April 19, 2008 at Steel Restaurant & Lounge, for more information please visit http://www.atlantasfinestdining.com

Ray’s Restaurants, LLC announces the promotion of Jim Wahlstrom to Director of Operations. Wahlstrom previously held the position of Operating Partner at the company’s Ray’s Killer Creek restaurant in Alpharetta. In his new role, Wahlstrom will oversee daily operations at the three Ray’s locations: Ray’s on the River, Ray’s Killer Creek and Ray’s in the City. Wahlstrom joined Ray’s Restaurants in 2003 and brings to his new position more than 35 years of experience in the restaurant industry.

U.S. Foodservice has named John Leake as the Division President of the Atlanta Division. Leake has worked for U.S. Foodservice for 20 years and holds a Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Texas Wesleyan University and is a CPA.

John Leake

The James Beard Foundation has announced its nominations for the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards. The Best Chef – Southeast Georgia nominees are Hugh Acheson, Five and Ten in Athens, Arnaud Berthelier , The Dining Room, The Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead in Atlanta and Linton Hopkins, Restaurant Eugene, Atlanta.

The HoneyBaked Ham Company of Georgia is pleased to announce new additions and changes to its executive management team. The Norcross-based company welcomes Pat Sugrue as chief operating officer (COO). Additionally, Ken Caldwell has been promoted to a new role as vice president of franchise and retail operations, and Molly Kesmodel has been promoted to senior director of retail.

Pat Sugrue, Chief Operating Officer, The HoneyBaked Ham Company of Georgia

Ken Caldwell, VP of Franchise and Retail Operations, The HoneyBaked Ham Company of Georgia

April 17, 2008 at Georgia Aquarium. For more information click HERE.

April 2008

By Herve Pennequin

I like to think of a good wine list as being eclectic all year long, featuring wine from various obscure regions of the world. Following the seasons is a great way for a chef and sommelier to work together in creating a menu with wines that go well together.

As spring approaches, menus typically focus on vegetables and lighter fare. Selections of wines by the glass should follow and compliment the changes of food items.

Spring represents new beginnings with light to medium bodied white and red wines

Spring represents new beginnings with light to medium bodied white and red wines. The transition from winter must be smooth and gradual. The wine selections should include some of the richer wines from winter while introducing a lighter variety. Some white options are the slightly oaky Sauvignon Blancs from California, Viogniers from both Central California Coast and the Rhone Valley, great crisp Marsannes and Roussannes from France, Rieslings from Clare Valley in Australia, Chardonnays that are less “buttery” than those mostly found in the New World. Red wines should be slowly replaced by light Cabernet Francs, soft Merlots from the appellations surrounding St Emilion in Bordeaux, light Chiantis and the Nero d’Avolas from Italy (inspiring lively cuisine). A favorite is Crianza Tempranillos from Spain, the lightest style of Cabernet Sauvignon (look for Cru Bourgeois from the Medoc in Bordeaux, or light reds from Chile). South Africa provides great wines that suit perfectly with lighter styles of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon (think Kleine Zalze winery, very elegant).

Summer brings warmth and fun and a chance to experiment with seasonal wines like the dry Rosés of Provence, embodying floral red-berried fruits. These wines are a wonderful start to any meal. Dry versions of Riesling from light soils in Alsace, from the Kemptal region in Austria and from Mosel in Germany are also wonderful in summertime. The Gruner Veltliner from Austria has gained such recognition that in summer, it opens up your appetite and matches moderately spicy foods or seafood. Seafood also pairs well with Greek wines, from the Robola of Cephalonia through the great Retsina from Gaia (blended with Rodhitis and not at all like all other Retsinas). For the perfect summer Sauvignon Blanc, light and most likely unoaked, go to the Loire Valley (Sancerre, Pouilly Fume). The Loire Valley will also give you another great white varietal, Chenin Blanc. Italy has a great range of dry, fresh, crisp white wines. Look for Greco di Tufo and Fiano di Avellino in Campania, Vermentino in Sardignia, a Trebbiano from the Orvieto region, Vernaccia blanco or a Verdicchio from the Marches region. Spain will also please you with the Albarino from Galicia and Viura from the Rioja (without too much oak of course). If you have not tried Sherry before, then do so in summer as an aperitif, the Fino version. The fresh and light Gamay (Beaujolais) leads in its category of lively reds and Pinot Noirs follows suit in its summer role. The Mavrodaphne in Greece matches great seafood dishes, close to the Pinot Noir in style after a couple of years of aged, when its acidity goes down.

