Local, true and all-natural
I wonder what sparked the recent explosion of restaurants extolling the virtues of local, natural and whenever possible organic ingredients.
I know it's been a trend for several years -- and chefs like Cindy Wolf have been doing it for longer than that -- but suddenly it's not a trend but THE trend.
I think True in the Admiral Fell Inn (pictured) was the first mainstream restaurant to embrace local and all-natural, down to its somewhat awkward name. Then places like Dogwood in Hampden came along. Let me state the obvious here and say I'm not complaining.
Once we were lucky if we found out that the sea bass was Chilean. Now menus tell us the name of the local dairy that produced the butter we're about to eat. Remember when exotic ingredients were a good thing?
What got me to thinking about this was a new listing in the 2008 Zagat: Restaurant Local in the Tidewater Inn in Easton, with a menu that "showcases regional, locally sourced ingredients."
I remember well when the dining room in the Tidewater was stuffy and old school. Now it couldn't be trendier.
(Gene Sweeney Jr./Sun Photographer)
Comments
Though I believe that local, homegrown etc is a terrific idea, ultimately I want an excellent product to be served. If that "excellent" product is shipped in, but is better than the "good" local product I want the former. Dining options have creeped higher and higher. Add, the tip float that has occurred and a night out for two is in the $75+ range. For that money, I want excellent and that unfortunately is not the norm in our area, even from the restaurants reviewed by the Sun critics. (How many received 4 stars in the past two years for food-maybe 3?)
Posted by: mdlrvrmuncher | September 6, 2007 7:02 AM
It seems impossible that you don't already know this, but the fish called Chilean sea bass, is not always (or even usually) from Chile and is not a bass. It's just a nicer sounding name for toothfish.
At least part of this trend has to do with the growth of literature on the subject. I've read a number of books lately discussing the issue, and have tried very hard to buy local whenever possible for my food.
It's hard because despite the 3 restaurants you listed (and a limited number of others), it's really not all the common in restaurants in our area, so if you really want to eat all local, you have to do most of it at home.
Yes, I used that example to say that was the only kind of "provenance" we were getting, and then it wasn't necessarily accurate.
Posted by: Cara | September 6, 2007 9:19 AM