Edible Finger Lakes Summer 2010 : Page 28

Notable Edibles Loca-Campers, ChewOn This The Owl House Wakes Up When the Atomic Eggplant closed five years ago, Rochester veg-heads mourned the loss of yet another tofu-savvy restaurant. But with the opening of The Owl House, tofu is back, and with it Rochester gets a new restaurant whose goal is to eventually source 50% of its food from the region. Located in the same Marshall Street location—but owned by different people and serving meat in equal measure— The Owl House is going for an eclectic “fresh-from-scratch” vibe that includes homemade pickles, condiments, snacky little bar foods and fish smoked out back. All-vegan desserts are made on-site and Chef Brian Van Etten (a longtime friend of owners Jeff Ching and Andrea Parros) even plans to give scratch-made seitan a whirl. Other fare will come from local vendors like Baker Street Bakery, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters and Lively Run Goat Dairy, and growers including Raindance Harvest, Freshwise Farms and Mud Creek Farm while Aberdeen Hill Farms will supply “a pig at a time.” Libations include Finger Lakes wines and local brews. “As a young restaurant with a tight bud-get and an incredibly small crew, we’re not expecting or planning on sourcing all ingredients locally,” Van Etten says. “But we’re trying our best.”— Christina Le Beau The Owl House: 75Marshall St., Roches-ter; 585.360.2920; owlhouserochester.com 28 edible FINGER LAKES Over 100 within 100: That’s how many campgrounds there are in that many miles around Rochester. With all those back-to-the-earth people who will be sleeping outside this summer in our national parks, there’s bound to be a few who would love to take local foods in the backpack. The conundrum for all campers, though, is this. Fresh food can be heavy to carry and the summer heat spoils anything raw. So forget about bringing some nice grass-fed beef to cook over the campfire. The solution for many? Beef jerky—strips of fresh meat that have been marinated or rubbed and smoked or dried over low heat until they become a salty and chewy source of protein. It’s nonperishable and very lightweight but unless you make your own, the usual source of jerky is at a gas station and is an expensive, old, flavorless package of shoe leather. However, Seven Bridges Farm, an all-natural beef farm in Lyons, is now selling jerky made from their hormone-free, pasture-raised cows. $11.95 gets you a half-pound bag of enormous strips of beef that are tender and chewy at the same time, with a salty, rich juiciness. “We only use the top round cut for our jerky,” says Barrita Shanks, co-owner of the farm with her husband, Jeff. “It’s a really lean, clean and extremely flavorful cut and we don’t make the slices paper-thin like most jerky, which keeps ours tender.” Working with Bath Packing Company, a family-owned meat processing facility, the Shanks’s slices of beef are soaked in a marinade called Jerky Juice (the Bath folks keep the recipe a well-guarded secret) for four to five days before going in a smokehouse for 24 hours. They’re then packed in airtight plastic pouches to preserve flavor and texture. And the camper reviews have been favorable. A friend of ours that we shared the jerky with now claims to be addicted to the stuff and accuses us of turning him on to the equivalent of “meat heroin.” Let’s hope he never needs rehab.—MichaelWelch Seven Bridges Farm: 2191 Pond Road, Lima; 585.749.6958; sevenbridgesfarm.com SUMMER 2010

EDIBLE ROCHESTER

Notable Edibles The Owl House Wakes Up When the Atomic Eggplant closed five years ago, Rochester veg-heads mourned the loss of yet another tofu-savvy restaurant. But with the opening of The Owl House, tofu is back, and with it Rochester gets a new restaurant whose goal is to eventually source 50% of its food from the region. Located in the same Marshall Street location–but owned by different people and serving meat in equal measure–The Owl House is going for an eclectic "fresh-from-scratch" vibe that includes homemade pickles, condiments, snacky little bar foods and fish smoked out back. All-vegan desserts are made on-site and Chef Brian Van Etten (a longtime friend of owners Jeff Ching and Andrea Parros) even plans to give scratch-made seitan a whirl. Other fare will come from local vendors like Baker Street Bakery, Joe Bean Coffee Roasters and Lively Run Goat Dairy, and growers including Raindance Harvest, Freshwise Farms and Mud Creek Farm while Aberdeen Hill Farms will supply "a pig at a time." Libations include Finger Lakes wines and local brews. "As a young restaurant with a tight budget and an incredibly small crew, we’re not expecting or planning on sourcing all ingredients locally," Van Etten says. "But we’re trying our best." – Christina Le Beau The Owl House: 75 Marshall St., Rochester; 585.360.2920; owlhouserochester.com Loca-Campers, Chew On This Over 100 within 100: That’s how many campgrounds there are in that many miles around Rochester. With all those back-to-the-earth people who will be