When looking for a great Pinot Noir choose one from the South of Burgundy (fruitier than the North), Oregon or the lighter ones from Alsace or Germany. The Grenache in southern Rhone is a good alternative for a choice of medium bodied red for summer. In Spain, the Mencia (aka Cabernet Franc) in Galicia provides wines that are a little bit richer but still fresh and lively overall. A great Dolcetto from Piedmont also brings another level of taste with summer foods. I opt for an Italian Salice Salentino from Apulia, the Negro Amaro varietal with superb spiciness and great red berry fruits, that pairing so well with Mediterranean cuisine.

When fall appears, announcing colder weather and the beginning of third quarter festivities, one can take another look at what the spring wines had to offer and begin to introduce the red wines for winter.

Winter must feature rich and heavier styles of wines,

Winter must feature rich and heavier styles of wines, for obvious reasons, truffles, mushrooms, game meat and intense sauces. Most white wines will belong to the rich, oaky Chardonnays from all over the world, Gewurztraminers (from Alsace and New Zealand), Marsannes and Roussannes from the famous appellations in the Rhone valley, and the Central Coast. Rich Rieslings from Rheingau and Plalz in Germany and from heavier soils in Alsace (like the volcanic soil in Rangen). If opting for an Italian wine, select the Soave Superiore with the intense Garganega varietal. Pinot Gris from Alsace in the winter are a wonderful match with Foie Gras and poultry.

For the red wines, of course, let’s bring out the “Big Boys”: intense Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa at its best, Washington State best estates, Saint Emilion Grand Cru, left bank Classified Growths from the Medoc and Pessac Leognon, etc…). Shiraz from Australia and Syrah from the Rhone valley and Central Coast are a must. Another addition would be the old world Pinot Noir, north Burgundy (think Vosne Romanee, or a Gevrey Chambertin). Italy with the King of the Wines or Wines for the King, Barolo and its Nebbiolo grape, would do just fine too. Barbaresco is a good substitute and the Sangiovese from the Chianti Classico area or the Brunello region, especially the Riserva. A great Malbec from Argentina, a superb Tempranillo from the Rioja, Toro and Ribera del Duero, and even a rich Priorat will all please your winter palate.

Having four seasons keeps a fresh outlook on the palate. If you are still debating on what to select, Champagne is wonderful all year long. In the end, taste makes the best match, regardless of the recommendation. As the seasons change, challenge yourself to change your approach to wine, always making for an interesting afternoon or evening. Cheers!

Pennequin is a wine consultant specializing in building wine programs and conducting staff training for restaurants in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles. For more information, hervepennequin24@aol.com.

April 2008

By Suzanne Welander

You’ve heard the buzz about local food. Tastes good and makes you feel good for eating it, too. It’s a great story that many customers are hungry to eat up.

The reality behind the happy story boasted by the “locally raised vegetables” on the menu is that local farmers and the restaurants near them – while not separated by distance – are in reality rather far removed from each other. Buying locally produced foods takes heavy lifting due to the lack of infrastructure, skills, and sufficient supply needed to build the bridge connecting the two. It’s not as simple as calling in your weekly order to the distributor. Regardless, any restaurant can add locally grown food from nearby farmers to their menus today.

1. Decide your strategy.

How central are local foods to your restaurant’s marketing strategy? If you’re trying to attract customers interested in sustainability issues as well as food quality, the local food message has power. Capitalizing on it, however, doesn’t mean sourcing the entire menu from local farms, says Chef Gregg McCarthy of Atlanta’s Murphy’s restaurant. “I want to provide a good representation of local foods on the menu, but to source everything locally? We just can’t afford to do that.”

Murphy’s Chef Greg McCarthy
Photo Credit The Reynolds Group, Inc.

