7.7 miles, about 20 minutes from my home in Atwater Village.

Lindy & Grundy, Local, Pastured & Organic Meats opened a few weeks ago in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.  The shop which was sorely needed and highly anticipated opended to throngs of customers and rave reviews.  Owned by wife-and-wife team, Erika Nakamura and Ameila Posada, Lindy Grundy (as it’s affectionately called), only sells pastured and organic meats sourced within 150 miles.  “Lindy” and “Grundy” are the women’s nicknames: Lindy is Posada aka the Shop Mama, and Grundy is Nakamura aka Meat Maven.  The Tokyo born Nakamura learned the butchering trade from Josh Applestone of Fleisher’s Grass-fed & Organic Meats, a sustainable butcher in upstate New York.  Posada, a native of the Los Angeles-area, oversees the day-to-day operation of the shop, and is also a food activist committed to teaching America how to eat.

Lindy Grundy practices nose-to-tail butchering, allowing them to use the whole animal which produces very little waste.  The small, family farms they source their meat and poultry from never use antibiotics or hormones, and the grass the animals eat is not treated with pesticides or herbicides.  In addition to the beef, pork, lamb and poultry they carry, they make their own sausages and charcuterie.  Because they only sell from whole animals running out of stock is always a possibility which happened in their first week.  The anticipation in the community was such that by the end of the first week of business they had sold out of almost their entire stock.  This is not only a good sign, it’s a great one.  It speaks to the high-quality one can expect when shopping at Lindy & Grundy.

Los Angeles can never have too many small, neighborhood, and in this case artisan butchers so welcome to Lindy & Grundy, and best wishes for much success.

Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats, 801 N. Fairfax Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046, 323-951-0804, http://www.lindyandgrundy.com/

**A version of this article was first published in Honest Cooking, April 14, 2011.

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Grilled Cheese Invitational 2011.”  I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Los Angeles ~ Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, peas, spring garlic.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig, and Goat: Meat, Milk, Cheese by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough.

“Living life locally” is a catchphrase for this blog.  100 miles is a theme I try to follow.  Regular readers know very well that I often venture way beyond 100 miles but the idea of “local” is still of paramount importance to me and what I write about.  This is why I’m such a huge fan of Artisanal L.A. — their motto is “Eat Local.”  This is an event meant for me.  Artisanal L.A. is two days of chef demos, expert-led panels and speakers on craft beer, local honey, urban homesteading and so much more.  Nearly 100 local, artisanal, and hand-made vendors and purveyors will be in attendance.  The food is great, the demos interesting, the lectures educational, and most importantly it’s the nicest group of people.

I went to the first ever Artisanal L.A. this past fall where I met butcher team Ameila Posada and Erika Nakamura of Lindy & Grundy Local, Pastured & Organic Meats.  They couldn’t have been nicer.  I watched Erika break down a side of pork.  Since then the entire Los Angeles fooderati have watched and waited for their new butcher shop to open.  It opened a week ago Tuesday and they sold out of most of their inventory in the first week.  A huge success.  I also met Jennifer Piette of Out of the Box Collective, a full service sustainable, organic grocery delivery service (I wrote a post about OTBC here.)  Jennifer and her company embody the living life locally ethos.  Expert pickler (among other skills) Racheal Narins of Chicks With Knives manned a booth selling some of her hand-made pickled items of which I bought several bottles.  She also teaches classes in pickling.  I sat in on a beekeeping-honey making lecture that was so interesting.  One day I hope to have hives of my own.  I also ate unending amounts of terrific food.  So much fun was had that I didn’t want the event to end.

Artisanal L.A. is all about supporting local-area artisans and food craftspeople, and purveyors.  It’s a great meeting place, a wonderful gathering to share tastes, ideas, helpful hints, and a love of local food.  Come on out and meet your local artisans, and craftspeople, taste and buy some of their wares.  The spring event is taking place this weekend.

Artisanal L.A., Saturday, April 16, 11 am to 8 pm, and Sunday, April 17, 11 am to 7 pm, $10 pre-sale tickets online, $15 at the door.

Hope to see you there.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new food magazine site Honest Cooking.  My first story was published today: “Berlin Currywurst Arrives to L.A.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month on the L.A. food scene.

