Miami Food Blog

Mayor Manny Diaz is like the Bill Clinton of Miami, people just like the guy. Well, maybe not everybody, but here he is at the Roots in the City urban farm in Overtown (NW Third Avenue and Ninth Street, Miami) talking collard greens with South Florida historian Marvin Dunn, who is in charge of the project.

We took the opportunity to ask Mayor Diaz what his favorite vegetable is, when the last time he had collards was, and if he would eat the ones grown in the garden. He said yes and Marvin promised to send a cooked batch over to his office.

The mayor and others were at the farm for a press conference to announce a pilot project taking waste material from local restaurants, mixing it with other bio matter, and creating compost using an in-vessel aerobic composter, a method that speeds compost production.

Here are some pictures from Overtown's Roots In The City garden and urban farm.

Jacob Katel

David Gaytan and his aunt Vidalia Gaytan working up front at her South Dade market and nursery.

​A placita, or little plaza, is a fortified central patio or courtyard found in buildings all over the world, but especially Spanish style ones in Mexico and the Southwest U.S.

Placita Los Girasoles (15970 SW 177 Avenue), of sunflowers, is a fruit and produce market and nursery in the Redlands area of Miami. We drove past it on a glowing November Sunday, clocked the roasted corn sign, and turned back, cause how often do you see that.

Owner Vidalia Gaytan says the placita has been at its current location for "como seis años," or about six years, but spent 12 years further down the road. She is from Veracruz, Mexico and the market's stock in chiles, tomatillos, tamarind, turnips, and beans reflects both her background and the growing Central and South American populations in Dade. They grow their own guayaba, yuca, platanos, and ciruela on the 5 or so acres they rent and are moving witht the seasons to tomatoes, onions, and green pepper.

Vidalia's nephew David Gaytan lives close by and helps out. He says, "The houses are taking over all the lands, there's gonna be no more farmers." Vidalia agrees, "It's better how it was before," she says.

Here are some picture from Placita Los Girasoles.

via BizTimes.com

It's all about the U.

​The leader of the Urban Farming movement took lessons from his Miami and Florida sports careers that still help him today.

Will Allen is the head of Milwaukee-based Growing Power Inc., an urban ag producer and educating organization focused on teaching poor communities techniques for creating self sustaining, and profitable, food supplies.

He played basketball for the University of Miami Hurricanes and was the first African-American in the school's history to do so.

He also played for the Miami Floridians in the 1971-72 season for the American Basketball association.

Allen told BizTimes.com that "My athletic career has really helped me," Allen said. "It taught me so many things about life skills, hard work, dedication and teamwork. I run this organization like a sports franchise in a lot of ways. I may emerge as a team leader, as the captain, but everyone here is a partner, a part of the team."

Log on to www.growingpower.org for more information.

Jackie Sayet

THIapet!

​Last night in an Upper East Side event space called the Coverings Showroom, Slow Food Miami's membership met for its annual conference.  With a musical booth buffet orchestrated by Chef Kris Wessel of nearby Red Light Little River, the evening was less structured meeting and more pre-Thanksgiving pause. It was attended by producers, restaurant industry folk, and people who appreciate fair and fresh local foods who celebrated the movement's progress. 

One supplier, Thi Squire of Green Railway Organic Workshop (GROW,) produced a wow moment when she arrived with an artful bushy microgreens tray covered by baby arugula and amaranth sprouting the Slow Food logo. 

"It's about three days old," Squire explains. "I can turn around requests for events and parties pretty quickly, and the beauty of it is that in three days, it will be ready to harvest.  I will give it to the chef and the greens will probably turn up on [Red Light] diners' plates." 

slowfoodmiami.com

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Jacob Katel

A Coconut Grove backyard gardener talks shop with Karen Pruett behind her Red Rubin Basil.

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Jacob Katel

Gabriele Marewski pledges allegiance to the green.

​Paradise Farms is a premiere South Florida grower of specialty produce, certified organic micro-greens and edible flowers for the local restaurant industry. Gabriele Marewski is the head of the farm and is hosting a series of "lazy Sunday" lunches based around green themes related to the fields of work or passion of the people she invites. Interested in going? Send Gabriele an email introducing yourself to gabrieleinparadise@earthlink.net

This past Sunday's lunch revolved around people whose projects deal in green initiatives by or for the youth. Guests included members of RescueEarth.org, the Garden Club president of FIU, a young farmer from Illinois, a high school exchange student from Australia, the head of FIU's Students For Environmental Action, the Miami distributor for Cyclus, a Colombian company that turns garbage tires into shoes, and others.