Over the years, Chef Michael Tuohy’s locally sourced offerings have migrated to center stage at Woodfire Grill. “At first, we bought just enough for the specials. After working with some of these farms for fifteen years, menu IS the specials.”

To start, take it slowly by purchasing one item from a local farm. Some items, like Georgia milk from Sparkman’s Cream Valley dairy in Moultrie, is now distributed by Destiny Produce. Sweetgrass Dairy cheeses, Savannah Bee honey, and White Oak Pastures grass-fed ground beef are also available through distributors year-round.

2. Forge a farm relationship.

Georgia is not exactly crawling with sustainable growers; currently, less than 1% of the agricultural acreage in the state is certified organic. Most farms are small producers with only two to five acres. They do not have excess capacity in their product mix. Building relationships with farmers takes some ingenuity, legwork and, most importantly, social skills.

The first point of reference is Georgia Organics’ Local Food Guide. The guide lists over 100 farmers, located throughout the state. It can be downloaded at www.georgiaorganics.org. Even though there is complete contact information in the guide, you still have to do a bit of legwork. Chef Derek Smith of Organic Gourmet Express found building farmer/chef relationships can be a lot of work, “I can’t get them to return my calls,” says the organic chef.

This is where the legwork comes in. Since the availability of supply is far less than the demand, many growers sell their produce at retail prices to customers at farmers markets. Meeting growers on their turf is one of Chef Tuohy’s key tips for restaurateurs. “Visit a local farmers market near you and introduce yourself to the farmers. Tell them who you are and what produce you would like to incorporate into your menu.” Talking with growers face to face is invaluable for both parties. Events such as the Celebration of Georgia Grown Show serve to benefit both parties. Producers meet and show off their samples to meet restaurateurs instead of cold calling them one by one. Sandy Miller of Crystal Ponds Seafood in Statesboro says, “we’ve got the product, we just have to let them (chefs) know it’s here.”

Finding that perfect source for a local item sometimes involves good old-fashioned networking.. Farmer Relinda Walker, of Walker Farms in Statesboro, was introduced into Savannah’s Local 11 Ten restaurant with her pristine spinach. Soon Chef Keith Latture was asking what else could Walker supply?

Farmer Relinda Walker and Chef Keith Latture.

3. Be flexible.

In the early days of farm-to-table connections, buying locally meant taking whatever the farmer had available that day to deliver. “Farmers wouldn’t always show up with what they said they would, but you took what you could get,” says Tuohy.

Now there is a much greater control over ordering as supply increases and communication increases. One unavoidable and critical factor still dictates supply: seasonality. Some customers celebrate seasonality variations as a means for cultivating a closer connection with the natural world. Others pine for summers’ tomatoes in the dead of winter, forcing restaurants to rely on paler versions shipped in from the tropics. When dealing with local produce, it is simply not possible to coax summer fruits out of winter soil. Chef Tuohy councils, “you must cook with what’s in season! Don’t expect strawberries or peaches during the winter.”

The flexibility required goes beyond simple seasonality. With direct farm relationships, the restaurant becomes sensitized, and in some cases directly affected by the growing conditions at the farm. A drought or a hard freeze can wipe out the crops that the farmer was planning on delivering next week and the week after that. Having “Plan B” is imperative, especially when more significant portions of the menu depend on locally grown fare.

Worth It?

Local farms will never be able to match the low prices or the volumes of mass-produced crops, but that’s not their aim. Though it costs more, freshness alone has a positive impact on the restaurant’s bottom line because local products have a longer shelf-life therefore creating less waste. In addition, quality and taste keep customers coming back.

Farmer Celia Barss of Winterville’s Woodland Gardens prides herself on quality customer service. “Be available, and consistently deliver what you say you’re going to deliver,” counsels Barss.

Restaurants putting the “face of the farm” into menu’s and training the wait staff on the farm story provides an intrinsic value to customers. They are typically willing to pay for that value.

Every purchase helps keep the cycle alive. If chefs purchase at least one or two items from local farmers today, they provide critical encouragement (and income) to farmers for production expansion, meeting the supply needs of tomorrow.