#2 – A Menu of Parisian Bistro Classics at Le Saint Amour, Culver City, CA.  Consulting chef Walter Manzke offers a different Parisian bistro dish every night of the week (Sunday is Poulet Frit for example) at Le Saint Amour.  If you like classic French food like I do then get thee to Le Saint Amour for a plat du jour, or for something delicious off their full menu.  Bon appétit!

#3 – Saturday, April 16 & Sunday, April 17, 2011, 11 am – 8 pm (Sat.), 11 am – 7 pm (Sun.) ~ Artisanal L.A. where nearly 100 local, artisanal and handmade vendors showcase their wares.  Support your local crafts persons, vendors and businesses.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

“Eat The Love”.   The very apt slogan for the new food delivery company Out of the Box Collective.  The OBC promotional flier also includes:  “Local”.  “Sustainable”. “Home Delivered”.   All good words in my world.  Out of the Box Collective is exactly those things.  They gather food staples that are local and sustainable, put them into boxes and deliver them to your door.  Unlike a C.S.A. they provide everything you need, or want to feed your family for a week.  Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, fish, poultry, bread, pasta and dry goods.  A meal plan and suggested recipes are also included.  The only thing you have to do is cook, and then ‘eat the love.’

Founded by Jennifer Piette along with farm-to-table Chef Erik Stenberg, the goal of the company is to source “local, seasonal, sustainably produced groceries from [a] collective of farmers and artisans: [that include] ‘beyond organic’ produce; pastured meats, poultry and eggs; locally caught fish; dairy, including raw milk from Organic Pastures; regional specialties, such as local olive oil, honey, cheeses, Fair Trade products, and the list goes on.”  Jennifer and Erik have spent a good deal of time tracking down the best quality, organic, and sustainable products available in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.

Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg as they begin shopping the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market.

A Morning at the Farmers’ Market

Given that the collective will only use what is fresh and seasonal, the box contents change from week to week.  Additionally, new artisans, growers and vendors are being added all the time.  Piette and Stenberg meet each Saturday at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market to assemble the following week’s boxes.  Last Saturday I was lucky enough to spend the day with them as they gathered a week’s worth of food at the market.  Later in the day I watched as they assembled the boxes.  It was an educational and joyful experience — so much amazing food.  Santa Barbarans take food, eating, and their farmers’ market seriously.

The Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand from Los Olivos, California.

I trailed along with Jennifer as she made her rounds at the market before it opened.  Many of her orders had already been placed so she was picking up, and adding to where needed.  We stopped at the Windrose Farm booth for beautiful radicchio di Castelfranco, said ‘hello’ to the folks at the famous Los Olivos Roots Organic Farm stand, grabbed poultry from Healthy Family Farms, apple juice at Fair Hills Farms, fresh-squeezed orange juice from Ojai’s Friend’s Ranch, ground beef from Rancho San Julian, pork from Jiminez Family Farm, and blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.   Jennifer also augments her farmers’ market purchases with produce from the Farmer Direct Produce Network, a wholesale produce distributor that features local and sustainably grown produce only.  Wesley Sleight from Farmer Direct met us at the market with a large produce delivery.

Jennifer buying eggs and poultry from Healthy Family Farms.

Buying pork chops from Jimenez Family Farm.

Buying 100% certified organic apple juice from Fair Hills Farms.

Buying blistered almonds from Fat Uncle Farms.

Two More Stops: A Fishmongress, and the Pie Shop

After we finished rounds at the market, I joined Erik as he made two more stops: for fresh fish, and homemade pies.  Cadena Yules of Cadena’s Fresh Fish is a Santa Barbara-based female fishmonger.  On a side street of downtown Santa Barbara she rents space along with several other male Latino fishmongers in a large industrial building that also sells meat (on one door is a sign for fish; a second door says “meat.”)  It was fascinating to watch Cadena at work.   She specializes in locally caught seafood.  Erik picked up line-caught halibut.  Our next stop was Simply Pies, a wonderful small pie shop that does a booming business.  We grabbed uncooked gluten-free pie shells, and freshly made apple pies.

Fishmonger, Cadena Yules of Cadena's Fresh Fish, Santa Barbara, CA.

Assembling the Boxes

The next step in the process was assembling the boxes.  Out of the Box Collective currently works out of a kitchen in Goleta.  I enjoyed watching this unfold as it was a bit like being a kid in a candy shop.  What amazing fruits or vegetables would go into each box?  What locally-sourced proteins?  What other local delicacies?  It was a flurry of activity as Jennifer worked on one side of the kitchen assembling the grocery boxes; while on the other side Erik worked on the produce boxes.  Both were assisted by Chris Schertzer, recently hired as packager, driver and deliveryman.

