Beeside Balcony – farm raised on the beach in Del Mar

If you ever find yourself in Del Mar, CA and looking for a place for dinner or lunch you should try Beeside Balcony.  The restaurant is quite small  and the menu may be limited for some but the two times I have been here have been a fantastic experience.

From their website:

“Beeside Balcony is a hidden gem in old Del Mar, CA with a relaxed seaside chic décor where guests enjoy ocean views from the covered outside balcony. During cooler weather, Beeside’s got you covered with amazing patio heaters and an intimate inside dining room. The menu is chef-driven with every dish made to order and features New American flavors with a unique fusion of Mediterranean and California cuisine. To compliment the menu, we feature a thoughtfully designed wine list and craft beers from predominantly locally producers.

Our guests tell us that “every dish that comes out of the kitchen is a culinary delight.” Chef Costa sources produce from local farms, and features organic free-range lamb, sushi-grade salmon, prime steak, and imported cheese, salumi and olives.”

Let’s look at the menu more closely for the responsibly sourced options.  On the lunch menu there is mention of all-natural chicken (salad, skewered chicken plate), grass-fed lamb (burger), free range lamb (lamb gyro, sounds delicious will have to get next time) and  Scottish salmon (salad or skewers).  The dinner also has the burger and gyro, Scottish salmon (pan seared plate) and Mary’s “Fried” chicken.  Let’s dig a little deeper here.

Mary’s “fried” chicken

I have had the pleasure of having the Mary’s “Fried” chicken, the chicken is firstly cooked sous vide for 1.5 hours, dusted in rice flour, then lightly fried, it’s absolutely delicious.  The chicken brand Mary’s is well known as being one of the most transparent free-range poultry producers in the world. The chickens are raised in California and they follow the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards Program with Global Animal Partnership.   For more information in this program check out this link.  The program is based on 5 ranking each of which has certain standards for how the animals are raised and what they are fed.  Basically the closer you can get to being completely pasture raised and fed a natural diet then the higher the rating with the highest rating being Step 5.  The Mary’s chicken website actually has a good description of the standards required for each step for chickens here.  No mention of whether all the all-natural chicken dishes are all from Mary’s though.

Let’s take a look at the Scottish salmon.  Firstly, from what I can determine Scottish salmon is farmed and they don’t catch wild salmon off UK waters.  Got to say that there are some mixed reviews about the sustainability of Scottish salmon these days.  Wild Scottish salmon was once a prized dish but due to low population from over fishing this practice is no longer allowed.  This article here outlines some of the problems

For the lamb, the majority of domestic lamb sold in the US is grass-fed, some may be grain finished at the end. Australian and New Zealand lamb is grass-fed it whole life and almost always free-range.  No mention on the Beeside online menu of the lamb origin but they seem confident enough to state free-range and grass-fed. One time I ate there I had the lambs chops, the waiter told me they were from Australia.

Australian lamb chops

Beeside Balcony is a lovely place located in Del Mar.  Great transparency on the menu and the food is amazing!

Best responsibly sourced meals of 2019

Well it is the end of 2019 and the beginning of a new decade so I thought I would reminisce about some of the best responsibly sourced meals that I had throughout the year.  I have split them up into some categories and for some it was quite difficult to pick one.

Best burger – BRED gourmet (Boston, MA), Karl Strauss Brewery (San Diego):  A grass-fed burger is one of the easiest responsibly sourced menu items to find so I have picked one on the East and West coasts.  I have the extreme fortune to live 2.5 miles from Bred gourmet in the Lower Mills area of Boston and I have not found a better grass-fed burger to date, see my full review here.  I have had almost everything on the menu but the Maui burger with grilled pineapple, pepper jack cheese, plantains and BBQ sauce is one of my favorite burgers of all-time.  The California-grown all-natural grass-fed beef burger at Karl Strauss Brewery in La Jolla, CA is my pick for the West Coast.  Topped with a cage-free fried egg (maybe skip the pork belly since I don’t know where that is from yet) this is an amazing burger.