Suzanne Welander is the Communications Director for Georgia Organics, a member-supported nonprofit organization working to integrate healthy, sustainable, and locally grown food into the lives of all Georgians. www.georgiaorganics.org.

April 2008 

The Emory Conference Center Hotel, which is affiliated with Emory University, is also incorporating more sustainable and organic foods into its restaurants and special events menus.

The Conference Center made the decision four years ago to undergo the stringent Green Seal certification process. It is the only hotel in Georgia to receive this designation. Green Seal-certified hotels must minimize their waste, implement energy efficiency and conservation measures, reduce water usage, minimize the use of hazardous substances, restrict what goes down the drain as wastewater, and establish a policy to purchase green products.

Emory Conference Center’s Executive Chef, Michael Klein, CEC, CCA, and Houston Mill House Executive Chef Vincent Marra, CEC review blueprints for the new conference center kitchen. 

The Conference Center is currently undergoing a major expansion and renovation with the kitchen undergoing a renovation at the same time. While the physical dimensions of the kitchen will not change, it will incorporate more energy efficient and environmentally friendly equipment, such as replacing or improving existing ways to dispose of grease traps. The expansion itself will be LEED Silver, with the existing building retrofitted to earn a LEED EB designation.

In addition to kitchen equipment changes, Michael Klein CEC CCA, Executive Chef for the Emory Conference Center, and Vincent Marra CEC, Executive Chef of the Houston Mill House, a restaurant and special events facility owned by Emory University, are working to incorporate more organic and sustainable foods into their menus.

“Being associated with Emory University, there’s a lot of interest in green, local, sustainable and organic,” Chef Klein says. “We’ve made a lot of connections with the local growers and the local farmers. We can develop menus based on what they supply us in an effort to really focus on things that require less transportation and use different growing methods, like grass-fed beef and raising pigs in a completely organic environment.”

“Emory University’s sustainability efforts are amazing” adds Cathy Johnson, the Emory Conference Center General Manager. “We couldn’t do half of what we do without the support of the University and where they’re trying to go.

“The Conference Center finds it is able to work around a limited offering of seasonal foods as it changes its menu daily and also offers a buffet in the main dining room, which allows for more versatility.”If we have product that we can feed 200 to 300 people with, we’re perfectly well off,” Chef Klein says. “If we did the same menu every day, day in and day out, that could be a problem with some of the small producers.

“The Conference Center offers not only organic and local foods, but also organic vodkas, local beers and organic wines from local wineries.

“There’s an old saying, ‘Think Globally and Act Locally’.” If you want to change the world, you start close to home,” Chef Klein says. “We feel like it’s important to support the small farmers, the small growers, the small cheese makers and the berry producers. It’s important to have a strong local economy because that’s what feeds us.”Right now, sourcing local and organic foods can be expensive. Still, both chefs hope that in the future, the cost will continue to go down as the demand for sustainable foods goes up.

“While it is a concern thinking that you’re going to be stepping into the higher food cost for some things, to me it’s like anything else. When there’s more demand, the prices come down,” Chef Marra says. “It’s like DVD players. The first one was $1,000, and now you can get one for $49.”Ultimately, the commitment by Emory University

“Sustainably grown, healthy food is a really important shift all over the country, and it unites all kinds of people,” Emory’s Barlett says. “It reweaves the community in a way that’s very positive.”

“This isn’t a fad anymore,” agrees Chef Marra. “It’s the future.”

University incorporates sustainability into its strategic goals, dining halls and restaurants

April 2008

By Christy Simo 

While the organic movement is still going strong, sustainability is leading the pack when it comes to environmental concerns. Restaurant owners and the general public are increasingly concerned about preserving farmland, nurturing the local economy, rising energy costs, and food safety issues.

Emory University is at the forefront of the sustainability movement, and is the first major institution to make a significant commitment to local and sustainably grown food in Georgia. Along with reducing food waste and encouraging mass transportation, the university just a few miles outside Atlanta has committed to procuring 75% of the food served on campus from local or sustainably grown sources by 2015.

Buying food from local sources often equals fresher, tastier food; encourages a strong local economy; and reduces the use of fossil fuels for transportation, in turn lowering Emory’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and to the depletion of non-renewable resources.