sleeping outside this summer in our national parks, there’s bound to be a few who would love to take local foods in the backpack. The conundrum for all campers, though, is this. Fresh food can be heavy to carry and the summer heat spoils anything raw. So forget about bringing some nice grass-fed beef to cook over the campfire. The solution for many? Beef jerky–strips of fresh meat that have been marinated or rubbed and smoked or dried over low heat until they become a salty and chewy source of protein. It’s nonperishable and very lightweight but unless you make your own, the usual source of jerky is at a gas station and is an expensive, old, flavorless package of shoe leather. However, Seven Bridges Farm, an all-natural beef farm in Lyons, is now selling jerky made from their hormone-free, pasture-raised cows. $11.95 gets you a half-pound bag of enormous strips of beef that are tender and chewy at the same time, with a salty, rich juiciness. "We only use the top round cut for our jerky," says Barrita Shanks, co-owner of the farm with her husband, Jeff. "It’s a really lean, clean and extremely flavorful cut and we don’t make the slices paper-thin like most jerky, which keeps ours tender." Working with Bath Packing Company, a family-owned meat processing facility, the Shanks’s slices of beef are soaked in a marinade called Jerky Juice (the Bath folks keep the recipe a well-guarded secret) for four to five days before going in a smokehouse for 24 hours. They’re then packed in airtight plastic pouches to preserve flavor and texture. And the camper reviews have been favorable. A friend of ours that we shared the jerky with now claims to be addicted to the stuff and accuses us of turning him on to the equivalent of "meat heroin." Let’s hope he never needs rehab.–Michael Welch Seven Bridges Farm: 2191 Pond Road, Lima; 585.749.6958; sevenbridgesfarm.com Using the Old Noodle to Make Good Food When it came to selecting ingredients for Flour City Pasta, the major requirement for owner Jon Stadt–better known to his customers as "The Pasta Guy"–was that his products be organic. And he found a solid source for wheat in Flour City Milling: a business that not only offers organic flour but is also local to Rochester. Upon contacting miller Thor Oeschner, Jon was invited to come out and see the process for himself. Thor showed him the stone-ground milling setup and gave Jon the chance for some immediate gratification. "At the end of the day," Jon said, "he just handed me the bag of flour we made and said, ‘Go make some pasta.’" Flour City Pasta now turns out an array of noodles with whole-wheat as the main staple, as well as the less-known emmer wheat, which is an ancient grain native to the Middle East with a nutty flavor and an impressive 24 grams of protein per cup. The latest noodle due out this summer is a hearty multigrain pasta, made using wheat, buckwheat, spelt and flaxseed–all local. And al dente diners are catching on. Only in business for about a year, Jon’s pasta products now span the state, available in specialty shops from Buffalo to Brooklyn. The nearby Fairport Village Inn recently began featuring Jon’s pasta in its specials, starting with the garlic toasted onion fettuccine. Jon has hopes for expanding, but for now he’s focused on getting enough of his products on the shelf to keep up with the demand.–Lisa Barker Flour City Pasta: 1000 Turk Hill Park, Suite 134, Fairport; 585.223.1113; flourcitypasta.com Canandaigua Gets Culinary Chances are good you’ve never seen a gleam in a foodie’s eye like the one in Penelope Pankow’s when she gets an idea for a new oil-and-vinegar combo. And chances are even better that you’ve never had a mini-vinaigrette sample made just for you that combines super fresh, flavorful and interesting oils and vinegars. Pankow, who recently opened F. Oliver’s, a new specialty food store in Canandaigua, sells single varietal and flavorinfused oils and vinegars in a very tasteful and brightly colored shop that’s the latest must-visit destination in our foodscape. Tasting all those oils and vinegars on their own is a treat (make sure to try the single varietal extra-virgin olive oils), but the best moments are when Pankow and her staff, after spending a little time with a customer, will grab a small cup, dribble a little oil in it and dash to the other side of the store for a vinegar to infuse. It’s a marvel to watch them then swirl the cup until the two liquids are emulsified and offer it up, hoping it’ll please the palate. Combos we loved included Persian Lime and Creamy Coconut, which would make for an excellent dressing on Asian-style greens, Farmstand Strawberry and Roasted French Walnut Oil for a spinach, strawberry walnut salad and Tuscan Garden Oil with Ripe Fig Vinegar, the best thing to drizzle over a warm pizza or pasta this summer. It’s specialty ingredients like the ones offered at F. Oliver’s that serve to enhance the flavors of all the great fresh produce coming off of our farms this time of year. And just imagining a hunk of bread from a local bakery dunked into some of the combos at F. Oliver’s is enough to make a hungry foodie weep with joy.