.

The area where Cleveland and NE Ohio seems to be truly ahead is in local foods.  I love to eat and I love food.  While Seattle has the Pike Place Market and an abundance of fresh seafood, in an area with a huge population this is not enough.  I was shocked to see local grocery chains sporting Gulf seafood, Atlantic fish, Australian beef and even South American apples.  While this is not surprising in zones with short growing seasons and no access to the ocean, in a moderate climate with plenty of local farmland, it was shameful.  Furthermore, that watermelon that was shipped from California or Mexico was selling for anywhere from $7-$10.  And it was not that tasty.  Perhaps my experience in trying to always buy local and seasonal when I can has led me to be a bit of a food snob, but I would rather buy a ripe red tomato from a local farmer that 3 tomatoes from a chain that shipped them green from Texas and had almost no flavor.  I mentioned Fresh Fork to friends and family and the concept of a CSA seems completely foreign to all of them, while we have a long list of them here.  I only saw a couple of ads for local farmers markets, while we have dozens around the metro area.  Add to that the growing list of leaders in NE Ohio who are trying to tap into our farmers and their produce as an economic resource and you have something to be proud of.

So, Clevelanders can be proud to be here.  We have a vibrant music, arts and cultural scene and are leading much of the country when it comes to sustainability and creating a new economy.  When someone tells you they just moved here, don’t ask them, “Why CLeveland?”  Instead simply say, “Welcome.  You are gonna love it here!”

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Buying Local Week

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

On the heels of my buying local post comes this post from Michelle V at Cleveland Foodie.  This is a reprint of her blog post.  She is a great blogger about the local food scene and worth the time every day to read.  You will know more about Cleveland food and restaurants than anyone in town!

What buying local means and why you should: July 3-10

It means that $48 million would be kept right here in Ohio. Yes, $48 million. According to COSE, if everyone in NEO pledged to redirect $100 locally, that much would be kept right here. Additionally, for every $100 spent at a locally owned business, $45 stays in the local economy, creating jobs and expanding the region’s tax base. Alternatively, for every $100 spent at a national chain store, only $14 remains in the community.

Buying locally means supporting your neighbors. It means buying your groceries from the local farmers’ market, West Side Market, Heinen’s or neighborhood CSA. It means dining out at Greenhouse Tavern, Sun Luck Garden, Ohio City Burrito or Fire. It means grabbing your morning coffee from Phoenix or Loop (or even Blackbird coupled with the ridiculously good chocolate-cherry loaf). Seeing a movie at Cedar Lee. Picking up some fun treats and cool threads at Banyan Tree, Stash Style, Room Service or Wrath Arcane. Having a beer after work at your neighborhood bar. Taking dry cleaning to that mom and pop place up the street, or buying flowers for your wife at that little shop right next door. It means doing business with those that are as committed to our area as we are – that are giving back to the community, to our economy and are making a choice to do business right here and in return providing us the best quality product possible.

If you read this blog regularly, chances are I’m preaching to the choir. So let’s take this opportunity and spread the message to our friends and families. Let’s get them to commit to buying local for one week and see the difference it can make.

For the second year in a row, COSE and I Buy NEO are putting together “Buy Local” week from July 3rd – 10th to encourage Northeast Ohioans to support the area’s small businesses by pledging to spend $100 locally. You can learn more about the cause here and even get a discount card to use at over 40 area businesses now through August.

I remember this campaign from last year and it was going on not just here, but all around the country.  Local food is tastier & healthier and buying anything local helps to support the local economy.  Do your best to keep your money close to home, though as I noted earlier, it doesn’t always work out.