Jennifer, Erik and Chris as box assembly begins.

Erik assembling the produce boxes.

Finished produce boxes.

A finished grocery box.

The refrigerated delivery van ready to go.

Change Equals Growth

As with most new businesses there are moments of transition; Erik (aka The Surfin’ Chef) has decided to take a hiatus from OBC to catch a few waves.  In his place Jennifer has brought in Shaheda Gosla, a private chef and farmers’ market maven, to work on the meal plans and the weekly suggested recipes.  Until the business grows more deliveries are currently only made in northwest Los Angeles county.  Piette hopes to expand beyond that area soon.  When she does get to my area of Los Angeles, I’ll be her first customer.  I wholeheartedly applaud what she is doing.  OBC is of much value to anyone who enjoys fresh, local, sustainable food.

For more information ~ Out of the Box Collective.

To see more photos from my OBC outing, click here ~ http://tinyurl.com/6jknp92

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the Food World:

#1  – Mini-Review: A shout out to a recent cookbook I received ~ “Everday Grilling: 50 Recipes from Appetizers to Desserst” by Sur La Table.  Grilling tips and recipes for first courses to desserts all (or part of the recipe) cooked on the grill.  Grilled Quesadillas.  Endless ways to grill vegetables.  Grilled Pizza (!)  Grilled Pound Cake (!?)

My Status: Enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, and “Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy” by Monica Sartoni Cesari.

Last weekend was a whirlwind 24 hours of food.  Oh, yes, there was some wine (for Robert) thrown into the mix as well.  Saturday I spent the day at Artisanal L.A. at the Cooper Building in downtown Los Angeles, and Sunday Robert and I went out to Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu for Los Angeles Magazine’s ‘The Food Event 2010 From the Vine.’  (This post is broken into two parts ~ Part 1 (Artisanal L.A.) and Part 2 (Los Angeles Magazine’s The Food Event 2010).  Part 2 to be published soon.)

Artisanal L.A.

A first-of-its-kind event in Los Angeles, put on by the indefatigable Shawna Dawson of Sauce|LA (the mastermind behind the recent LA Street Foodfest(s), Artisanal L.A. was a weekend long community event that celebrated Los Angeles’s finest local, sustainable and handmade edibles all under one roof.  There were chef demos, panels and workshops, and attendees tasted, shopped, sampled and learned while supporting the local economy and local artisanal vendors.  This was my kind of event!  Located in the light-filled penthouse of the Cooper Building, it had a casual, relaxed vibe that fit perfectly with the goals of Sauce|LA:  to introduce to, and remind the public about the many and varied local artisans that work, produce and live in the Los Angeles-area.

Rachael Narins of Chicks with Knives at her booth.

I saw many vendors I already new and met a few new ones.  Chef Akasha Richmond of Akasha Restuarant Bar Bakery in Culver City was there offering tastes of her new line of jams, jellies, marmalades and chutneys.  I’m a big fan of Akasha’s and I grabbed a jar of Local Mango Chutney.  We ate it at home that night with fried chicken and it was a mouthful of exotic fruitiness spiked with Indian spices.  I’ve been putting it on everything.  Another friend, Rachael Narins of Chicks with Knives was there too selling Bacon Jam and other pickled goodies that she and her partner, Suzanne Griswold make.  I grabbed a jar of Garlic Dill Pickles and Jalapeño Carrots.  When I’m not eating Akasha’s chutney I’m happily eating Chicks with Knives carrots and pickles.

Chicks with Knives pickled goodies!

Longtime friend, Kathleen Lewis and I explored the event together.  A personal chef, Kathleen and I go all the way back to the early ’80s when we both worked at the Oakville Grocery in San Francisco.  Oakville was one of the first gourmet grocers in the Bay Area.  The types of foods, and products we were seeing at Artisanal L.A. were akin to what we sold in the store:  fresh, local and sustainable whenever possible.  Kathleen was one of the chefs that cooked for the prepared foods counter.  The thing about Kathleen and last Saturday morning at Artisanal L.A. is that we’d not seen each other in over twenty-five years until I stepped off the elevator at the penthouse level of the Cooper Building.  It was so good to see her, and to catch up.  It’s always a nice thing to see an old friend.  Kathleen and her husband have been living in Los Angeles, right under my nose, for 17 years.