–Michael Welch F. Oliver’s Oils and Vinegars: 129 S. Main St., Canandaigua; 585.396.2585; folivers.com BEHIND THE BOTTLE Casa Larga 2008 Tré Blanc A PAIRPORT FAMILY WAITS TO MAKE A SPECIAL WINE In August 2008 in a wine cellar in Fairport an event was taking place unbeknownst to most of the world but it was something that was a long time coming for the Colaruotolo family, owners of the Casa Larga Vineyards. They were finally bottling Tré Blanc, a white wine that they’d been talking about for decades. The wine, a blend of 57% Muscat Ottonell, 33% Traminette and 10% Gewurztraminer grapes, is aromatic and semi-dry with lush flavors of ripe apricot, honey and pink grapefruit. A 0.5% residual sweetness and balanced fruit provide two elements that many winemakers say are all a white wine needs to be: delicious and refreshing. Andrew Colaruotolo (fondly remembered as "Mr. C"), who passed away in 2004, hailed originally from Gaeta, Italy, where his family owned small farms and vineyards. He started Casa Larga in 1974 outside of Rochester with the hopes of preserving his Italian heritage by producing wines using the techniques he learned from his family back home in their little seaside village. But it’s Muscat, the dominant grape in the wine, that is the story here. It’s a variety that European winemakers appreciate for the strong floral aromas and honey sweetness of the fruit, making for wonderful sparkling and fortified wines. In Italy, Muscat is often used for making dessert wines, most famously in Asti Spumante, the sweet low-alcohol drink often served after a meal. However, for Mr. C and his son John, who with his mother and siblings now runs the winery, it was some unusual, dry Italian white blends featuring Muscat they tasted that inspired them to recreate the wine here at home, using all New York grapes in the mix. They started their plans in the late '70s and were fortunate to find Muscat vines for sale at Dr. Frank Wine Cellars on Keuka Lake and now have four acres dedicated to the variety. "We first bottled a Muscat wine in 1979 but people didn’t really get it," says John. "They weren’t familiar with the style. So we started making a sparkling Muscat in the '80s, then eventually we only used Muscat to blend into our Estate White variety." All the while John and the winemakers waited for the perfect conditions to create the dry, aromatic blend that would emphasize Muscat. They knew to get people excited about the variety they needed for all the elements to be right. "Muscat is a sensitive grape in a cool climate, it isn’t very reliable," John says. "So we had to wait for the right harvest year when the grapes would be perfect." Which came in 2007, a season with a dry, hot summer and fall, ideal for ripening the Muscat. "We knew it as it was happening," he continues. "The '07 harvest was a very good one and everything just came together to make this the year that we’d finally produce the wine we wanted." After pressing, the wine was aged in stainless steel tanks until August, a considerable time for a white wine. "In the Finger Lakes we tend to get the wines bottled and on the shelf quickly, because there’s often not enough space in the cellar to let wines age in the tank and again in the bottle. But with this wine we didn’t want to rush it." With two years under its belt since bottling, the wine is now tasting very well, with time allowing for the acidity to mellow and for those velvety fruit flavors to come through. "I think this wine is aging wonderfully," John says. "With white wine you worry: Is it going to fall apart in the bottle? What’s held it together, I think, is the Muscat. It’s like the binding in the structure of the wine." For wine drinkers, a willingness to experiment is necessary to create an appreciation for the unusual and delicious wines being produced here. For the Colaruotolo family, it was a willingness to wait for the right time that helped create this wine that we all get to enjoy, finally. HOME FIELD TO HOME PLATE Story and Photos by Lisa Barker The Texting Farmer CELL PHONE TECGNOLOGY HELPS GET FOOD FROM FORM TO PLATE Chef Michael Bommelje of Warfield’s Restaurant in Clifton Springs is unlikely to be caught empty-handed when it comes to his cell phone. "At first, I thought text messaging was the most useless thing ever," he laughs. But because of texting with farmer Sharon Nagle, owner of Firefly Farms in Canandaigua, he’s learned to appreciate the minikeypad while cooking over a hot stove and wondering when his next shipment of arugula will arrive. Social networking is quickly changing farm-to-table communication with businesses like Facebook and Twitter supporting the local foods system in ways that Wendell Berry-esque traditionalists might never have dreamed. And with texting, the sending of instant messages between cell phones, a quick way to buy and sell produce has emerged, facilitating commerce between chefs (who never want to leave the