A gourmet vegan meal highlighting jackfruit harvested on Paradise Farms was prepared by private chef N. Oshun Marcella.

Here are some more pictures from a Lazy Sunday lunch at Paradise Farms.

Jacob Katel

Louis and Kim Duncanson of Green Garden Organics Inc.

​Green Garden Organics Inc. supplies all Florida Whole Foods Markets with wheatgrass they grow themselves, certified organically, on their indoor farm in an industrial warehouse in a strip of others like it near Miami International Airport. Louis Duncanson says "I grew my first tray of grass 31 years ago." Duncanson, his wife and their small crew also grow a variety of microgreens that find use by chefs in the restaurant industry.

Duncanson explains that his secret is the soilmix he uses and the de-sodium chlorided, mineral rich sea water he uses for planting. "We have a special mix, a very special mix. I'll give you some clues to what's in it: coconut husk, pearlite, peat moss, sea vegetables, crushed lobster shells, and no manure, cause this is for eating, and you don't want to eat manure do you?"

Jacob Katel

A Canadian chef in the subtropics.

​The Cascata Grille at The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort (19999 West Country Club Drive, Aventura) serves an Italian menu that infuses every dish with ingredients direct from its on site rare fruit and herb garden. Resort Chef Daniel Buss and restaurant chef Devin Broo showed us around and introduced us to their produce in cooked form as well. Check out these pictures.

Last Friday we brought you the first installment of Burton Dale's response to a few emailed questions regarding organic farming. Here's part II, where Burton explains how you can do it yourself.

"How can the average working person get in on the action?  Most working people do not own land of an acre or more.  So until they can, I would gainsay they can have a garden that will help sustain them as costs rise and jobs disappear.  I am living on an acre of land, but my age would kill me should I try to bring it into cultivation for profit. Did I tell you that I farmed in Lake City for six years before I made a profit? I could not get one dime more for my organic produce and eggs than the poisoned offerings in the market.  My profit during this time was I knew I was producing food that brought life, not death to those who ate it. And we had plenty to eat.

A working person can grow enough greens to keep health easily enough on the 30th floor balcony with a five gallon bucket and a ten dollar plastic mudbox from Home Depot or Lowes.

Jackie Sayet

Don't worry, it doesn't bite

Burton Dale is a frequent and insightful commenter and Short Order so I emailed him some questions. Check out this awesome story, the first in a series.

"What is my experience with organic foods? I worked as a chemist for Space Science Services that used to be in Philips Park in Riviera Beach. We were a backup for Nasa at the cape. The shielding in the darkroom of my spectroscopy lab accidentally was removed during some repairs at the lower section next to where we stored the cobalt 60 and Iridium 192 sources we used to do field x-ray.  My pocket badge did not indicate a problem, but one day I had the Geiger counter in hand and discovered I had been getting 50 to 60 milli Roentgens/hour through the wall. A year or so after I left Space Science Services I started getting sick and my hair turned white. When doctors could not give me answers, I started to experiment with diet and felt better. Ann Wigmore came down to speak in West Palm one night and her story provided the answer. My body could no longer manufacture some of the enzymes required to maintain life. But, green wheat grass, sprouts, and living things had the enzymes I needed.  So I became a plant vampire sustaining my life and well being by eating living plant tissues that were green.  

"When I ran into difficulty finding all the things I needed, I decided to grow my own.  

The City of Miami

Fertile ground

We can't seem to get enough of the vermicomposting wormies here on Short Order... If you've got food waste to share or an urban garden that needs soiil, The only thing that might turn your stomach is that there may be a Bush involved.  And no, we're not talking the lowercase variety.

Jackie Sayet

Leggo my lychees

It's in between tropical downpours in the Design District as I wade through the humidity to Michael's Genuine Food & Drink. Summer's making its usual graceful entrance, and I'm curious about what happens to a restaurant with a menu that celebrates local foods, when the local growing season ends. What's fresh on the mind and inside the walk-in of Chef Michael Schwartz and crew in his shrine to vines? 

