mult.ifario.us

Via Bob's FoodJaunt social portal (at least that's what I'd call it) and younger sister to Greenthumbr, I found an NYT article (compare article at SFGate) about a gardener-for-hire who will plant and tend a garden in your yard, and the idea of a decentralized urban farm is compelling.

One paragraph in the NYT article misses the point:

Although a completely local diet is out of reach for even the most dedicated, the shift toward it is being driven by the increasingly popular view that fast food is the enemy and that local food tastes better. Depending on the season, local produce can cost an additional $1 a pound or more. But long-distance food, with its attendant petroleum consumption and cheap wages, is harming the planet and does nothing to help build communities, locavores believe.

Local isn't just better for the planet. Local is just better.

For example, one facet of better is fresher. The lettuce we buy at the local farmer's market (usually from "Let Us Farm") travels the 100-ish miles (Google Maps routing says 99.8 miles — "local" it is!) from the field to my fridge in under 24 hours if not under eight hours, and it stays edible for a week or more. For comparison, a smaller head of butter lettuce from Whole Foods, entombed in its keep sake plastic clamshell, keeps at most a few days once brought home from the store just because of the additional handling and time elapsed. Moreover, the local lettuce costs less. When presented with the apples-to-apples comparison, even the crassest consumer would choose the local option.

As energy costs increase, decentralized production and distribution should result in lower prices, higher quality, and more variety. The irresistible force of fundamental economic self-interest is going to drive change in our food supply chain, not something more noble or farsighted. That's a good thing, too, because relatively few people have a sense of duty to the collective good, but everyone has a wallet.

As our monthly attempt to get a good meal, the wife and I went to Nishino for a "deluxe" eight-course omakase on Saturday, and other than the dessert, it did not disappoint. The dessert could be described as a tempura banana split, and while that sounds like it could be good, it wasn't. The rest of the meal was so good that we didn't care about dessert. Most of the courses had a Japanese-French mash-up feel to it with amazing sashimi paired with good sauces (red wine reduction with tuna, foie gras, and shitake mushroom) or simple garnishes (amberjack with jalapeno, ginger salsa, and a garlic chip). The straight-ahead nigiri course was excellent, with literally the best o-toro that I've ever had and some sawara that was even smoother and butterier. (I'm a little unclear on the sawara (spanish mackerel) versus aji (horse mackerel), since our server said both "aji" and "spanish mackerel" — either way, those were really amazing pieces of fish, mercury risk aside.) Speaking as someone who used to regularly travel to Japan, this was great sushi; we're definitely going back.

On the same general subject as my post on FDA approval of cloned food, not-quite-Dr.-Seuss takes a step closer to reality:

[...] So far, the researchers have used the new method to introduce a jellyfish gene that makes their pigs and chickens fluoresce - to prove changes will work. [...] Transgenic pigs and chickens have been produced at Roslin using lentivectors to carry the green fluorescent protein gene (GFP) - a gene found naturally in jellyfish. [...]

Eggs and green ham. I won't make the prediction for 2007, but "heirloom" meats will be the organic of the next decade.

After reading various glowing reviews, the wife and I decided to splurge and make reservations at the Herbfarm for my birthday. The meal had some moments, but it was a rare disappointment compared to our other fine dining experiences.

The first blemish appeared right at the start of the meal where the proprietors introduced the kitchen staff — at length and ad nauseum — followed by an explanation of how to find their gift shop, that the stemware on the table was available for purchase, all about the bed and breakfast suites, and on and on and on, oh and did they mention how to find the gift shop... The only thing not explicitly for sale were the waitstaff, although I have to admit that we didn't ask. We've eaten at plenty of good restaurants run by reputedly great chefs, but the informercial cum dinner theatre was out of place and uncalled for to the point that we wondered if we'd accidentally signed up for some kind of timeshare sales pitch. A port flight served on a piece of paper explaining the different vintages included the price in large type on one corner, continuing the evening's Minnie Pearl theme...

The other two things that stuck out like a sore thumb were a couple of the courses. Partridge served with one course was dry, and a crème brûlée served as part of dessert was a drink instead of a custard. That was the first partridge that I've had, so maybe they're all dry (then why eat them...?); but the unset crème brûlé is unforgivable. Whoever prepared it would have been able to tell that the custard wasn't set when they took it out of the oven or when they caramelized the sugar for the crust.

At least I always have good company.

The wife and I try to put on the dog and get out for a good meal once a month, leaving the kid home with a babysitter. In my case, "dog" means a shirt with buttons and a pair of shoes that aren't Birkenstocks, but the scene in Seattle is decidedly casual, anyway. We've got a preference for tasting menus and local ingredients, and Seattle restaurants have been good to us so far.

The places that we'd go back to, with links and comments:

• Rover's. Northwest cuisine with a French accent and inspired wine pairings (e.g., a white burgundy with lobster and beets). We went for one of the pre-set dégustations, but Rover's is the only restaurant I've seen that lets people mix-and-match off of tasting menus. Like lots of restaurants in Seattle, no valet parking.
• Canlis. Impeccable service (they do a no-claim-check valet service where your car is waiting for you when you walk out) and solid if a bit traditional menu. We inadvertently ordered too much food because the portions were larger than we expected.
• Le Gourmand. More seasonal Northwest cuisine with a French edge. We happened to go during morel season, and a big, saucy plateful with some venison as a garnish was part of the meal. If his reputation holds, the morels were probably gathered by the chef himself.
• Sitka & Spruce. Creative small plates, local seasonal ingredients, and a chalkboard menu on the wall in a tiny space. Here's a nice review with pictures in a local "metroblog".
• Elemental. Small plates with a fun "skip the menu and just bring me some food and wine" guessing game dégustation. The only negative with the meal was that the pairings included full glasses of wine, so we left both stuffed and stupefied. Like Sitka & Spruce, Elemental is tiny (~20 seats), and fills the tables for a first seating promptly at 5:30PM. (We got turned away once by arriving at 5:35...)

The Herb Farm for a game-centric menu is up next.