Freshness guaranteed: restaurants serving local produce
by Solange Deschatres
07-27-2007

Going “green” today means going back to simpler ways of life for a few St. Louis restaurants. Each year Missouri farmers turn out rows of beautiful produce and other food items, but the majority of restaurants and local grocery chains here stock their inventory with shipments from as far away as California. Shipping from regions with different climates makes seasonal fruits and vegetables available all year round, but for a few local restaurant owners, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

“It doesn’t seem to make any sense,” says Anthony Devoti, the head chef, co-owner, and manager of Five Restaurant in the Manchester Grove. “Look at France: if you drive from the center, you will find different cuisine everywhere. What you can grow is what’s meant to be cooked.”

Devoti and a few other local restaurant owners and grocers stress the importance of purchasing and eating locally produced food items.

Patrick Horine, owner and manager of Local Harvest Grocery on Morganford, and coordinator of the Tower Grove Farmers Market, has a list of reasons as to why people should purchase from local farmers.

“One: Buying local supports the local economy,” Horine says. “Approximately 67 percent for every dollar spent on locally produced foods stays in the local economy.”

Locally purchased food items also help reduce emissions and the amount of fossil fuels burned because the food has a shorter distance to travel. Additionally, Horine says that safety concerns regarding food regulations are greatly diminished because of the ability to monitor smaller farms and facilities.

“Also, the fact that the food is fresher is a perk,” Horine adds.

Riddles Penultimate in the University City Loop’s owner and chef, Andy Ayers agrees with Horine.

“If you buy all local, it tastes a bit better,” Ayers says.

Ayers has owned a restaurant for over 30 years. His chic, yet comfortable wine bar and restaurant sits on a busy stretch of the Loop and attracts a broad clientele.

“I get a lot of feedback,” Ayers explains. “People my age had gardens when they were kids. They prepared fresh food. When the food was in season, it was special, and when it was gone, it was gone.”

Creating a seasonal menu might seem like a challenge for chefs like Ayers and Devoti, but both say that working with what is fresh and available at the time makes the work more fun.

“It’s exciting, especially when you get the first harvest plant. It’s always sad to see it go, but it gives us something to look forward to next year,” says Devoti.

Ayers says working with seasonal produce allows him to pay special attention to each food item as he creates the menu for the day.

“It’s not my job to figure out what to do with what [the farmers grow], not the other way around,” Ayers explains. Ayers appears to have a particular reverence for local farmers. So much so, that he lists on his menu the names of the farmers who grew the food to provide recognition for all of their hard work.

According to Ayers, local farmers do not receive enough credit. This year, he says, was particularly difficult for Missouri farmers and their crops because of an unusual weather pattern that caused temperatures to climb to record highs in March and then plummet to abnormally cold temperatures that caused a hard frost. The higher temperatures encouraged flowering plants to yield blossoms, but six hard nights of subfreezing weather killed most of the early blooms. Blossoming fruit-yielding plants such as apples, peaches, strawberries and grapes took the biggest hit, producing few, if any, substantial crops.

Of all the local crops, peaches seem to be a favorite among local chefs. According to the chefs, Missouri peaches have a sweet, juicy flavor that can only come from a fruit that has had time to ripen on the vine.

“It’s going to really bum me out this year,” says Ayers, whose hand-squeezed Peach Bellini was a hit at his restaurant last year.

In spite of a few favorite items lacking presence in locally-produced menus, the chefs continue to create beautiful and simple dishes using the best of what is in season now. This summer will make way for a variety of crops, such as spinach (which, according to Ayers, actually produced a sweeter leaf because of the hard frost), corn, broccoli, cucumber, onion, black raspberries, figs and, of course, tomatoes.

Missouri produces some of the best tomatoes in the world, according to Horine, Ayers and Devoti. Horine’s small

grocery presents baskets of enormous, vibrant, ripe red and yellow tomatoes, ready to be eaten. Summer salads and sauces with vine-ripened tomatoes grace the menus of Five and Riddles Penultimate. As it turns out, the hot and humid climate that sends many St. Louisans scampering indoors for relief is the precise weather that the tomato plant needs to yield those bright, bulbous, sweet and fleshy plants that help make summer feasts special.

Devoti, Horine and Ayers agree that customers can taste the difference between locally grown and produced foods and foods that travel from other regions. Also, with a growing demand for environmental consciousness, local farming would seem like a wise choice.

“I’m happy to see more restaurants using locally produced foods,” says Ayers. “The greater the demand for local production, the greater the growth, so if you think there should be more small farms, buy their stuff. It’s just that simple.”

You can e-mail Solange Deschatres at Solly.chan@gmail.com.

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