kitchen) and farmers (who always need more time on the farm). Michael had been a steadfast customer of Firefly Farm for years, having found Sharon at the Canandaigua Farmers' Market. "It’s easy to make food look and taste good when you’re getting things like Sharon’s," he says. But once they started sending and receiving texts to exchange information, he’s been able to access more of her crops closer to the time that they were harvested. Sharon (who also has a Facebook page), runs a small but diversified farm that includes a crop lineup of unusual varieties for a chef to go wild over: baby mesclun lettuces, organic tomatoes, Patty Pan squashes, Asian greens, and many culinary herbs. She may be among the first farmers to use texting consistently to sell produce, but she is confident she will soon be one among many. "Anyone who’s trying to sell vegetables is going to use any means available to them. It just makes sense," she says. Michael points out that conducting his weekly produce orders via text message versus a phone call has been a great help and that the information is saved once Sharon sends it. He can pull out his phone to remember what produce is coming. No more putting down the knife, searching for something to write with and frantically jotting down information from a phone call. Any phone calls he gets are likely to go straight to voicemail anyway, which he might not answer while hauling armfuls of onions out of the huge walk-in fridge. It’s the immediacy of the exchange that works well for both parties. "Say it's Friday and the phone’s ringing nonstop with reservations for Saturday. I can just text Sharon ‘15 more lbs carrots’ and she gets it right away." With Sharon always sending a reply to confirmation the order, it’s one less thing for the chef to worry about. And when Sharon is pulling those lush, ready-to-be-roasted baby carrots from the ground, being able to text Michael to let him know they are ready while she’s still in the field is easier and faster than heading back to the farmhouse to make a phone call. The cyber world is doing more than just connecting one chef to one farmer, though. Through online messages, farmers can now let hundreds of "friends," customers, and supporters know that a crop is ready or soon will be. Recently, Lyons-based Organic Matters Farm posted through its Facebook page that some early asparagus spears were ready. Within a day nearly 25 pounds of asparagus were sold. The Brighton Farmers’ Market staff has caught on as well, posting weekly updates to its Facebook page, telling shoppers what new crops are hitting the stands and often providing recipes for what to do with the fruits and veggies their vendors are selling. "Many chefs would like to source local produce," says Michael. "But the logistics of just finding it and getting it to the restaurant often pose a big challenge." If something as widely accessible and convenient as text messaging can be a tool to bridge this gap, chances are good that the Finger Lakes food scene will see more farmer-chef relationships in the near future. But it will be their thumbs that get an intense workout, instead of the usual shoulders, feet and wrists that chefs and farmers use to get the job done Farmer Sharon Nagle is undeterred "So as long as all this technology keeps on coming, let’s try to use it for the best end possible," she says. Lisa Barker is a barista, photographer, crafter and aspiring farmer living in Rochester. "Anyone who’s trying to sell vegetables is going to use any means available to them. It just makes sense." EATER AT LARGE By Christopher Wofford The Dog Has Its Day HOTS ARE HAUTE CUISINE IN ROCHACHA Despite being the dinner of choice at baseball games and backyard picnics, for a large part of the population the hot dog has become the food best forgotten. Bland, mushy mystery meat in a soft bun with corn syrup–laden ketchup hardly appeals to the locavore-leaning eaters. At the same time, artisan-style gourmet sausages are enjoying wild popularity among the CSA set as livestock farmers and chefs bring tasty links of ground meat and spices to the market. Can the hot dog ever gain, like the sausage, a foodie’s respect? Thankfully, Rochester is one city where the sausage and the hot dog hold equal promise for deliciousnes s. "Red or white, hon?" Order a hot dog anywhere in Rochester and this is what you’ll be asked. And the asker will quickly know whether or not you’re a local depending on your familiarity with the choices. A "red" hot dog is a stout pink wiener usually made of beef or pork in a natural "pop-open" casing and the "white" hot dog is an unsmoked, uncured, white frankfurter made with pork and sometimes veal, with various spices integrated throughout. Hot dog lovers in Rochester owe gratitude to the flood of German immigrants who brought with them their various regional cuisines and a legacy of artisanal sausage-making. These methods still exist in many meat markets and delicatessens in the Flower City, by way of studied apprenticeships and craftsmanlike