Jennifer Priette of Out of the Box Collective.

‘Eat The Love’ is the brilliant catch phrase used by a new friend, Jennifer Piette of Out of the Box Collective.  Out of the Box is a new company owned by Piette and her business partner Erik Stenberg aka The Surfin’ Chef.   Like a CSA but not limited to produce, Out of the Box makes living the local life an attainable goal by offering home delivery of weekly boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries including meat, dairy, produce, conserves, and regional specialties.  Most of the food stuffs are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Erik puts the weekly boxes together and includes recipes using the food items of that week’s box.  I LOVE what they do.  The company is new so at the moment deliveries are only made on the Westside of Los Angeles.  At my suggestion, Jennifer attended Artisanal L.A.  I hope it helped generate interest.  I’ll be going with Jennifer next weekend as she shops the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market, and I’ll meet Erik too.  In an upcoming blog post I’ll write about them, and Out of the Box.

My goal in life is to become a Gentleman Farmer.  Before I graduate to that post I’d like to own a beehive.  Given that desire Kathleen and I attended a lecture at Artisanal L.A. put on by Backwards Beekeepers.  Backwards Beekeepers are a local Los Angeles-area collective of small-scale chemical-free beekeepers that rescue feral bees and teach beekeeping skills.  I currently live in a condo, and my neighbors probably won’t tolerate a hive on my back porch so I asked the Backwards Beekeepers about people who might donate their yards or property to those of  us who want to have hives but can’t.  Backwards Beekeepers said they know of many people who are ready to offer their yards, or property.  Even more fun than that Pat Saperstein of Eating L.A. was at the lecture and offered me her backyard when she moves back into her Silver Lake house next Spring.  I may be taking you up on your offer Pat!  Two other fun meets were Craig and Gary of Winnetka Farms (an urban micro farm located in the west San Fernando Valley that specializes in heirloom Italian seeds) and Amelia Posada of Lindy & Grundy (an artisan butcher shop opening in the Fairfax District in December).  Both Winnetka Farms and Lindy & Grundy are doing great things for local food.  I LOVED Artisanal L.A. and I hear another one is coming up soon.  I’ll definitely be there again.

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: next blog post ‘24 Hours of Food ~ Part 2: Los Angeles Magazine’s The Food Event 2010.’ Soon: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  Cookbook Reviews:  Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Bon Appétit Desserts.

Eataly New York, 23rd St. & 5th Ave. Photo via midtownlunch.com

I have fervently been following the opening of the food emporium, Eataly, in New York City.  The reason for my interest is that I was involved in the opening of another Italian food emporium in the early ’80s: DDL Foodshow.  I was hired by film producer, Dino de Laurentiis, to work with the general manager to open the store.  The flagship store was located at 82nd Street and Columbus Avenue, across the street from the Natural History Museum.  It took up the ornate, marble lobby of the Endicott Hotel building which by this time was no longer a hotel but had gone co-op.  The store was quite large for its time.  Much like what Eataly is doing now there were stations spread out around the store: gastronomica, (prepared hot and cold foods), rosticceria (roasted meats and chickens), baked goods, produce, cheese, salumeria, chocolate, coffee and so on.  It was meant to be 1-stop shopping for the upscale neighborhood.  Dino and his team of Italians spared no expense; he brought chefs and managers over from Italy.  Adam Tihany was the designer.  The store had a full on kitchen with an Italian head chef.  Dino wanted it to be like the stores of its kind that he knew in Italy.  Peck in Milan is one such store.  After opening I became manager of the cheese department.  As manager I did all the cheese buying, was responsible for the counter displays, and oversaw a staff.

The Endicott Hotel Building, 82nd & Columbus, NYC where DDL Foodshow was located.

It was an exciting project to be involved in as a twenty two-year old.  The job brought me from San Francisco to New York.  It was my first time living there.  My interview with Dino (who is Giada De Laurentiis’ grandfather) at his film offices in the Gulf & Western Building on Columbus Circle was my first visit to New York.  I was very excited to be working with Dino, and living in Manhattan.  New York was a food mecca then and still is now.  Unfortunately, the store and its satellites (one in Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, and one in Beverly Hills) didn’t last more than a few years.  It never really caught on with New Yorkers.  Zabar’s, Balduccis, and Fairway pretty much had the corner on the gourmet food market.  A lot of people came into the store to look when it first opened but rarely returned more than a few times.  Sadly, Dino was ahead of his time.

