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Published: 9/4/2010

Growing number of eateries purchasing from local farmers

BY TAHREE LANE
BLADE STAFF WRITER

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Once upon a time, roadhouses and innkeepers purchased food grown by their neighbors: flour from the miller; produce from Farmer Green; cows, pigs, and hens from Old McDonald.

It was a simpler era. If blight smote the potato crop, the cook tossed more turnips and onions in the stew.

So why, at a time when tilapia filets are shipped from Thailand fairly cheaply and grapes come from South America, would a restaurateur expend the effort to buy from local agrarians?

"My question would be, ‘Why not?'" asks Pam Weirauch, owner of Pam's Corner, as she washes the lunch dishes at her 11-table cafe in downtown Toledo.

"I go to farmers' markets Wednesday and Saturday in season, and on Saturday mornings as far into the winter as I can. I do a lot with squashes and pumpkins."

A small but growing number of restaurateurs and chefs are hopping aboard the locavore locomotive chugging down the track.

"It's a trend because of quality and because consumers like knowing who grew their food," says Paula Ross, research associate at the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center.

Indeed, it's a virtuous endeavor with real benefits: fresh and flavorful taste as well as economic value for those who toil in the soil.

"It's about supporting people who are supporting their community in a big way," says Ms. Weirauch, who spends more than $150 a week on farm bounty and adds seasonal specials to her menu. "It's almost always a better buy. And they're not trucking and shipping it."

Promoting local food is often associated with the Slow Food movement founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986. Since then, hundreds of Slow Food groups have formed around the world including in Toledo (sfmv@ameritech.net).

In the United States, Alice Waters led the way with her Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, Calif. It's relied on local and organic foods for years and consistently lands on lists of the world's 50 best restaurants.

But it's not as easy as one might think.

Chains with fixed menus and ethnic eateries that need specialty items are less likely than small to mid-sized locally-owned restaurants to pull it off. Identifying growers willing to supply chefs with what they're looking for is a hurdle; so is distribution. And some cooks don't know what's in season when.

"Everybody wants to have local and they're starting to realize the benefits, but making those connections is challenging," says Rebecca Singer, vice president and director of agricultural programs at the nonprofit Center for Innovative Food Technology in Toledo.

The center has compiled Fresh Network, a directory that lists 130 local growers along with potential customers — eateries, schools, nursing homes, country clubs — that want to incorporate local food. Another bright spot: cooking schools are instilling their students with the value of local foods, sometimes growing herbs and greens on site.

Aimee Weeber, a third-generation restaurateur, is determined to buy local but after nearly four years, she's found it to be time consuming, and her time is in short supply.

"It involves me driving around a few days ahead to pick up food," says Ms. Weeber. Meat is difficult to purchase locally; so are Asian vegetables and russet potatoes, often used to make french fries.

"It's so ingrained in us the way we order food. And it's so easy to call a distributor and know the exact quantity and what we're getting," says Ms. Weeber, a manager at the Hathaway House and Main Street Stable in Blissfield.

"And we don't speak the same language as farmers. They may say a ‘box' of tomatoes. What size is a box? And what about delivery? It's all of those logistics."

Linking Hathaway's entire menu to seasonal bounty isn't feasible, she says (computers have to be changed, staff has to be trained, for example), so they're doing one day a week. Tuesdays through Oct. 14, 4 to 8 p.m., the chef creates three, $12 entrees, made primarily with local goods. It's been a hit: Hathaway serves about 150 "market meals" each Tuesday.

"Heirloom tomatoes, melons, herbs, corn. There's so many varieties out there!" says Tony House, executive chef at Navy Bistro.

At the Toledo market on a recent Saturday, he is loaded down with a basket of aromatic peaches and another brimming with plump blackberries: he'll top an almond pound cake with them. A few weeks earlier, he sliced New Haven peaches on pork chops glazed with bourbon, maple, and onions.

In addition to the Toledo market, he shops at the Perrysburg market on Thursdays, and if he needs more, at Westgate on Wednesdays.

"Building relationships with farmers has helped, too. They let me know what's coming up in the week ahead," he says.

He was encouraged to check out local growers by Eileen Cousino, owner of the bistro with her husband, Tom Cousino. A perk for the chef: "It gets the creative juices flowing," says Mr. House. "I also find things I haven't heard of before."

He's used Lock 21 cheese made by Brian Schlatter of C/J Natural Meats near Defiance on an antipasto platter. "We're working with them on making a special variety for us. And we're looking into poultry and meats."

Two 2008 University of Toledo grads who operate Balance Pan-Asian Grille in Maumee's Arrowhead Park get leafy greens, basil, and cilantro from farmers. A Bowling Green gardener grows perilla, an herb in the mint family, for them, and they order buns from Country Grains of Sylvania. But for the 10 cases of green peppers they need each week, they turn to a distributor.

"The farmers have such a high markup that it's not feasible for us," says Prakash Karamchandani, co-owner with chef Ho Chan Jang. "If we could find it local and organic at competitive prices, we'd go for it."

They've decided not to use produce that's been genetically modified in their "fast casual" restaurant, and they've spoken with Ms. Ross about increasing their local purchases. But grass-fed beef from Iowa and free-range chickens from Virginia are far cheaper than what they would be locally, says Mr. Karamchandani.

Their menu, which includes some organic offerings, requires veggies not typically grown around here, such as small Korean hot chilis, bok choy, and Oriental herbs. They'd like to grow them hydroponically in the restaurant, says Mr. Karamchandani.

"Ohio's an agricultural state but it grows corn, wheat, and soybeans," he says, not the products he needs. And just because food is produced locally, he notes, is no guarantee of superior quality.

A Findlay chef buys beef from his butcher who raises cattle; guinea hens (smaller and milder than chicken) from Fostoria; rabbit from a Columbus fellow; and ducks from Indiana.

"No one's doing duck locally," explains Michael Bulkowski, owner of Revolver. A former Chicago chef who has returned to his hometown, he's found local produce to be far less costly than in the big city.

"There's no excuse for not using some local ingredients, especially in the summer. If they say they can't they're lying or lazy," says Mr. Bulkowski. "And if more people started doing it, we'd have more variety."

He buys most produce locally, including chanterelle mushrooms and paw paws, but has been reluctantly purchasing greens from the supermarket.

"My lettuce farmer bailed on me," he says, adding that he uses about 10 varieties. "Lettuce is easy to grow but I need somebody to grow a lot. I've dabbled in growing my own but it's just so time consuming."

Last fall, Ms. Ross organized a meeting between several farmers and Marty Lahey, owner of Manhattan's Restaurant. The results were fruitful, and he's getting wholesale prices.

"We talked about how I could buy more from them," says Mr. Lahey. Manhattan's kitchen also cooks lunches for four schools. "We're really big on serving fresh-cooked meals," that often include local apples.

"We're thinking about buying a side of beef. It's pretty expensive. You have to consider getting the best cut and how it can be affordable. And people are looking for a certain taste in beef." Grass-fed and free-range animals have different flavor than corn-fed animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations.

Some farmers deliver to his near-downtown restaurant and he takes his van to the farmers' market. Manhattan's chef, he says, is happy to include the seasonal foods he brings back from market.

An unexpected plus has been relationships he's formed with the farmers. "They're good old-fashioned types. They're friendly and honest. And that's worth a lot."

Notes Paula Ross: "One possibility is a co-operative of producers who can collectively provide what restaurant buyers want. Northwest Ohio growers have the capacity to grow a wide range of crops all year by combining field production in season with winter production in existing or potential new greenhouses."

Contact Tahree Lane at:

tlane@theblade.com

or 419-724-6075.

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