Like delivered today, pulled-off-the-tree-today fresh?

Turns out, a whole bunch. Boxes of 'em.

Jackie Sayet

Sibling bribery

Jacob Katel

Where the wild things grow

Jackie Sayet

Hot off the fry pan, the bottle gourd beats same old zucchini any day

image via suavehouse113's flickr

A candy bar gives the impression of existing solely in its fully formed product state, hitting air for the first time when you unwrap it from its plastic home, but it's easy to forget that all food is either grown or fed right from this here Earth, not manufactured.

You can even grow things to eat yourself and use the waste from what you consume to do so more efficiently.

This month the Biscayne Times, owned and operated by former New Times editor Jim Mullin, features an article by Jeff Shimonski, a certified arborist and director of horticulture at Jungle Island, on home composting techniques.

Shimonski uses vermiculture, compost via earthworm, at his own home's vegetable garden. Shimonski writes "I purchased a small vermicomposter and a couple of pounds of earthworms online and got started." Sounds easy right? Vermiculture produces high quality compost from organic materials, even paper and cardboard, though it is unsafe to give your worms "meat and milk products, because of bacterial issues."

The food you throw can help you with the food you grow and those credit card bills can help you make something instead of lose it.

Read Shimonski's article at the Biscayne Times website or visit his website at TropicalDesigns.com

Teach a kid to garden and she'll get really dirty

It may seem counterintuitive to dine on six-hour osso buco and goat milk ice cream so that the hungry of Darfur might eat, but Slow Food Miami and the Sagamore Art Hotel in South Beach are inviting you to do just that Wednesday, April 29. The new Whitehall Restaurant at the Sagamore, cheffed by Manuel Mattai, will be laying out a spread of local and sustainable comestibles to raise money for two excellent causes: UNICEF's Darfur Hunger Project and the Miami School Garden Project. Slow Food organizers say that both programs operate on the "teach a man to fish" model: local schoolkids are taught to grow and appreciate food they've produced themselves; and the needy of Darfur are helped with rural development and taught self-reliance under UNICEF's guidance. As usual, the menu looks lovely. Tickets cost $65 in advance, inclusive of wine pairings, and seating is limited to 60 people. Buy them now by clicking here. * Avocado Goat Milk Ice Cream with Micro Greens and Sauteed Shrimp * Six-Hour Osso Buco with Fresh Homemade Fettucine and Asiago Cheese * Local Yellow Tail Snapper with Fingerling Potatoes, Livornese-style, with Capers, Olives, and Tomato Confit * Petit Fillet of Grass-Fed Beef with Mixed Wild Mushrooms and Fonduta Cheese * Cannoli Siciliani with Pistachio Ice Cream * Fresh Strawberry Goat Milk Ice Cream with Lavender Infusion 1671 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139 Time: 6:30 to 9:30 Reception 6:30 in the dada Bar Garden Installation Tour Dinner: 7:30 pm in the WHITEHALL Restaurant Proceeds to benefit The Hunger Project/Darfur Charity and Slow Food Miami's School Gardens Project Parking: Valet at the Sagamore or at the Municipal garage at 16th and Collins.

Image courtesy of SusanLoomis.com

Susan Loomis is an American chef who has been living as an expat in France for more than 15 years. She runs a cooking school at her renovated 15th century home in Louviers, Normandy, France where she lives with her husband and two kids. Susan is the award-winning author of eight books and is a contributor to several leading print and web-based publications.

Loomis was interviewed on Food And Wine Talk on South Florida Gourmet Radio by hosts Carol Kotkin and Simone Zarmati Diament, "two food writers who don't talk with their mouth full and have plenty to say about food and travel as well" -- that's according to the announcer that introduces them on their show.

Several minutes into the interview, Carol shoots Loomis this humdinger, "We're now buying local, seasonal, and organic products, and that's the way it's been done in France forever. But, have the French become more Americanized and are we now more French?"

Loomis responds by saying, "Well I hope we become more French in that way, It's about time that somebody of national import took the lead in that issue. In France, we are becoming a bit more Americanized to a certain degree, but because the market system is so much a part of French life, the French will always know where their food comes from and they will just instinctively go towards what is at the farmers market."

