Babies, and Art, and Food, Oh My!
Jul 22, 2010 St. Louis, chefs, events, farming, missouri, restaurants, sustainable agriculture
Whew! After nine months (the final few weeks of which were filled with anxiety revolving around questions like, “What the hell am I going to do with a baby?), I now have a daughter, Quinn Reese Burge. Definitely meaning to brag, Ellie did it 100% natural for both her health physically and mentally and the babies. It was amazing, but more than that, they are amazing.
Bragging about my wife and daughter out of the way, in the few moments of spare time I’ve had this week, I’ve been tracking down chefs to belatedly nail down this year’s Slow Food St. Louis Art of Food menu. It’s not quite assembled 100% (come on guys!), but I just wanted to let you know one thing:
If you’re in town this Saturday, and you haven’t got anything planned, and you care a lick about local food, you need to get your butt down there. It’s Slow Food St. Louis’s biggest fundraiser of the year and it’s the reason we’ve been able to give over $12,000 to ten small farms over the last two years to increase the biodiversity of what’s available to us locally.
And if that’s not reason enough for you to go, know this: whatever excuse you have can’t possibly top the fact that I’ll be there and I’ll have a 7 day old daughter, and Josh Galliano will be there and he will have a 13 day old daughter. (we are of course hoping this means stellar birthday parties!)
Here’s the menu thus far if you’re wavering, and I hope to see you there…
Annie Gunn’s – Lou Rook III
Roasted Viking Village Sea Scallop with Annie Gunn’s Bacon and Ratatouille.
Companion – Josh Allen
1. Panzanella “Bread Salad” – Companion Roasted Garlic Fougasse w/ local heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers (working to identify farmer this week)
2. Grilled Bread Station with assorted pestos & tapenades
Five – Anthony Devoti
Benne’s Farm Pork confit, sesame cracker, tomato jam and pickled Claverach Farm baby carrots.
Harvest – Stephen Gontram
Harvest Bread Pudding
Kakao Chocolate – Brian Pelletier
1:Bacon Caramels Made with bacon from Hinkebein Hills Farms and local honey.
2: Chocolate Dipped Double-Layer Pates de Fruits
Local Harvest Café – Clara Moore
Horseradish Pickled Heirloom Tomato Relish on a Prairie Breeze Cheese Biscuit
Monarch – Josh Galliano
Prairie Grass Farms Goat Terrine, eggplant tapenade, Greek yogurt, fennel mostarda
Niche – Gerard Craft
white gazpacho, smoked grape sorbet
Sidney Street Café
Rabbit bratwurst with Companion brioche and house made sauerkraut
Winslow’s Home
Winslow’s Farm Cucumbers and Heirloom Tomatoes with pulled Prairie Grass Farm Lamb
and dishes still to come from…
Bailey’s Chocolate Bar, Farmhaus, Franco
Tags: Annie Gunn's, Anthony-Devoti, Art of Food, Bailey's Chocolate Bar, Brian Pelletier, Cary McDowell, Clara Moore, Claverach, Companion Bakery, David Bailey, Farmhaus, Five, Franco, Gerard Craft, Harvest, Hinkebein Hills Farm, Josh Galliano, Kakao Chocolate, Kevin Nashan, Local Harvest Cafe, Lou Rook III, Mad Art Gallery, Matt Abeshouse, Monarch, Niche, Rooster, Sidney Street Cafe, Slow Food St. Louis, Stephen Gontram, sustainable agriculture, The Bridge, Winslow's Home
Local Chefs Make the 2008 James Beard Awards Long List
Feb 18, 2008 chefs, restaurants
Joshua Galliano and I had hoped previously we might get some locals nominated for this years James Beard Awards, so it was exicting news when Stephanie (bakemeacake over on the forum) pointed us to yumsugar’s post regarding this years long list of James Beard Award nominees.
Up for Best Chef Midwest are:
Michael Roberts / Jean Donnelly, Atlas, St. Louis, MO
Lou Rook III, Annie Gunn’s, Chesterfield, MO
The award is for “Chefs who have set new or consistent standards of excellen in their respective regions. Candidates may be from any kind of dining establishment and most have been working as a chef for at least five years with three most recent years in the region. (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI)”
And up for Rising Star Chef of the Year is
Gerard Craft, Niche, St. Louis, MO
This award is for “A chef age 30 or younger who displays an impressive talent and who is likely to make a significant impact on the industry in years to come.”
Congratulations to all four, and here’s to hoping they make it to the short list.
Here is the complete long list of names for the 2008 Beard Awards if you’re curious. It contains some pretty fierce competition for our locals, and especially Gerard with people like Sean Brock (McCrady’s, Charleston, SC) and Wesley Genovart (Degustation, NYC) being on the Rising Chef list.
Tags: Annie Gunn's, Atlas, Gerard Craft, Jean Donnelly, Joshua Galliano, Lou Rook III, Michael Roberts, Niche
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?