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Help Create the West Side Food Co-op…

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

A food co-op is a member owned grocery store. There are a number of different styles of food co-ops, but all of them share common values of group management and decision making, social responsibility, and equality. Most food co-ops strive to follow the Seven Cooperative Principles, which include:

• Voluntary & Open Membership
• Democratic Member Control
• Economic Participation
• Autonomy & Independence
• Education, Training & Information
• Cooperation among Cooperatives
• Concern for the Community

Eastsiders have been blessed with a food co op for many years.  The co op on Euclid just east of University Circle has long been a successful shopping destination for lovers of local and natural foods.  Unfortunately, it is quite a schlep for those of us “westies.”  Part of building a greener more sustainable city is to strengthen our neighborhoods.  Dense urban neighborhoods that provide more amenities within a small area are vital to reducing our city’s carbon footprint and to attracting new residents and new business to the region.  Enter the West Side Food Co op.

This concept was borne of a discussion between residents of Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood.  After several informal talks, the idea was tabled for several months.  However, it has come back and with a vengeance.  Now boasting a strong core of potential members and a “steering” committee that is dedicated to making this dream a reality, the West Side Food Co op is getting serious.  Monthly meetings are well attended and things are progressing pretty close to schedule.  By-laws and articles of incorporation are now in the works and things are getting ready to move to a new stage.  So, how can you help?

Before the steps can be taken to obtain funding and to move to the next stage, it is imperative to prove that there is a need and a desire for a food cooperative on Cleveland’s west side.  To achieve that end, they have produced a simple survey.  Not only will you help to show how much excitement there is for this project, but it will also help steer the direction of the plan and help to determine product selection within the store.  It may also steer the physical location of the store location.  The survey itself takes only a few minutes to complete.  I filled it out while sitting at a meeting on my cell phone.  Although the survey is simple, it is vital to the progression of this project.  Additionally, there will be folks out and about in west side neighborhoods, going door to door to get more survey results.  Please take a couple of minutes to answer the questions and help form a brick and mortar location for a food co op.  If you would like to help get some surveys filled out amongst your friends and neighbors, just drop me an email at robert@thegldc.com and I will connect you with the canvas coordinators.

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From Earth to U

Friday, May 21st, 2010

Bud, Erin and Mark at the Market

CSU is amazing.  Their new recreation center is LEED certified.  Erin Huber and LeAnn Westfall managed to get a green roof project installed.  Then, last year came the North Union Farmer’s Market.  I have to admit, that I had planned on going to see this market at its opening last year, but never made it.  With Tuesday being the local Tremont Farmer’s Market in the park, and Saturday hosting the Gordon Square Farmer’s Market, I never actually made it downtown.  So this year, I made sure to make the brief trek down.  I was greeted by one of the founders, Erin Huber.

plenty to see at CSU Farmer's Market

First off, I was amazed at the amount of vendors.  It is early in the season, so I din’t expect more than a few stalls.  Instead, there were two nice long rows of vendors.  The assortment of types of stalls was a surprise as well.  I was surprised to see vendors selling prepared foods, baked goods, and desserts.  I had a hard time keeping my money in my pocket when I saw Zoss the Swiss Baker next to an amazing stall with brownies and caramel apple pies.  One spot had plant seedlings at amazing prices, 3 plants for 2 bucks for tomatoes and peppers.  I have been watching my own sprouts come up and waiting with much anticipation for my own tomatoes to come in.

Ripe and tasty!