But just being local isn’t enough. The school also takes into consideration other concerns, such as whether the animals were raised under stressful conditions, whether farmers use pesticides or other chemicals, and whether the workers are paid fairly.

It’s an ambitious effort, but the logistics of finding enough sustainable food will be a challenge. While many restaurants now serving organic and sustainable foods may plate 150-200 meals a night, Emory serves an average of 6,000 meals a day.

Created in 2006 by the university, the Office of Sustainability Initiatives researched and developed a set of purchasing guidelines to help guide the school toward a more sustainable future. (See Emory’s purchasing guidelines at www.emory.edu/sustainability.)

The office is also responsible for establishing an on-campus farmers’ market, adapting campus dining facilities to provide healthy food choices, and starting community gardens on campus.

Emory University’s Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology and Sustainable Food, Committee Chair, Peggy Barlett; Emory Dining Resident District Manager and member of the sustainable food committee, Joe Mitchell; Emory Dining Sustainability Coordinator and member of the sustainable food committee, Christy Cook; Emory University Senior Director of Food Service and member of the sustainable food committee, Patty Erbach.

To help reach out to local farmers who may not be aware of the university’s initiative, Emory has partnered with Georgia Organics and hired its own Farmer Liaison, Chaz Holt, in October 2007.

“I try to link the gaps between institutional buying and small-scale farming, which is basically relinking the farm to the table,” says Holt, who travels around the state encouraging producers to meet Emory’s quality and quantity food standards. “We’re looking to establish a relationship for seasonal diets on a large-scale institutional buying scale to try to get that connection.”

One way to re-establish that connection is to use foods according to when they are in season locally. Seasonal dining also helps lessen the impact on the environment. Eating a summer fruit in winter, for example, means the fruit had to travel many miles and use more gasoline to reach the diner’s plate, making it less sustainable.

To ensure that the produce is from environmentally friendly farms that treat workers and animals fairly, the school has partnered with Portland, Ore.-based Food Alliance, a nonprofit that operates a certification program for food produced by farmers, ranchers and food processors that use environmentally and socially responsible practices.

Turning Students Green
Food service provider Sodexho, which operates as Emory Dining on campus, is working with the university to incorporate more sustainable foods into the dining hall menus.

“We require that produce companies need to source a certain amount of local products, bottom line,” says Christy Cook, Regional Sustainability Coordinator for Sodexho. “We want to be there to support the community and support local farms, and we require our vendor partners to support that initiative as well.”

Emory Dining started introducing sustainable options into the dining halls in January 2007, and recently began serving organic, sustainable ice cream. “Everything about this ice cream is either local, organic, natural or sustainable ingredients,” Cook says. “Period.” With flavors such as White Chocolate Brownie and using fresh fruits like blueberries and pears, the ice cream was a big hit. But there was an ulterior motive besides just serving delicious ice cream.

“Ultimately that ice cream program helps us to meet the demands of purchasing more local products, but we did it in a way that’s inventive,” Cook says. “It’s fun, and it not only engages our staff, but it pleases our clients as well.”

Those clients include not only students, but also hospital staff and visitors, university faculty and staff and the nearby community. Still, it’s the students who are the biggest users of the facilities, and encouraging them to change their eating habits while also educating them on the importance and benefits of eating both organic and sustainable foods is key to the initiative’s success.

To that end, the school recently held a Sustainable Food Fair and Farmers Market in September, where local producers showcased their produce and offered samples of recipes like bourbon pear pecan ice cream to show just how good local food can be.

Emory has also created three small sustainable gardens scattered across campus. The educational gardens feature fruits and vegetables according to the season.

“They’re not really about producing any serious quantity of food, but what they are about is highlighting the seasons and highlighting what foods look like,” says Goodrich C. White Professor of Anthropology Peggy Barlett, who is also chair of the Sustainable Food Committee and faculty liaison to the Office of Sustainability Initiatives. “Everybody who sees them is really quite enchanted with these gardens.”

So enchanted, in fact, that plans are in the works for more gardens to be developed on campus.