The rest of the interview is interesting and can be heard by clicking here.

If the fabulously unique, inventive cuisine of Peru doesn't give your taste buds a woodie, you can leave the room now. The rest of you get ready for a new El Gran Inka, Miami's third, coming in May to The Plaza building on Brickell Avenue. The menu will range from signature dishes like cheese and sirloin-stuffed yucca with hauncaina and criolle sauces to more traditional fare like lomo saltado and seco de cordero a la nortena (braised lamb in cilantro sauce). They're not kidding about the El Gran part either. The lounge is filled with leather couches, plasma TVs and an exhibition wine cellar; there's a regular bar, ceviche bar, private rooms. . . everything to make your woodie very happy.

Guaranteed cure for a case of the crabs.

Truluck's seafood restaurant got its start in Texas, but its appearance in Florida is reason for stone-crab lovers to rejoice: The company keeps its own crab fishing fleet of 16 boats outside of Naples, Florida, where it hauls in enough crab to provide the chain with seriously fresh claws during season: "From our traps to your table in less than 24 hours." You can chow down the large claws for $10.99 each any time, either alone or as part of a "build your own" seafood tower, but every Monday night at Truluck's is a crab massacre -- $59.99 for all the stone crab claws you can eat, plus grilled asparagus and mashed potatoes. It may sound like mayhem, but you'll be sucking those claws in style: the Boca Raton location is beautifully appointed with leather booths inside and elegant tables on the terrace, plus a wide-ranging wine list offering dozens of wines by the glass or flight. There's also a good selection of fresh -- never frozen -- fish that changes depending on availability, either simply grilled or fancied up, from Gulf red snapper, wild salmon, and black cod to black grouper Pontchartrain blanketed in crab and shrimp sauce. The stone crabs we ate last night were as good as the ones we had in Everglades City, and the snapper and grouper was perfectly seasoned and cooked. Recommended for fish lovers.

Truluck's
351 Plaza Real
Boca Raton
561-391-0755 

Goodness gracious, another Friday the 13th rolling around  -- that makes two this year. But we have a plan to help you beat back bad luck this week: On Friday, March 13, Slow Foods Glades to Coast is teaming up with the Cheese Course in Weston to demonstrate the art of making fresh mozzarella, a food that has been known to fight off evil spirits when ingested in copious quantities. Cheese Steward Denyse Gervasoni and store owner manager Janet Ribera will talk about how our favorite food combines perfectly with locally grown Farmhouse heirloom tomatoes, Swank farm greens, and basil from Pontano Farms. Cheese and produce will be for sale after the demo, and the cost to attend is FREE. Lucky, lucky you.

BTW, the Cheese Course is pretty much your one-stop shop for party time: They'll personally help you pick out cheeses that are great counterpoints in terms of flavor, texture, and sharpness for your next shindig, whether it's a formal sitdown or a cocktail meetup. Stop by and let them explain what the difference is between a "bloomy rind" and a "washed rind." You'll find beautiful breads and wine, serving dishes and platters, chutneys, jams, and crackers too.

1679 Market St.
Weston
954-384-3183

Nothing like a tall glass of fresh Florida strawberries

The Florida Strawberry Growers Association wants to remind us that strawberries are not forever: The big season for our Florida beauties, grown mostly in Plant City and Dover, is November to March. It's your last chance to gorge on one of our most delicious local fruits, so here are the basics about how to choose, store, and eat:

• Berries should be bright red and unblemished, with nice green caps.They should smell like strawberries!
• Put them in the fridge right away (don't wash them until you're ready to eat; they'll get soggy).
• Consume within a few days of buying.
• Take them out of the fridge and let them come to room temp for the best flavor before eating.

They taste best eaten right out of the container, but they also taste great at around 100 proof. Below are a couple of recipes from my home files.