dedication. One of the first immigrant families to achieve success were the Zweigles, whose humble beginnings included a small butcher shop where handmade sausages were a big hit with the neighborhood. That little butcher shop business founded in 1880 is now one of the largest food businesses in upstate New York with a good-sized production facility, which allows them to produce enough hot dogs to distribute throughout several states and to be the official hot dog provider of the Buffalo Sabres. While no longer a fixture in Rochester–having recently relocated to Canandaigua–Hartmann’s Old World Sausage is another purveyor of fine German- and Austrian-style wieners. The Hartmann family ran their business out of a storefront on North Clinton Avenue starting in 1963 but in 2004 sold the company to Austrian-born master butcher Josef Brunner. Brunner has successfully grown the business through equipment modernization and a tight production system, all in order to maintain freshness, consistency and wider distribution. Hartmann’s product listing now extends beyond German-style frankfurters to include chorizo, Finger Lakes Wine Sausages, spiced breakfast sausages, and unique cold cuts. But the White Hot is a true Rochester original, with its inception in 1925 in the Zweigle’s production kitchen (though other businesses also claim credit for the recipe) as a cost-saving alternative to the more expensive, refined red hot dog of the day. That’s right; the White Hot was essentially the poor man’s version of an already low-cost meal. Its leaner taste makes it perfect for a slow grill and some spicy mustard and kraut. The Red Hot is a more traditional-style hot dog with a beefiness that cries out for sautéed onions, relish and mustard. But it’s the natural casing that makes it interesting to cook, popping open when grilled, revealing a pink juicy filling. All iconic foods of convenience depend on chefs who know how to gussy them up and there are at least 30 establishments in Rochester that offer up hots. But Dogtown on Monroe Avenue, now in its fifth year of business, has become a famous Rochester destination known as the place to snarf down some hots on a myriad of creative and classic combos. The menu, conceived by owner Fran Basile is extensive, but began with signature regional hot dog styles including Cincinnati (with Cinci-style beanless chili and cheese); New York (sauerkraut, onions, mustard); Chicago (mustard, relish, tomatoes, onions, pepperoncinis, green peppers); Boston (bacon, baked beans and chili), and so on. Fran ran with the notion of pairings hots with elaborate toppings, creating other regional influenced options such as the Caribbean Wild Dog (sweet Jamaican relish, onions, cheddar) and the Coyote (salsa, sour cream, cheddar and jalapeños), and the concept took off. As for the hots themselves, Fran offers two choices: Zweigle's or Hartmann’s. "You can’t run a hot dog place in Rochester if you don’t sell Zweigle's," Fran admits, "In Buffalo it’s Sahlen’s, Syracuse has Hoffman’s, and in Rochester we have Zweigle’s. Period. But I do happen to like Hartmann’s quite a bit, and they’re a Rochester establishment. And they even made a special hot just for us." And at Fran’s place hots get star treatment when it comes to the vessel they’re served in. No soft buns allowed here. Dogtown serves their hots on a split French bread loaf from Martusciello’s, a favorite Rochester bakery and pizza shop. It makes a world of difference in the eating experience with a crisp baguette-style loaf absorbing all the juices that spill out of the casing. Combined with those delicious fresh toppings, it’s hound heaven. Vegetarians who skipped this article because of the title are missing out. There are more than a dozen veggie dog options with non-meat-eaters lining up to get their meat substitute cravings filled. "We’ve been nominated for best vegetarian restaurant in Rochester three years in a row," says Fran. And it’s no surprise, since the meatless version is indistinguishable from the regular hot, with plenty of savory flavors and snappy textures. With a bit of conceptual retooling, the hot dog’s second-tier image may not be doomed after all. Dogtown’s business model is a sure-fire winner, and even with all of the media recognition they’ve received, Fran is especially proud that a large number of Rochester’s premier restaurateurs and chefs make regular visits to Dogtown, for the food. So while the hot dog, even for militant foodies, remains a guilty pleasure, in the glory of its industrial simplicity it can in fact provide an eating experience that transcends the iconic. If you dig a little into the story and people behind the product, it’s revealed that the hot dog comes from an Old-World tradition of resourcefulness where no cut of meat is wasted, and where creativity and necessity come together to make great food. Christopher Wofford grew up in Rochester rifling back one Zweigle's hot after another while riding his BMX through the streets.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List