Best steak (East Coast) – Mooo (Boston, MA): I am splitting up the best steak category into East and West coast since I had so many good experiences. Mooo is one of my all time favorite restaurants and I have not found anything that comes close. See my review here. A source for the steaks is stated on the menu and they even give you a hint on how it was raised (grass-fed, grain finished etc).  My pick for the West Coast is Cowboy Star in San Diego, they also state which farm all their cuts are from and is a more relaxed atmosphere than other high end steakhouses.

Best BBQ – Sweet Cheeks Q (Boston, MA):  One of my favorite styles of food I thought I was resigned to cooking my own BBQ until I found Sweet Cheeks Q.  See my full review here – but think all natural chicken and heritage breed pork turned mouth-watering BBQ.

Best fried chicken – Crack Shack (Encinitas, CA): A fried chicken lovers dream, all their chicken is Jidori (see my post on Crack Shack and Jidori chicken here). Unfortunately this small chain is only in California.

Best roast chicken – Le Coq Rico (Paris):  The french take their roast chicken very seriously and I was extremely fortunate to go to this famous restaurant where they specialize in this particular dish.  Famed chef Antione Westermann focuses on sourcing heritage breed poultry from local French farmers. No review yet (but one is planned).   They also have a restaurant in NYC if Paris is too far to go for the best roast chicken you will ever have in your life.

Best seafood – Oceanaire seafood room (Boston, MA):  It can be difficult to find responsibly sourced seafood but Oceanaire Seafood room makes it easier as they clearly state the origin of almost all their seafood dishes so that you can make an informed decision.  Even though this is a chain the dining experience is top class, I have been to the Boston and San Diego locations and both were amazing.  No full review yet but coming soon.

Best Fish and chips – Rock and sole plaice (London):  You can’t beat London for fried fish and chips and there are plenty of places that use sustainable fish for this celebrated English dish.  I have been to quite a few (review to come) but Rock and sole plaice is my current favorite and is located right in Covent Garden and has been there since 1871.  Yet to find something comparable in the United States.

Best sushi – Harney Sushi (San Diego, CA):  Sustainable or responsibly sourced are not words one normally associates with sushi but Harney sushi takes pride in ensuring its seafood is just that.  I have been to the Old Town location (yes sushi in Old Town San Diego surrounded by Mexican places) and it is a funky place, expect something non-traditional but delicious and you will feel good about your food source. Review to come soon.

Best breakfast/brunch place – Farmers Daughter (South Easton, MA):  Complete transparency with the source of their eggs and meats which are all from local farms and clearly stated on their website.  Locally sourced chicken and waffles is not easy to find elsewhere and the pork belly banh mi looks delicious.  And they have a boozy brunch too!  Full review coming soon.

Best fast food place – Shake Shack (Dedham, MA): It can be difficult to find a responsibly sourced lunch particularly with kids (someone wants a burger, another a chicken sandwich, another wants nuggets) and you only have 30 mins.  Fortunately some fast food chains are make big efforts to provide good options (review coming soon).  My go to place with my kids is Shake Shack – their burgers, chicken and hot dogs are all natural (chicken is also cage-free).  Just exactly what their definition of all-natural is, not sure at the moment but in a pinch I will pick them every time over the bigger fast food chains.

Best fine dining restaurant experience – Deuxave (Boston, MA):  I don’t get to go to many fine dining restaurants so I like to make them count and my experience at Deuxave was top class.  Plenty of great options on the menu (Niman ranch strip steak, Giannone chicken) and from beginning to end was a memorable experience.

Best Sunday lunch place – Blacklock (London):  I had to create a category for this one as the meal was unquestionably one of the best food experiences I have ever had.  I am very fortunate to be friends with the owners brother and have managed to get a table on a Sunday at the Shoreditch location for lunch (have also been to the Soho location).  If you love meat you have to get the All-in which is a mountain of roast pork, lamb and beef and get the beef dripping chips as well.  Full review to come soon.

Best local farm – Copicut Farm (Dartmouth, MA):  My go to farm for when I want to stock up on local chicken and pork chops – all pasture raised.    They can also be found at the Milton and Hingham famer’s markets in the summer.  Check out my full review.