Strawberry Liqueur

• Wash and de-stem strawberries and pack into a glass jar with lid. Add one tablespoon of sugar and fill the jar with 100 proof vodka (you can also use rum). Close jar and put in a cupboard for a week.
• Strain liquid into a second jar. Add another tablespoon of sugar to the original jar and refill with vodka. Put back in cupboard for another week.
• Continue this process three or four times until you have enough strawberry liqueur. You can age it for a while if you like. Then make yourself a Strawberry Capirinha:

Strawberry Caipirinha (makes one drink)

• Muddle three strawberries and one cut-up lime in the bottom of a cocktail glass
• Add crushed ice
• Add one jigger rum (light rum or Brazilian Cachaca is best)
  
• Add one jigger of your homemade strawberry liqueur
• Stir and garnish with a whole strawberry and a lime wedge

This drink is also good with basil, as pictured above. Like Mama always said, "Drink your caipirinha, dear -- it's full of antioxidants!"

Untwist those panties: Bacon is good for you!

1. Chocolate
Two words: Flavonoids. Antioxidants. Dark chocolate, more than 70 percent cocoa, has both of them, and they destroy evil free radicals, lower blood pressure, and balance hormones. The folks at Galler Chocolate, a candymaker from Belgium, will be happy to consult with you about the optimal mix for good health and a sin-free soul. Check out their tin of 70 percent cat's tongues or a tube of truffles. Give up instead: Both diet and regular soda, which contributes to obesity and shortens your life span.

Galler Chocolate, 920 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
954-523-9690
Also: There's not a good reason on Earth to give up the chocolate raspberry or French chocolate cupcakes, made with artisinal ingredients, at Lola's Cupcakery:
Lola's Cupcakery
1523 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale
954-530-3153

2. Lobster
It may taste like a decadent luxury, but lobster is good for you. And this year, the prices on Maine lobster have come down significantly enough that you needn't suffer a moment's guilt eating it -- some reports put the price per pound at the equivalent of sliced turkey. Lobster is full of omega 3s, it's high in protein and low in fat, and it's low on the food chain, so it doesn't contain more than trace amounts of mercury. Best of all, lobster trapping is very easy on the environment. Give up instead: Tuna, which is severely overfished.
Where to get it:
Two 1 1/4 pound Maine lobsters are on sale for $51.95 (a $20 savings) at lobstergram.com. I've also had good luck ordering live lobsters from Legalseafoods.com. Patriot Lobster sells 1-pound "culls" that have lost one claw for a bargain rate of $9 each not including shipping.
Pop's Fish Market in Deerfield Beach has Florida lobster tails for $28.99 a pound and live Maine lobsters for $11.99 for a 1 1/4 lb. lobster, $13.99 for anything above that. Call them at 954-427-3331.
 
3. Caviar
No need to ever suffer another sleepless night over the endangered Russian sturgeon -- farmed sturgeon caviar is now widely available, and there's also a color palette of nonsturgeon caviar that's nearly as silky, salty, and luxurious as the real thing. Check out the caviar menu at Marky's in Miami: They've got farmed osetra from France, Italy, Uruguay and the U.S. from about $55 an ounce. Give up instead: Russian wild beluga. Nasty.

4. Bacon
That most misunderstood of foods, bacon, it turns out, is even better for you than eating vegetables. Just kidding. But anybody who'd even think of going 40 days bacon-free is a total masochist. The good news is that now you can buy bacon from humanely raised heritage breeds that is not only miles better than the old grocery-store Oscar Meyer but also helps preserve rare breeds from extinction -- and just generally makes the world a jollier, more delicious place in which to unravel our mortal coil. At Heritage Foods USA, six pounds of Edwards Heritage Berkshire Bacon will set you back $85, but that's enough to last even a serious baconophile until well after the Lenten period ends. The Pig Next Door also has a heritage-bacon-of-the-month club: a pound a month plus tasting notes for six months is $149 plus shipping. Give up instead: One meal at a mediocre restaurant.

5. Foie Gras
Probably the most controversial food in the world, despised by PETA, beloved of chefs and gourmets. But New York chef Dan Barber went to visit the Spanish Farm Pateria de Sousa and learned that it's indeed possible to produce foie gras "naturally" by letting geese gorge the way they always have in the wild, seasonally. Farming this way eliminates the need for gavage (force feeding). Judging from Barber's video, these fowl live in a birdly paradise so wonderful that geese flying over readily land and join them, increasing the flock naturally. The Spanish foie gras isn't available locally yet, but if you love the stuff, lobby your favorite chef to see if he or she can source it. Give up instead: foie gras produced by gavage until the humane version becomes available.