 Let’s face it, you can’t buy a decent tomato in Cleveland between November and June.   Or can you?  There were several stalls of fresh local veggies, and one had greenhouse tomatoes grown in the ground.  I had to have some.  At a mere $4.50 for a quart, I was thrilled to have a tomato that tasted like something other than red mush.  I rushed home to have some for lunch, in fact and they were some of the best tomatoes I have eaten in a loooong time.  In addition, there were at least two vendors selling cheeses that were made from grass fed cow’s milk.  If you think that what a cow eats doesn’t matter, you are mistaken.  Grass fed cows produce a richer tastier milk that is ideal for cheeses and ice creams.  We are so used to gassy cows fed on corn, that we barely know what real milk is supposed to taste like.  There was also a lovely woman who was selling some of my favorite condiments.  She had a great assortment of jellies made from wine grapes (something I had wanted to make myself when I was in the wine business) and stone ground exotic mustards.  Apples, breads, and even hand made body care were there.  Toss in a little live music and sunshine, and I could have lingered all day.  Sadly, I had to get back to work.  The Earth to U Farmers market is open every Thursday from 10:30-1:30.  Conveniently located on the CSU campus between E 18th and E 21st on Euclid (near the CSU School of Law), it is the perfect place to kick back on your lunch break or make the trek for your tasty veggies.  With the yummy looking sandwiches made on the spot, why would anyone eat indoors?  If you have to drive, you can park in the garage at the E 21st street & Prospect for a mere $1 hour.  See you there, and tell Erin I sent you… but save me some tomatoes.

plants for pennies

Stone ground goodness

Friendly vendors

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It’s a brave new world…

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

It is a cool time to be alive and living in Cleveland!

You can say what you want about this town, but one thing that we have over many of our counterparts across the country is great food!  I was pleased to be invited to the Local Food Cleveland meetup at Greenhouse Tavern.  The cool thing was that it was held on the rooftop of the restaurant.  I am excited to see what they end up fully doing with the space, and what they grow up there.  The plan is to have a greenhouse on top for the restaurant to grow some of its own produce and to also have some rooftop dining.  The view is interesting, and you can look down on the crowds of 4th Street.  I would love to dine here under the stars….

And then there was Yumm!  We left the Local Food event and walked a little around downtown.  Since most folks were engaged in the Cav’s game, the city was a little quiet.  We made our way over to the Mercury Lounge for a special event held by Matthew Mytro and his buddies at Stove Monkeys. I first saw the concept of molecular gastronomy on Top Chef a few seasons ago.  It looks so fun and playful, and still delicious.  I was thrilled to be able to try some of these cool treats myself.  We had some nitrogen poached ice cream (yes, we started with dessert) which was quite tasty.  Think dipping dots-only delicious.  Then we moved on to tempura battered egg yolks.  These were egg yolks that were frozen and covered in tempura batter, then deep fried.  They came out crispy and cooked on the outsides, but soft and runny inside, and were served with a chive aioli.  What a weird and delightful way to serve eggs… next came the chicken satay.  It was a skewer of white meat chicken, grilled, then wrapped in a fluffy coating of curry cotton candy.  They finished with some “exploding berries” but we didn’t stay to try them.  I heard from some other folks that were there that they were absolutely fantastic!  Sorry, the quality of the images is terrible…

But not to worry, if you didn’t make it.  Chef Mytro tells me the plan is to continue this event every month!  On the first Monday of the month, you can come down to Mercury and experience some wild and crazy concoctions.  I can’t wait for next month-save the date for June 7th!

Also there was Chef Christopher Hodgson and Chef Jeremy Esterly and the newest Cleveland addition to the food scene:  dim and den sum.  This is Cleveland’s first and only gourmet street vendor.  This is not your NY Knish stand or the usual hot dog cart!  These guys are serious!  Serving “Soul food with Asain flair” using as many locally sourced ingredients as they can find, these guys are churning out some tempting food at a price you can afford!  Yeah, you can get crispy tater tots with foie gras to go with your Dim Burger or Veggi-rito.  Or one of their 3 specialty tacos… or a PBLT-that’s pork shoulder confit, thick cut bacon, tomato jam, and sriacha mayo.  Check out their site, and follow them on twitter and facebok to find out where they are going to be.  Don’t miss out on this portable culinary treat!

