Miami - Escopazzo

Escopazzo Italian Restaurant in Miami. It is an organic, sustainable restaurant in the main part of South Beach. It is a quick walk from Ocean Boulevard, which is the street that runs along the beach. I thought Escopazzo was very good, with a very nice ambiance and great service. I had read a number of reviews before we went there, which rated it excellent, but I would only rate it pretty good. Surprisingly, there were very few organic restaurants in Miami, and this was one of three in South Beach. It was fairly expensive as well.

I started with a zucchini salad, which was zucchini with a cold tomato sauce on it, which I did not like. I had the fish bouillabaisse for dinner which was very tasty but I was still hungry after finishing it, so I think they needed to include a huge chunk of break in the stew, which is traditionally how it is served. We split a chocolate dessert which was ok. The Italian wine I had with dinner was excellent and reasonably priced. I was with two friends at Escopazzo and I think they both enjoyed their main entree, Rose had the pork loin and Vicki the cheesy rice, both very good and we had a great time. To sum up Escopazzo, not as good as the restaurant we went to the night before, the Nexxt Cafe (correct spelling) on Lincoln Road in Miami,(not organic) and Escopazzo was more expensive.

New York City

My husband and I went to New York City this past weekend to go to the Tino Sehgal live art exhibit at the Guggenheim Art Museum and to explore some new organic eateries. The Tino Sehgal art exhibit which had live people making out for eight hours in slow motion was cool when we first started out at the bottom floor. But, as we went up the spiral, open atrium museum for the next six floors, with nothing on the walls or anything else to see, we were totally scratching our heads. That was it, for $36, we could keep looking down at the two dancers slowly making out.

The good news is before we started our walk to the Guggenheim we went for breakfast at an organic Belgian eatery Le Pain Quotidien. I would rate it pretty darn good, almost fantastic. We had fabulous breakfasts and coffee, everything was organic and they included the calories of every breakfast and lunch which I thought was a good idea. It is a chain, however it is only located in the New York City area, which is why I wanted to try it. I typically hate chains, because I think the food is substandard and I feel the owners are not into fabulous food, but making fabulous amounts of money. I wanted to prove myself wrong because if they are totally focused on organic foods, it helps the organic farmers and that is a prime benefit. Eating organic which is healthier for everyone and helping American farmers work and profit from good food are the two goals I am working toward.

The downside of the restaurant was I didn't really like the bread. It was whole grain, but its consistency was too soft, not hearty and heavy, which is how I think a good breakfast bread should be. The coffee was very good and organic, so we definitely would go back. Getting a great cup of organic coffee, not at Starbucks is a big plus for us when we travel.

Newport, RI

We recently took a trip to Newport, Rhode Island after attending a beautiful wedding in Connecticut for the daughter of my high school friend. We visited two great restaurants and managed to stop at Claire’s Restaurant in New Haven on the drive home.

It was a glorious bright blue sky weekend in Newport and our Bread and Breakfast, the Sarah Kendall House had a large front porch overlooking the Newport Harbor, which was filled with sail boats. By the way the Sarah Kendall House was immaculate, beautiful, and served amazing breakfasts. It is in a quiet, historic part of Newport called The Point. The owners, Bryan & Fran, were pleasant and great cooks. It’s a five star recommendation from me. Right around the corner from the Sarah Kendall House, we stopped on our walk to put in a reservation for 7:00, at Rhumbline, a unique local and largely fish and fresh organic food restaurant. It was elegant and packed. It was fairly expensive but well worth it.

The next day we took a ten mile walk through the historic part of Newport and down Bellevue Avenue, the famous street with the huge mansions. We returned on the Cliff Walk, which runs behind the mansions along the beach. We wanted to eat something casual, so upon the recommendation of the owner of our B&B we went to the Brick Alley Pub. We were surprised to see the front of the menu said, “At Brick Alley we care about the health of our customers and the environment. We use locally grown, organic, and all- natural ingredients whenever possible. We strive to be eco-friendly in all areas of our business.”

The boat show was in Newport this weekend and it was a blast, just walking around the docks with gorgeous 80 degree sunny skies. There is nothing better than walking along the ocean in the fall.

We drove right through New Haven so we stopped at Claire’s and I had a large healthy spinach salad with a pomegranate ice tea that had bits of apple in it. It was very good and it was nice to see Claire again. She exudes fulfillment and happiness watching her run her restaurant.

Stone Barns Center

The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York is a picturesque farm, one that would make any visitor want to forget his desk job and take up farming. It is an environmentally sustainable, organic farm with historic barns on Rockefeller family land that holds tours and programs to demonstrate how food is grown and raised. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is the restaurant that is the ultimate eater’s paradise. They serve an eleven course farm meal, with vegetables and meats harvested from the farm that day. The restaurant’s chef is Dan Barber, one of New York’s top chefs. You can also grab a light lunch on the farm at the Blue Hill Café, which shares the restaurant’s kitchen. The phone number for the farm is (914) 366-6200, and the website is www.stonebarnscenter.org.

David Rockefeller and his daughter Peggy Dulany, had the vision to build Stone Barns Center in remembrance of Peggy Rockefeller, David’s his late wife, who was an avid farmer and used to raise cattle on the land that is the Stone Barns Center. In dedicating the center, David said

”The most critical factor in farmland preservation has to be the promotion, support and encouragement of local farmers. As factory-style farms grow even larger, and our food supply originates in ever more distant places, we dangerously diminish the role of local food systems. Regaining that local connection is vital to the sustainability of our communities, the preservation of our environment, and the safety of our food supply. This is her legacy and now the mandate of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.”