Best mail order meat – Porter Road:  I have tried a few mail order meat places and I try to buy from a local farm where possible first.  Sometimes though I need a cut of meat that is not easily bought from a local farm.  I ordered about 20lbs of pork butt from Porter Road and the experience was top class – they shipped it out within 24 hours and was packed perfectly.  I smoked that pork butt for pulled pork for a Christmas party and it was a big hit!

After writing this post about my favorite food experiences of 2019 I realized just how fortunate I have been to experience such amazing restaurants and farms.  It has been a lot of fun searching for these places and look forward to what 2020 will bring!

All your fried chicken dreams come true at the Crack Shack

Fried Chicken is my favorite food.  It brings back so many good memories for me – and the smell of my mother cooking fried chicken in my childhood home is one that I will never forget.  Fried chicken is messy and not so easy to cook yourself at home (at least for me) and tough to cook well.  Also it is easy to buy at any number of fast food and sit down restaurants and is one of the world’s most popular foods.  However most fast food places and restaurants most likely don’t use the most responsibly sourced chicken and don’t fall in line with my new meat philosophy.  It actually isn’t that easy to find restaurants that use antibiotic and hormone free, humanely raised chicken believe it or not.  Previously I had written a post about an amazing restaurant called Crispy Bird in Indianapolis that sold amazing fried chicken that met my chicken sourcing criteria, unfortunately that eating establishment is no longer with us and I also didn’t go to Indy that often.  Fortunately all my fried chicken dream came true when I discovered The Crack Shack in San Diego.

The Crack Shack is a special place, I have actually only been to the one in Encinitas a few times but there is another location in Little Italy San Diego, LA area and Las Vegas.  It is a casual counter style restaurant where you places your order at a window and they will bring it to your table.  The chicken is amazing, perfectly spiced and cooked.  They also sell sandwiches, salads and bowls but I always just go for the chicken and fries, with beer of course.

What makes this chicken ultra-special for me is where it from.  As stated on their website : “We are not your average restaurant —and this is not your average chicken.”  Here is a great snippet from their website:

“Our ingredients are the absolute highest quality that we can source, from mostly organic produce, to antibiotic-free, preservative-free, “beyond free-range” chicken. Our pride lies in our locally sourced, high-end ingredients. We understand that this ethos may not be important to everyone, but we strive to elevate the chicken and the egg by using the same ingredients and chef-driven attitude as we do at Juniper and Ivy.”

The “beyond free-range” chicken that they are talking about is a brand called Jidori chicken.  When I adopted my new Meat Philosophy and I started searching for restaurants that sourced their chicken responsibly, I came across the brand Jidori, particularly in Californian establishments. Again I am going to let the following paragraph from the Jodiri website do all the talking:

“We believe all animals; especially those raised for sustenance, should be treated with respect and raised cruelty free. Our chickens are treated humanely- raised free-range with all-natural feed, that includes no meat by-products, hormones, or antibiotics. Jidori is produced by a small boutique, USDA inspected, company that processes each chicken by hand. We start early in the morning, and guarantee that your whole birds are delivered immediately, making it the freshest chicken there is. The benefits of this freshness can be tasted: creamy yet firm with a natural chicken flavor.”

Further research on Jidori chickens uncovered that it actually is a mixed breed of a cross between the pure Japanese breed Hinaidori and a Rhode Island Red.  From what I can gather, they are sold by one company Hao Foods, a family owned food distribution company that worked with small CA-farms to raise, process and distribute this chicken. Another key feature of the Jidori product is that they are shipped within 24 hours of processing and are never frozen.   The Jidori chicken has become so prized that some restaurants claim it on their menus fraudulently in order to cut costs and attract customers.  I even found this scientific paper which describes a DNA test  to ensure the authenticity of Jidori chicken.

So my fried chicken dreams came true – an awesome fried chicken joint that uses the prized Jidori chicken which is raised without antibiotics and hormones, humanely raised, as fresh as you can get – ‘beyond free-range’.  Just wish this chain existed in Boston….

Just how good is B.GOOD?

