“In defense” of the Chef…..
Tragedy struck about 9:00pm Saturday night last week as a 150/200 cover service was drawing to a close for the evening. Two days I spent taking care of and preparing 7 amazing (and gargantuan) rabbits we brought in for the weekend special. At the stroke of nine, my blood pressure boils as I realize only one rabbit dish has been sold. Now, I’m not claiming culinary greatness here by saying that the rabbit dish was the furthest possible candidate from being terrible, but my newly acquainted rabbit buddies weren’t the only things that died when “locally” inspired culinary practice only produced one sale on such a busy evening.
Herein lies the tragedy of the “AMAZING” and “NEWLY DISCOVERED” local food movement that has blossomed in the last two years. Everyone preaches it, but who really embraces it? Grab your “environmentally sound” re-usable farmer’s market logo produce bag and go eat somewhere else if you cant venture outside the box for one evening to experience a dish that was produced in full no more than 30 miles from where you sit dining. This is what later went on to fuel my expeditious reading of In defense of Food (just so I mentally had some ideals to relate my cantankerous thoughts of the general public to).
I was plagued with disappointment and doubt in the local dining community. Luckily, the good outweighs the bad in the end. After such a tyrade of personal anguish, the following two nights finished up by selling out of rabbit. Running a parallel through my thoughts, Michael Pollan keeps my culinary soul inspired once again by connecting the health benefits of physical labor spent on growing your own food and restoring the lack of flavor in today’s supermarket offerings. All the while I can’t help but think about the dying culture of people having dinner. Just plain ol’ “mom cooked dinner”. It’s now Monday evening, I’m having a cocktail on the porch when I look across the street and see a family through a window putting away dishes after having a meal in their warmly illuminated home. Something very scarce to see these days. People taking evening strolls down the sidewalks like something out of an old black and white film. What was I saying something about rabbit and thinking about hopeless americans….. now smiling, the poor choices of the local dining community are on their way to being forgotten.
Photos from the last garden harvest. Due to different scheduling restraints it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a fall/winter crop going. A bit too much procrastination on our parts. Something really satisfying about seeing this much food and knowing you grew it….. no extras.
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- Quite a spread
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- Fruits of Labor! (Killer goats ‘r’ us camembert too!)