The farm is fairly small compared to a conventional farm. Ellen, our tour guide, showed us the main points of the farm in a 2 hour tour. Our group was so interested in all that she had to say, we might have continued wandering if it wasn’t 90 degrees with high humidity that day. I suggest wearing a hat and sneakers on your visit. Our first stop was the Blue Hill Restaurant, which was neat, watching all the chefs busily preparing lunch for the café and dinner for the restaurant. Three of the people on our tour had eaten dinner at the restaurant the night before and said it was the best dinner they have ever had. It was eleven courses with no menu, just fresh farm food that was available that day.

Stone Barns sits outside New York City on the Hudson River and its purpose its to teach children, adults and aspiring organic farmers how to farm in all four seasons in New York’s climate. The center has children’s camps to teach children the methods of organic farming and how to raise livestock. It is very different from conventional farming where only one crop is grown year after year, and subsequently needs to be sprayed with herbicides, insecticides, and conventional fertilizer. The children learn that good healthy food is all about the soil. If the soil is healthy, the food will be healthy.

I spoke to one mom whose 8 year old son was in the camp at the Center and she said, “our family now has a garden at home because of him,” which was wonderful to hear because that is the objective of Stone Barns Center. I definitely plan to return to eat at the restaurant, since I only had time to savor an excellent light lunch at the café with farm fresh panna cotta and raspberries on top for dessert.



To see pictures from my visit - click here.

Dinner with our good friends, Chefs Walt and Jean Scheib

Friday night was a lot of fun having dinner on our back porch with our great friends, the Scheibs. Walt Scheib has non stop funny stories and Jean accompanies those stories with her dry wit, which always has me laughing. They are both graduates of the Culinary Institute and both started out as chefs, but Jean just embarked on a real estate career and Walt is always on speaking tours as “the American Chef.”

Most people know that Walter Scheib was the President’s chef for 11 years, with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 2005, he gave up cooking for another passion, public speaking. Walt is now a world class speaker with engagements to speak to business groups on what it was like to be the White House chef all those years, while they enjoy a lunch or dinner. He does not prepare the lunches or dinners, but he does prepare the menu for the engagement. After his retirement he also published a cookbook titled White House Chef with recipes, stories, and great pictures of Presidential events. It reads like a novel and the recipes are truly worth cooking. It is also a testament to his healthful cooking that both Walt and his wife, Jean, are thin and fit and it is the big reason the Clinton’s wanted him.

Friends comment, “What do you cook for dinner? I would be nervous." But the Scheibs are totally casual. So, I planned a casual dinner. First, we started with a lime cilantro shrimp cocktail made by Jean. It was so delicious my son Steve, who joined us for a bit, commented that he would like to eat the whole platter. For dinner we had fresh mahi mahi on the grill, which Walt ended up cooking. He watched me open up a new digital thermometer, and said “you don’t need that” and proceeded to show me how to test for doneness by testing the flesh on my hand. Well, even Jean said she couldn’t check the fish that way, so Walt helped out. Back to dinner, tomatoes from our organic garden topped with blue cheese and olive oil and boiled red potatoes. For dessert, an organic lemon tart from Trader Joe’s with some raspberry and lemon sorbet.

I really wanted to get their perspective on organic foods. According to both Walt and Jean, they buy organic food if they find the taste is better. Walt said, “while non-organic food may be a health issue, it is a long term issue that doesn’t become a problem for many years. The biggest health concern of a chef is food safety and preventing food borne illnesses like salmonella and e-coli. The way meat is slaughtered, handled, and processed is the biggest problem that we have to deal with in the short term.”

Walt suggested I give his close friend, Alice Waters (the owner of Chez Panisse, who is a huge supporter of organic and local foods) a call, to tell her about my blog and get her perspective. He also suggested I call Cris Comerford, the current While House Executive Chef, for her comments.

Walt recently visited the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture for one of his clients and suggested I go visit. Their website is www.stonebarnscenter.org. They have an incredible learning site and functioning organic farm for anyone to visit just outside of New York City in Tarrytown. I plan to visit next week.

Preserving Small Local Farms

What is contributing to the loss of family farms are the ever present land development pressures. Put simply: no affordable farmland, no small farms. In many areas of the country close to urban and suburban communities, profit per acre from expanded real estate development is far higher than from small-scale local farming.

Click here to read a White Paper on the economics of keeping small farms viable.

Local and fresh?

There have been a lot of articles lately about buying local and fresh. Unless it is also organic, it is no better for you than going to the grocery store. What about the neighbors of those farmers, with all that chemical spraying? The local aspect is a huge savings on transportation costs, reducing the trucking of vegetables and fruits across country, but we need to have more farmers offering good chemical-free food as well.

We went to a local farm market in Northern Virgina last summer that had fresh vegetables, but there was not a single vendor out of 30 that grew anything organically. We were disappointed and didn't buy anything. One important point about organic farms, if the farmer says it is raised organically but is not certified because of the expense, I certainly believe them.

The good news is there is a very slow movement towards organic foods in Virginia, and in my small way I hope to speed it up.