B.GOOD is a casual restaurant chain that promotes itself as ‘Food with Roots’ through responsibly sourced food and a strong connection to the farmers that produce food by developing a community spirit.  Grabbing a quick bite at a casual restaurant is part to modern life.  Most people can’t afford some the fancy farm to table restaurants out there but want to be able to good food with meat raised the right way that doesn’t cost a fortune.  Sometimes you need a good place the take the kids as well when you don’t want to cook or you are on road and traditional fast food options are out since they are notorious for using factory farms for meat.  B.GOOD touts itself as that restaurant and with location in 13 US states (primarily on the East Coast), Germany, Switzerland and Canada deserves a closer look at it’s sourcing practices.  The purpose of this article is not to review the restaurants (I have been to a few locations and the food is great) but to look more closely at the food sources and their farming practices.

The B.GOOD website has a ton of information and there is a storing theme that Animal Welfare is very important here.  This excerpt has some of the key information:

Where We Are at Now
Animal welfare has been an important cornerstone of our business since the beginning, and we are proud to share where we are now:

1. Laying Hens: 100% of our shell eggs come from cage-free laying hens and 73% are Certified Humane.
2. Chicken: 93%* of the chicken in our supply chain were never administered antibiotics and were fed an all vegetarian diet. This product is supplied by the Perdue brand Harvestland.
3. Pigs: 80% of our pork is Certified Humane, which does not allow the use of gestation crates or farrowing crates.
4. Beef: 97%** of the beef in our supply comes from cows that were never administered hormones or antibiotics.
5. Turkey: 95% of the turkey in our supply chain is American Humane Certified.

*Indicates 100% of the protein is antibiotic free
**100% of our beef is hormone free

Commendably they put a percentage of their products that adhere to certain guidelines.  Very honest and one must assume they are targeting 100% in the future, but one can’t help but wonder if you are in the unlucky 3% that happened to get the beef that that was administered antibiotics.  There is an emphasis on attaching percentages to Certified Humane or American Humane Certified so is worth digging deeper into what this means.

Certified Humane is a non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of farm animals by setting standards for the living conditions and diet of these animals.  A lot of thought and effort has gone into creating documents to set these standards through committees comprising of veterinarians, scientists and farmers.  There is a lot of information of the website and it is not the aim of this article to analyze this work.  From what I can gather the guidelines involve a standard of living that the animals cannot be kept in cages, must have a certain level of space to move around and assume some normal behaviors and must be fed a diet that doesn’t consist of animal by-products, antibiotics or hormones.  This is obviously a big step up from the traditional factory farm situation.  However what it doesn’t mean is that animals have complete access to the outdoors or are raised on pasture.  This link is to the Housing Systems page on the Certified Humane website which shows examples of housing which are allowed and not allowed.  While the chickens are not in cages the conditions are certainly crowded.  I like this link to Consumer reports page on Certified Humane labels.  Similarly the American Humane Certification also doesn’t require that animals have access to the outdoors but there are standards that need to be met there are policies that must be adhered to prevent animal abuse.  I couldn’t find any requirements for diet regarding the use of antibiotics, animal products or hormones. Again this link to the Consumer Reports site concisely outlines the Main benefits and limitations.  There is a lot of information out there and a Google search for both will come up with a plethora of articles written both in favor and criticizing both labels.  My intention here is not to summarize all this information but to provide some food for thought.  What I will say is that this a step in the right direction  the labels ‘Humane’ may mean different things to different people and the consumer should have some knowledge of what they actually mean.

Companies like B.GOOD should be commended for their efforts towards providing food that has had some serious thought and effort towards how is was raised.  I definitely like to keep it an option when I need to grab a quick bite with the kids or I just want to have a quick burger or chicken sandwich and know that there was a significant effort to ensure that animal was raised in a humane way.

 

 

 

If you want to buy food that meets the all natural standards then try Copicut Farms

When I first embarked on this journey to find responsibly raised meat I tried the mail order services like Walden Meat Co and Crowd Cow.  Both are convenient ways to purchase meat raised the right way, slightly different business models as I explained in the reviews.  Something struck a cord with me with both was that I was buying meat from locations like California or Virginia and they were shipped by air and packed in dry ice with foam insulated boxes.  Seemed like a lot of packing to buy meat on a regular basis and didn’t flying meat around the country didn’t seem to be in the spirit of sustainability I was trying to achieve.  So I started to look for local farms near my home south of Boston that were raising chicken, pigs and cows in a responsible manner.  The ideal situation would be to find a farm that I could get easy access to and since I live close to the city my best bet would be a farmer’s market.