The bread counter in Eataly New York.

Eataly is an Italian company with five stores in Italy, three in Japan and now one in New York.  Eataly New York is owned by chef Mario Battali and restaurateur Joe Bastianich, and Joe’s mother chef Lidia Bastianich.  The New York store while similar in concept is much larger than DDL Foodshow, and includes several sit down restaurants.  It is broken up in to a series of ‘eateries’: pizza, pasta, fish, produce, salumi and cheese, deli, rosticceria (with a butcher), bread, pasticceria and gelateria, as well as areas for cookbooks and housewares, and finally a wine shop. All of these are pay as you go.  DDL was more like an old-fashioned grocer.  You took a grocery cart from counter to counter and went through a check out line when you were done shopping.  DDL had no sit down restaurants; it did have the rosticceria where you could pick up a roasted chicken, or piece of meat, while the gastronomica had hot and cold prepared foods.  It was possible to buy a completely cooked meal.

Inside Eataly New York.

I have not yet been to Eatlay but I am anxious to go.  Definitely on my next trip to New York.  A good friend who actually worked with me at DDL has been and her report is that the food is very good, the store nice but that it is massively confusing as to what one is supposed to do where and when.  She and a friend bought things to eat then sat down at an empty table in one of the many eating points and were promptly told they needed to see the hostess to be seated.  A hostess and a host stand that were not readily visible.  As she described it to me: “Right now it’s an uneasy compromise between a food hall and an eatery.  What you have are various specialty shopping departments spotted with seating areas that have table or counter service.”  That does sound confusing.  Another friend ate dinner at one of the sit down restaurants where the prices were not inexpensive.  He said it was the oddest experience eating a nice meal while people were shopping all around him.  This begs the question: is it a sit-down restaurant, a take-out joint, or a high-end grocery store?  It’s trying to be all three.  Will hard-to-please New Yorkers be okay with this?  Only time will tell.  It does however sound like they have a few kinks to work out.

I have very fond memories of DDL Foodshow despite the many difficulties of getting a store of its size and kind open.  Dino’s heart was in the right place.  He wanted to share his joy of food and food culture with New Yorkers and Americans.  New Yorkers are a very tough audience; very set in their ways.  Sadly, they weren’t willing or interested enough to make it viable.  I still think Dino was ahead of his time.  This was before the Food Network, and the new Internet-based food movement.  Giada, his granddaughter, has managed to carve out a place for herself.  Time will tell if Eataly is a success.  I’d venture to guess that now is a better time in American food culture to give it a try than twenty-eight years ago when Dino and a group of us attempted it first.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Pink Ribbon Cupcake from Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Los Angeles Magazine ~ The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  Come check them out the Artisan L.A. event on 10/23 & 24 (see above for info).  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the upcoming cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ publish date is October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Une tarte à l’oignon, or onion tart, quickly became a favorite dish to eat when I lived in the Alsace region of France.  In the late ’70s I spent a year there working for a French family as an au pair, or mother’s helper.  The region is fairly wet and cold for a good portion of the year.  The resulting cuisine is hearty and heavily influenced by neighboring Germany.  During the winter months making this tart and eating it hot from the oven with a green salad made for a most satisfying evening meal.  I made this tart often for my French family.  It is also available at many of the region’s butchers, charcuteries, pastry shops, and bakeries.  As a kind of grab and go item a slice or two was the perfect foil against oncoming hunger, or a great picnic item for long country hikes or bicycle rides — both of which I did on numerous occasions.  It can be eaten hot out of the oven, or at room temperature.  The French are less fussy than we Americans when it comes to packaging; whenever I bought it at a pastry shop, bakery or butcher they simply wrapped up the slices in waxed paper and tied the package with string.  The paper then became a de facto plate when it came to time eat it.

When I returned from France I wanted to recreate this dish at home.  I followed a recipe, in French, from a little tiny paperback book I picked up in Alsace: ‘Petit Recueil de la Gastronomie Alsacienne: 75 Recettes Simples’ which translates to ‘Small Collection of Alsatian Gastronomy: 75 Simple Recipes.”  I had the metric scale and measures to use; all I needed was to find a pie crust  recipe.  The recipe in the Petit Recueil calls for a pâte brisée which is a basic white flour pie crust.  I had just purchased ‘Laurel’s Kitchen’ and in it she has a recipe for a whole wheat crust which I tried, and loved.  Ever since then I have made this dish using her whole wheat crust.  You may, however, use your own favorite pie crust recipe.  For my French readers, and I know of at least one, Pierre of Pierre Cuisine, I have included the recipe en franςais.  I also left the metric measures in my translation in case you want to try it using the metric system…

Print Recipe

Recommended Pie Crust:  here is my pie crust recommendation ~ ‘Piecrust’ from Laurel’s Kitchen.  It also appears, and can be printed out, in the ‘Recipes’ page at the top of this blog.

