Results tagged “produce”

       

Chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD believes the art of cooking needs daily cultivation. Even if he has 10 restaurants, he will always be exactly where he wants to be - in the kitchen. As an LA native he has “a personal vendetta” to elevate LA into the echelon of the best restaurant cities in the world. With the development of a new Grace like fine dining restaurant downtown that will grow at least a third of the produce on site, and a new BLD slated to open in Pasadena early next year, Chef Fraser shows no signs of leaving the kitchen. LAist caught up with the busy chef at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market (as he bought green beans for his daughter) to provide details about moving Grace to downtown, the struggle of when to pull a dish from the menu and how he is inspired by Wonderbread.

       

Consider it the "Little Restaurant that Could" in the heart of Hollywood: It's been well over a year since we first started prematurely salivating about a storefront near Sunset and Vine. With the weekly taunting of the abundant, crowded, and colorful Hollywood Farmers' Market not helping matters, the cheerful yellow eatery whose name evokes the core connection between the farm and the dining table, has been "coming soon" for a long, long time.

       

Yes, I said fruit. Let's get that out of the way immediately, shall we? The tomato--versatile, plentiful, flavorful, and local--is a fruit. It's also something that is in season right now (although you can conceivably make a go of growing your own right now and celebrating a little later on). The Patina Group of restaurants is celebrating this stellar ingredient with Tomato Festival menus at nine of their eateries, and to show off the spoils of the season they brought together a crew of food bloggers and Paul and Maryann Carpenter (the couple who operate Coastal Organics, the 17-acre Santa Paula farm from which the Patina Group sources produce) for a caravan tour of three Downtown eateries, with one course per stop, each showing off the tasty tomato.

Earlier this month, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared National Farmers Market Week, during which Americans were urged to try to put a visit to an area market into their routine in order to support local farmers and hopefully enrich their diets with fresh, locally sourced, healthy produce. On the heels of those eating and consumer focused efforts, Vilsack shifted his focus one step back in the chain and declared August 23-29 National Community Garden Week.

The US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has declared that in light of the fact that "farmers markets are important nationwide outlets for agricultural producers," and that thousands of markets "across the country offer consumers affordable, convenient, and healthful products sold directly from the farm in their freshest possible state," and beacusw of the numerous economic and health-related benefits of getting food from them, that August 2-8 is National Farmers Market Week. Huzzah!

You want to eat fresh seasonal produce that's grown by area farmers. You want to help your local economy and not line the coffers of corporate America. You appreciate that an Oxnard-grown strawberry--one that's softer, smaller, redder, riper, and sweeter--is about a thousand times tastier, better for you, better for the environment, and better for your fellow Californians than the one that's bigger, harder, paler, less flavorful and found in a big plastic box inside the store that feels like a big plastic box.

                     

Inspired by a panel we caught at the recent Dwell on Design conference, and some time spent ogling recipes in three beloved cookbooks (The Santa Monica Farmers' Market Cookbook, The San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market Cookbook, and Fresh From the Farmers' Market) last Thursday we headed over to Glendale to check out their weekly market. Occupying a stretch of Brand Boulevard, the market was focused mostly on multiple tables of fresh locally-sourced produce, and enriched by the presence of folks with breads, nuts, and fresh juices. It's a modest market, but we were able to work our way from one end to the other efficiently, sample some of the best items the growers had to offer, and fill our bag with what wound up being a week's worth of fresh produce (and bread) for less than $20.

Ben Ford, head chef and owner of Culver City’s Ford’s Filling Station speaks of the farmer’s market and its farmers with great reverence. Chef Ford grew up with his hands in the soil, gardening from a very young age so his respect for the food grown by the farmers comes naturally.

The streets of Sherman Oaks recently got plastered with signs announcing a new Thursday night Farmers Market coming to the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square property starting on August 7.

Echo Park resident Erik Knutzen of the blog Homegrown Evolution was featured last night on ABC7's news broadcast. Knutzen and his wife Kelly Coyne recently authored "The Urban Homestead" that talks about urban gardening/farming and includes a chapter on sustainable transportation (Damien Newton talked Knutzen up in two separate interviews).

Tainted sprouts might be on the shelves of your local grocery store. Although not considered a mealtime staple by many, a nice handful of sprouts can liven up a sandwich or a salad--that is unless they give you salmonella.

It's certainly not the biggest farmer's market around--in fact it's pretty close to fledgling. Operational since last fall, the Toluca Lake Certified Farmer's Market takes over just one tiny block on Sancola, north of Riverside Drive. There are a few produce stands featuring excellent, although somewhat limited, selections of fresh local fruits and veggies, as well as at least one floral stand, craftsmakers with wares from soy candles to jewelry, tamales, baked goods, and...