I managed to make it to a NEO chapter of the USGBC networking event at Blue Canyon.  Chef Brandt Evans was one of my first bosses here in Cleveland at the old Kosta’s in Tremont.  Twinsburg is bit of a haul for me, so I don’t get to the Blue like I would like to.  As always, the appetizers were first rate, and quite a few people showed up.  Even more impressive is the level of service they maintain at the Blue Canyon.  I was amazed at how pleasant and thoughtful everyone was and how attentive the staff was, not just to me, but to the other patrons in the restaurant.  This is what keeps them in business!  Our room even had its own deck-what a way to relax and enjoy meeting new people.

Yeah, it’s a great time to live and eat in Cleveland….

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TEDxCLE…Cooking makes us human

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

I have to preface these post with a shout out:  the images are from Kyle Roth, a local photographer who does beautiful work and who is a big champion of Cleveland, be sure to read his blog at North Coast Lifestyle and Epstein Design Partners.

Michael Ruhlman is an author and culinary grad. As he stood on the stage and talked, I found myself nodding. He spoke about food and cooking. I can tell you from personally experience that most people do not know what most veggies are, or how they are raised. We are becoming farther detached from our food. He gave us a great talk about food and how cooking are what makes us human.. He quoted from Richard Wrangham’s book, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Taking us from our food preparation has made us more separate and more unhealthy. He spoke about how we feed our livestock foods that they were never meant to eat. Furthermore, social problems and illness are on the rise as more of our food is processed and provided to us. Cooking makes us think about what we are eating. It takes effort, which brings families together. When you cook, you look for better ingredients and you learn more about what you are eating and how to make your life better.


Michael Ruhlman is so passionate that he helped to start North Union Farmer’s Market, which has grown to one of the top farmers markets in the region, with multiple locations around the city.  He showed us slides of some local producers.  Local farms that are doing good things by raising humanely produced pigs that are well treated and humanely slaughtered.   Local food is making a comeback because we are starting to learn that cooking makes us better, and not cooking takes stuff away from our lives.  We can change things now, simply by taking the time and effort to cook for ourselves and our family. One of the things he mentioned was voting with our dollars. When we buy raw ingredients and cook, we spend our money in support of those who are promoting this industry. On the other hand, those who do spent money on crap are voting for more crap.  So what do you want to vote for?  And take the time to pick up a pan, rather than McDonald’s for dinner.

image courtesy of Susie Sharp

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How green is your restaurant?

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I was looking through the EcoWatch Journal the other day-a great publication, by the way, and highly recommended.  I was reading a great article about Crocker park and how it does not recycle.  In case you do not know, Crocker Park was a combination live, work, shop community built in Westlake, Ohio.  The idea was to take the concept of a “lifestyle center” which is the name for an outdoor mall, usually constructed to look like a city, and add to it.  They added office space and residential units.  This essentially made Crocker Park a miniature town.  I love the development.  It is constructed like many developments in the Seattle Metro area.  Being more than just shopping, the residents and office dwellers have restaurants, art events, town square activities and there are places to sit and just watch the world go by.  That is why I was so disappointed to hear that this one of a kind development did not offer recycling to its residents or its commercial tenants.  It is bad enough for retail and offices, but when you throw busy, popular restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory into the mix, and you have a lot of materials that are going into the landfill.

There are heroes to celebrate.  Many of the employees of places like Trader Joe’s actually collect their own recycling and take it home or to drop off stations on their own time.  This is the kind of dedication that we need to make real change in the region.  For the management team at Crocker Park, though, it is more of business as usual.  It truly is a shame, too, because a recycling program could actually save them money.  It cost less in garbage fees to have someone take all of the glass, plastic, and paper out of the mix.  Charities actually make money on paper waste, and some churches have included can and bottle collection in their fundraising programs.  Why then, would a company whose job it is to make money bypass the obvious and pay more to have their trash hauled away.  It is plainly laziness and shortsightedness at its best.  If you think of all the recyclable waste generated by restaurants and bars in a major metropolitan area, the need for commercial recycling is more important than a residential one.  Let’s face it, vodka doesn’t come in a biodegradable bag and McDonald’s uses tons of paper goods.