Recommendation:  Let Me Cook For You ~ for my Marin County, and Bay Area readers.  My sister, Traci Thompson, has started a personal cooking service.  She’ll devise menus, do the shopping, come to your house, and cook for you and your family.  She’s an amazing cook and prepares ‘healthy homemade meals for everyone’.

Coming Up: International Food Bloggers Conference (IFBC), August 27 – 29, 2010, Seattle Washington.  So much fun last year that I’ll be attending again this year.  Are you?

Upcoming Posts: Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I attended this spring. Cookbook Reviews: Steak and Friends: At Home with Rick Tramonto by Rick Tramonto, Spice Dreams by Sara Engram and Katie Luber, Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller.

There’s a new butcher in town and boy am I happy. It seems that the neighborhood butcher has gone by the wayside and that more and more people are relying on supermarket butchers. While the guys at my local Whole Foods are very helpful and knowledgeable, there’s nothing quite like the personal rapport one develops with a local, neighborhood butcher. Like the one I am establishing with chef-butchers, and husband and wife team, Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo. I have been in several times and appreciate the hands on service they have given me. Whether it be advice on what cut to buy, or how to cook it the duo is more than accommodating. McCall and Yoo both have backgrounds as professional chefs; McCall cooked at Los Angeles restaurants Café Pinot and Sona; he also spent time in the kitchen of Spain’s Michelin three star restaurant Arzak followed up with time at Daniel Boulud’s Restaurant Daniel in New York City. Yoo, trained as a pastry chef, worked in the kitchens of Campanile, Sona and Restaurant Daniel. Given their experiences in professional kitchens they should be the go-to-butchers for both the professional chef and the home cook. Who better to buy meat and fish from than those who have the experience cooking it? It’s a great combination.

To add to the package they only source their meat, as they state on their website, ‘from traditional farms where animals are naturally and humanely raised on the best feed without the use of hormones or chemical enhancements.’ Their ‘fish is wild-caught and/or responsibly raised in the most natural environment.’ They stock CAB (Certified Angus Beef) Beef, Kurobuta (Berkshire to us) pork, lamb, locally raised poultry (from KenDor Farms in Van Nuys), eggs, house made sausages (pork-fennel and garlic-paprika), and sushi grade salmon and tuna among other seafood. Check the chalkboard specials for such items as duck, rabbit, squab and leg of lamb. They also sell a hand picked selection of gourmet oils, vinegars, salt and pepper, and other specialty cooking products. Given their propensity to be local and sustainable they could almost be a butcher my great-grandmother went to albeit without the sawdust on the floor and the banging screen door. And that is a comforting thought. I’ll be going to McCall’s often. It is so close to home. Welcome to the neighborhood Nathan and Karen!

Chef-butchers Karen Yoo and Nathan McCall

McCall’s Meat & Fish Co.
2117 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, California 90027
323-667-0674 (ph.)
323-667-0802 (fax)
www.mccallsmeatandfish.com
www.twitter.com/mcallsmandf

*The Local Report(s): are occasional blog posts on restaurants, and/or businesses that either support the idea of one-hundred miles, and ‘living life locally’; or are small, localized businesses in my neighborhood, and/or within one-hundred miles of my residence, that I prefer to support over the larger, national, corporate chains. For other The Local Report(s) please go the Archives section of this blog. Also, I’d love to hear from my readers about businesses that they support in their neighborhoods: write to me at charlesgthompson@100miles.com, or leave a comment here.

Follow The Local Report on Twitter: @TheLocalReport

Upcoming Posts: Interview with Chefs John Stewart & Duskie Estes, owners of Zazu & Bovolo restaurants in Sonoma County. Cochon 555 Napa, a write up of the amazing pork festival that I went to in Napa. Reviews: My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur by Romney Steele, The Spirit Kitchen: Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices by Sara Engram and Katie Luber and Kimberly Toqe.