Rising to the Challenge
Although the interest and support for sustainability is certainly there, the university still faces some challenges in accomplishing its ambitious goal. While it would seem that with the growing popularity of the organic and sustainable movements, there should be an overflow of local farmers who have an abundance of crops just waiting to be sold, but that just isn’t the case.

“Here (in Georgia), we don’t have a lot of producers who are either organic or sustainable,” Barlett says. “So we’re having to really jumpstart a new part of the food system and encourage more producers in this direction.”

“Most of the farmers are already selling to someone,” Cook agrees. “There’s not a lot of surplus of produce just waiting to be sold.”

Because Emory uses such a large quantity of food daily, there is also the issue of how to get enough of a single crop to prepare the same menu item for thousands of people. Holt is hoping to find farmers willing to work together to fulfill that need.

“Very rarely will there be one farm dealing with Emory directly,” he says. “It will be more like a farmer grower group, or a co-op that has come together, [although] we probably won’t have to deal with more than one when it comes to cheese, yogurts and milks.”

The other issue is financial. Right now, organic and sustainable foods carry a higher price tag, so the university must look closely at cost cutting measures and low-cost ways to incorporate more expensive sustainable foods into the menus.

“That’s the dilemma with institutional buying,” Holt notes. “We’re not just serving 150 high-end meals a night. We’re serving 6,000 meals a day with a meal plan where we’re trying to keep our price points [reasonable].”

The obvious solution would be to raise prices, but that may not be the best option.

“As we make decisions on campus, we have to be conscientious of cost,” Cooks says. “We don’t want to raise our prices so that the most affordable options are the unhealthy options.”

While the price may raise slightly for the retail diners-those paying cash for their meals-those on the dining hall meal plan may instead see smaller portions to offset the more expensive produce. This would also in turn help Emory reduce the amount of food waste (see sidebar for more of Emory’s efforts to reduce waste.)

Using foods when they are in season is another way to reduce costs, although there is the concern that using too much of one food can become mundane to the diners.

“That’s a good challenge to have for our culinarians, because it allows us to experiment with recipes,” Cook says. “It allows us to make a memory for a student of that one time that they had something they’d never had before, and it may be different, but it was good.”

Using seasonal foods can reduce the expense and also encourage healthier eating, but the school must consider environmental issues that are out of their control, such as a drought.

“The 75% takes into account understanding it is seasonal production,” Holt says. “We understand there’s environmental problems, maybe a low yield. So for that last 25%, we have to accommodate out-of-season produce or getting them from out of the region.”

The other issue is that in the summer, when most produce is overflowing, most students are not on campus to eat the abundance of food. So Emory has purchased a dehydrator and a Cryovac machine so they can dehydrate and reuse the produce later when it’s not in season.

“We’re looking at the safety of those measures, but that way we can keep produce purchases up and provide local products when it’s not even in season,” Cook says.

Of course, serving thousands of people a day, Emory is also concerned about liability issues. One bad plate of spinach could cause a lawsuit that puts Emory out of business, so Sodexho takes on that liability as its food service provider. “Our first priority is food safety,” Cook says. “We have to make sure that the farmers and growers we do business with are following safe food practices and have liability insurance.”

To reach the 75% by 2015 goal, Emory has started out small with programs such as the ice cream machine and The Fresh Food Market, a corner market in the Cox dining hall that emphasizes local and organic sandwiches, snacks and other produce. Still, it’s a long road to meeting the bigger objective.

Despite the potential roadblocks, the benefits of sustainable dining far outweigh the challenges.
“What you do is start small with a few items,” Barlett says. “It’s a very ambitious goal to aim for this much of a change in our food service, but I think we can do it.”
Sustainable dining can also lead to a healthier student body and healthier employees.

“The more fresh fruits and vegetables you can eat, the research shows pretty clearly that that’s good for you in terms of heart disease and cancer and other health threats,” Barlett adds. “We also hope that it will address some of the obesity epidemic issues and help people feel that they have good, healthy choices every day.”

Plus, using local and sustainable foods just feels right.

“It ties back to the farm and the family,” Cook says. “I get pictures from the farmer that grows the green beans. I know that I’m supporting him and his family. It just means more.”