On the other end of the spectrum, comes The Greenhouse Tavern.  Now if you are the type that like to read this blog, then you already know about The Greenhouse Tavern.  You know about the design features, like rescued reused barn boards and the poured concrete bar with glass from their own bottles.  You know about their efforts to celebrate local ingredients and use fresh local foods.  You must know about how Chef Jonathan Sawyer is creating delicious dishes and promoting fine cooking in the region.  You probably know about  the plans to add a greenhouse to the roof to be the only restaurant in the region who grows their own herbs and maybe the first at all inside a major city.  What should know that they are the first Certified Green Restaurant in Ohio.  But what you may not know are some of the things that they do to get that designation.  The highlight for me is the attention paid to waste.  In order to recycle in that little slice of restaurant heaven (E 4th), they had to convince someone to give up their valuable parking spot to accommodate a dumpster.  Then to keep from adding to the waste stream outside their doors, they looked at to go containers and doggy bags.  From an email that I received:

At The Greenhouse Tavern we take our green restaurant certification very seriously.  We use a sugar cane photodegradable to go box.  It is compostable and can be tossed in your garden.  We do not offer to go silverware or napkins.  We recycle and reuse all of our glass.

Now, The Greenhouse Tavern sits in Cleveland, in a downtown location, in a city that doesn’t offer full curbside recycling.  Still, these guys show such a commitment, that it puts the restaurants of Crocker Park to shame.  If any one of the major tenants at Crocker demanded recycling within the project, the management would cave and offer it.  Still, no one even tries.  So how green is the restaurant that you like to go to?  Have you asked?  I say skip the trip out to the burbs and keep you money flowing to those businesses who are doing the right thing…

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Posted in Arts & Culture, Cleveland, Green | 2 Comments »

Cleveland Foodie tells you where to shop!

Monday, December 14th, 2009

In my efforts to highlight local companies for the holidays, I ran across this post from local Cleveland food critic, Michelle V.  Her blog is called Cleveland Foodie, and she gets to visit local restaurants and review them for a living.  I completely hate her for having my dream job, but love her for her words.  She writes in a clear and friendly manner about all things in the Cleveland restaurant scene, and anything food related could become the topic of a post.  I was pleasantly surprised to read about all her favorite local places to shop. I  have followed her blog for about a year, taking in her tips about the best spots for a quick lunch, or a nice dinner.  She has written about some of the same favorites (like Jeni’s Ice Cream) and since we seem to appreciate the same things, I trust her judgement when it comes to food.  so I was surprised to read her take on local shopping.  she mentions some of my favorites, like Duo Home and Stove Monkeys, but also some places that I didn’t know about, like Mr Brisket (who is sending food to the troops) and Next.  She is even giving away a gift card and discounts on her blog!  So get your eyes over to her site for great shopping ideas, and subscribe to get the best updates on Cleveland eating there is!

I also want to add that Tuesday is your last chance this year to shop at the Tremont Farmers Market. From their email:

Available this Tueday:
Winter squash (acorn and butternut), onions, potatoes (red-skinned and white), collards and mustard greens, lettuce, arugula, carrots, and sprouts; (maybe even brussel sprouts and parsnips!). Pasture raised beef and chickens, and eggs from happy hens. Fresh roasted coffee and beans; tea and tea related gift baskets; whole grain breads, waffles, granolas, pies and yummy vegan food to eat on the spot. Cheese made from content grass-fed cows; vegan and hemp based baked goods; honey and maple syrup; awesome Irish soda breads and scrumptious Gaelic food; salsas and hot sauces with related gift baskets, and a vast array of spices. AND, knitted goods, jewelry made from silverware, artwork crafted out of found materials and stoneware pottery. Remember to bring your knives or other dull objects to be sharpened!

There will be local artists and vendors for gift giving, live music, and they even take the Ohio Direction Card. See you there, but leave me some of the sprouts…

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