The closest Farmer’s market to me is the Milton Farmers market (2 miles from my house) and at that market was a meat vendor Copicut Farms.  Copicut Farms is located in Dartmouth, MA and they raise pasture-raised poultry and pigs.  I love this excerpt from their website which explains their animal raising philosophy perfectly:

“All of our animals are raised outdoors, and have constant access to our chemical-free pastures where they are free to forage for grass, legumes, and insects throughout all but the harshest winter months.  Pasture-raised poultry, pork, and eggs, and grass-fed lamb are a healthier choice, containing less cholesterol, less saturated fat, more omega-3, and higher levels of essential vitamins and nutrients than their non-pastured counterparts.”

They also have this paragraph under Human Processing:

“We designed, built, and operate our own State-licensed poultry slaughtering facility. This allows us to maintain an extremely high level of food safety and ensure that our animals are treated in the most humane manner possible throughout all stages of their lives.  Our pork and lamb is processed at the most reputable local Animal Welfare-Approved facilities under USDA inspection.”

This sounded like it checked all the boxes for me.  I visited the Milton farmers market many times throughout the summer to stock up mainly on chicken (parts with bones to make curries or stews) and eggs.  Sometimes the chicken was frozen but often it was fresh which was a bonus.  I also visited them at the Hingham farmers market on Saturdays when I couldn’t get to the Milton market on Thursday afternoon. Buying this meat is now the preferred way for me to buy chicken – responsibly raised with the right ethics and local.  The only downside is that I would buy a big batch at a time so I needed to ensure that there was plenty of space in my freezer and I needed to find the time to go to the  Farmer’s market which wasn’t always possible.  Thursdays I had to take time out during a work day and Saturdays wasn’t always possible with the work schedule.  Also the Milton market is not open during the winter. So some planning is required for sure but the produce is worth it.

BBQ pioneer in Boston – Sweet Cheeks Q

One of America’s culinary gifts to the world is BBQ.  Before I came to the US I had no idea how many styles, flavors and techniques there were that make up this delicious, smoky genre.  Traditionally BBQ was used to make less flavorful, cheap cuts of meat more tasty by cooking slow over a smoky fire.  Note the phrase ‘cheap cuts of meat’ – hence it is hard to find BBQ made from grass fed beef, free range chicken or heritage pork.  I love BBQ and have even started smoking and experimenting with different meats myself.  However smoking a pork butt or beef brisket is a long involved process that can take all day and a lot of prep and cleaning up.  Therefore I limit this exercise to 2-3 times per year.  During the other times of the year I needed to find a place to satisfy my BBQ cravings that was in line with my new meat philosophy.  Sweet Cheeks saved me….

This excerpt from their website was music to my ears:

“Doing it right: For us, it’s using the best of everything possible. All of our meats are responsibly sourced and all natural. Most of our beef is “Never Ever”, meaning it’s all sustainably-raised “Super Natural,” premium Black Angus beef that is NEVER EVER treated with hormones, antibiotics, or chemical additives. Other beef options are from small New England farms adhering to similar practices. Our pork is Berkshire, our chicken and turkey are all natural. We use local farms when possible. We’re committed to doing what’s right.”

I was lucky that I found Sweet Cheeks quite quickly during my search for BBQ constructed from responsibly sourced meat.  I haven’t found another BBQ restaurant in Boston that adheres to the same meat standards.  If I was to be real strict on the Meat Philosophy rules then I would need to ensure the the animals are being treated humanely and free-range, the beef needs to be grass-fed not corn-fed.  But the phrase above from their website is very comfortably and checks a lot of boxes.

I have been to Sweet Cheeks four times now and the BBQ is absolutely delicious – I have tried most the meats and they are all delicious.  The menus has plenty of hints to the meat sourcing philosophy – all natural chicken, heritage-breed pulled pork, all-natural pork belly and the phrase above should confirm your confidence to go all out here.  You order a ‘tray’ which usually consists of one meat and 2 sides – one hot and cold.  I suggest to go for the Fat Tray where you get 3 meats and 2 scoops (sides) – try them all and go back for your favorite!

Sweet Cheeks has been a savior for me – amazing BBQ concocted from responsibly sourced meat right here in Boston.  My search for others continues, haven’t found any others yet….

 

 

 

 

 

In memory of Fried Chicken Fine Dining in Indy

I have dreams about my mother’s fried chicken.  Some of my fondest childhood food memories are the smells and sounds of her cooking fried chicken and I couldn’t wait until a piece was cooked so that I could ‘test’ it for her.  Would always be a drumstick.  Just the thought is making my mouth salivate now.  I have eaten fried chicken everywhere I go and I have sought out places to satisfy my cravings.  I have eaten plenty of KFC, Popeyes and numerous other restaurants to experience that crunchy juicy goodness that I love.  Now to reality.  The fast food industry including KFC greatly contribute to the Factory Farm industry and there are numerous reports of them being the biggest offenders.  Just google ‘KFC factory farms’ and you will see headlines containing words and phrases such as ‘mutant chickens’, ‘animal cruelty’, ‘oppressive conditions’.  In fact most traditional large fast food chains are also guilty – it’s impossible to generate that much beef or chicken without using Factory Farms and their success is part of the reason that these farms exist.  Obviously, My New Meat Philosophy means no more fast food fried chicken.  I thought that in order to eat fried chicken again I would have to make it myself.  I was wrong.

One day I was in Indianapolis and had some time to go out to lunch.  I had been doing some research on restaurants that serve organic fried chicken since I didn’t want to give up one of my favorite dishes.  One that came up in Indianapolis was Crispy bird (see the article I found here).  The owner Martha Hoover has quite the resume (see article here) and has at least fourteen restaurants that I know of in the Indy area.  A common theme of all these restaurants is good quality ingredients from local farms.

All the chicken at Crispy Bird was a breed called American Freedom Ranger from Gunthorp Farm in Indiana.  They are humanely and naturally raised on pasture – as free range as it gets.  Walking into Crispy Bird you wondered if you were in the right place.  The interior looked like it was an upscale restaurant – framed photos of heritage breed chickens on the wall, white napkins and stainless steel cutlery, wine menu – not what you would  have expected from a fried chicken place.  The menu was also upscale – sides included braised sea island red peas, collard greens and egg yolk and mac and cheese cacio de pepe.   I ordered the leg and thigh main with the sides I just mentioned – and a glass of sauvignon blanc while I waited.

When the food came out the first thing I thought was that the presentation was amazing – the chicken was cooked perfectly – the peas were very tasty and the mac and cheese was a version that I hasn’t has before and well done.  The only problem was that when I finished I wanted more of the chicken- the portion was quite small – I could have eaten another 4-5 pieces but at $14 a pop didn’t make sense and everyone would have thought I was a glutton.  I left believing I had a unique fried chicken dining experience and I have had a lot of fried chicken dining experiences and most of the time I left feeling ill from eating too much.  I saw it as a fried chicken pilgrimage and reinforced my faith that if I look hard enough I can find the foods that I love which are cooked with ingredients that I believe in.

There is however a bit of a sad end to this story which you may have noted from the title.  I visited Crispy bird about 8 months before I posted this story and I found out today that it closed in Jan 2019 (see article here).   While I won’t be able to eat their fried American Freedom Ranger chicken again I am grateful to have been introduced to them and Gunthorp Farms and will keep an eye out for them both during my food search (apparently their biggest customer is Frontera grill).  And the spirit lives on through the Patachou group of restaurants who are doing amazing things with food.

 

Who wants food transparency? Go to Sweet Green

Here is another recommendation from a co-worker so I have to give him credit straight off.  The Downtown Crossing area in Boston seems to be the center of responsible and source transparent eateries.  Within a block there is Clover Food Labs, B good, Luke’s Lobster and Sweet Green all of which operate under the philosophy of being fully transparent with their ingredients and focusing on clean food.  All are chains and two have apps from which you can order ahead (B good and Sweet Green).  Why are there so many of these types of restaurants popping up here?  Is it because of the concentration of millennials that work in the city?  I am far from a millennial (about 20 years past) but maybe going through a mid-life crisis where I am concerned with the food that I have put in my body the last 40+ years.  Wonder if this group is contributing?

Sweet Green really just focuses on two main dishes – warm bowls and cold salads made with fresh vegetables and protein if you like.  The website looks beautiful – really makes you want to eat the food!  There is a lot of information on their values and commitment to connecting with the source.  This place is busy – can be a line out the door – should use the app during lunch hour.  There is a range of suggested bowls (curry chickpea – roasted chicken, hot chickpeas, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, raisins, cilantro, toasted almonds, warm quinoa, organic baby spinach, curry yogurt dressing) and salads (kale ceasar – shredded kale, chopped romaine, parmesan crisp, shaved parmesan, roasted chicken, tomatoes, fresh lime squeeze, caesar dressing) or you can make your own.  All the produce is right there in front of you and looks great.   There are also vegan and vegetarian options.  At the start of the line is a huge board which lists all the ingredients and the farm/source down to the freshly squeezed lime juice and raisins.  It’s an amazing display of transparency for sure and apparently they update it every day.  I decided to go for the Curry Chickpea bowl with chickpeas from Timeless Seed – Organic and chicken from Allen Farms.  You can add or subtract ingredients as you walk along the line and check them out.  The bowl tasted delicious and I couldn’t wait to try out some of the others – next time I will use the app.

Under the Food Ethos section of the website they have a paragraph on animal welfare.  Here they mention that: “In each region we source from, we demand high sustainability and animal safety standards. These include:

• Chicken: GAP Step 2 and Certified Humane
• Pork: GAP Step 1
• Eggs: Cage free and certified organic
• Steelhead: Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Green Rated”

Both their chicken and pork have a quoted GAP Step which deserves some explanation.  From the GAP website:

“Founded in 2008, Global Animal Partnership (GAP) is a non-profit organization made up of farmers, scientists, retailers, manufacturers, and animal advocates, all collaborating with a common purpose: improving farm animal welfare. GAP is making a difference by creating and managing a comprehensive 5-Step^® Welfare Rating Program for farm animals, where farms & ranches are audited every 15 months by an independent third-party. Through our 5-Step^® Rating Program and labeled product program, producers and consumers can choose to support a program that continuously improves the lives of farm animals step by step.”

There is a ton of information on the website – check it out if you want to know more. They do a great job explaining what each step means in terms of the animal’s lifestyle – diet, living conditions etc.  If we look at chickens specifically – Step 1 includes no cages, but no access to outdoors through to Step 5 involves entire life on farm and pastured.  Sweet Green says their chicken is Step 2 which is an enriched indoor environment but no access to outdoors and not pastured.  Considerably better than life on a Factory Farm but still not the natural outdoors living chicken lifestyle.  A search for Allen Farm, Delaware (from the chalkboard above) comes up with an Allen Harim chicken farm in Delaware.  There is a lot of information on this site explaining how they raise their chickens – no sign of cages and plenty of mentions of no antibiotics ever and 100% vegetarian fed. But I got to say the videos of all those chickens in those huge sheds doesn’t make me feel confident that this chicken is having a great life.  A whole lot better than crammed in a cage don’t get me wrong.  Definitely the Step 2 statement on the Sweet Green website is accurate.  Also Harim Allen is mentioned on the GAP website as being Step 2 as well so everything seems to match up.

The other animal protein available is Steelhead Trout from which I had not heard of before.  The chalkboard mentioned this was sourced from Pacific Seafoods and is quoted on the website as being Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Green Rated.  A quick search shows that this is the case and this Steelhead is farm raised on the Columbia River.

Sweetgreen has to be commended on their transparency of the sourcing of their ingredients which is at a level not seen before.  I don’t feel real great about the chickens being housed inside those huge sheds at Harim Allen Farms (but no cages) but feel a lot better about the source of the Steelhead trout and vegetables. Definitely going back but will stick to the vegetables and fish.

Fresh Food Generation Food Truck

I got to give my co-worker credit for this one (I know he is reading).  My office is on Beacon Hill in Boston and there is a plethora of places to eat in the area.  Now with my new obsession with finding sustainable food I am on the look out for these places to have lunch.  Every Monday and Thursday from 11-3 pm there are food trucks on the Boston Common (not sure when they will end) and one of them is called Fresh Food Generation. Their website mentions that they do catering as well as the food truck and  they have a cafe.  Their theme is ‘farm to plate catering’, using local ingredients, supporting local farmers and sourcing sustainably grown produce.  Sounds good to me so I thought I would check it out one lunch time in September.

The menu is simple :  3 main rice plates (2 chicken, one vegetarian) and a choice of 6 sides.  All dishes are Caribbean ‘inspired’.  I chose the Jerk Chicken with the Sweet plantains and red bean stew – my mouth was watering as I waited for my food.  While I was waiting I noticed a printout in the window about Sentat Poultry.  It mentioned that their chickens were hormone and antibiotic free, free of GMO and pesticides, humanely raised and free roaming.  They were also awarded the Best Tasting Chicken Award from Bon Appetit in 2009.  Now my mouth was watering even more!  I asked the woman working in the truck if that was where the chicken came from, ‘She said yes they had been using them for some time’.

The food was delicious, little on the spicy side (they did warn me on the menu) which made me break into a sweat on this warm day as I sat in the Boston Common.

Later that day I did a little digging on Sentat Poultry.  Their website states that they are raised in Lancaster County, PA and processed on NJ (as does the sign above).  They are not really a local farm to MA and not on the list of farms on their website.  They list a farm in RI (Baffoni’s Poultry Farm) that also checks all the boxes for sustainably raised chickens – wonder why they didn’t use them since they were more local? Particularly since the main theme is to source local.  A Google search for Bon Apetit’s Best tasting chicken award (I was curious since I wanted to know who has won recently) did not come up with anything. Is there such a thing? Everything else about Sentat Poultry looks great (below is an excerpt from the website):

They do state Certified Humane above but could not find them on the Certified Humane website as an approved producer.

In short I love the concept, food tastes great and the transparency is admirable.  Just wish they used a New England Farm for the chicken since ‘local’ is all over their website.  Guess it depends upon your definition of local.

Meet the Farmer 2 – Lilac Hedge Farms

Continuing my search for local sustainable farmers I came across a farm located in Holden, MA (62 miles from my home) called Lilac Hedge Farm. Their website has a ton of information on their practices and farming philosophies.  If you want transparency then this website should have all the information you need.

One of the most interesting aspects of the website is the transparency of killing and processing process.  You don’t find that on most websites but on this farm’s website they don’t shy away from it.  It’s a good thing to raise animals in a natural way and an even better thing to ensure that they are slaughtered in as humanely a manner as possible.  Here is the section from Lilac Hedge Farm’s website on how they process their animals (link here) – not for the faint of heart!    I won’t go into the details of animal processing here – but one of the points that caught my attention is that Lilac Hedge Farms processes their beef at Adams Farm in Athol, MA (83 miles from my home).  This processing facility is the only facility in New England to have livestock holding pens designed by Temple Grandin who is regarded as the world’s foremost authority in the humane handling of animals.  For those that have not heard of Temple Grandin, she is an autism spokesperson (she is on the autism spectrum), a leading expert on livestock cognitive behavior, consultant to the livestock industry, prolific author and Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University.  I recommend that if you want to learn more about her check out her Wikipedia page. She has worked extensively with slaughterhouses to help design a more ‘humane’ experience during the slaughter process. Below is a quote from the wiki page from Temple Grandin which resonated with me:

“I think using animals for food is an ethical thing to do, but we’ve got to do it right. We’ve got to give those animals a decent life, and we’ve got to give them a painless death. We owe the animals respect”

So one Saturday morning in September I took my eldest son to Roslindale Farmers Market (6 miles from my house) to seek out the Lilac Hedge Farms stand.  The stand was very busy this Saturday when we were there.  The women at the register said they raise all their own animals (beef, chicken, pork, lamb) and she usually worked on the farm. The photo below also shows their pricing.  For comparison, their chicken breasts are $11.99/lb compared to $14.50 on Crowd Cow plus you also have to pay shipping(here is a link to my recent article on Crowd Cow).

I bought a pack of chicken drumsticks, thighs and boneless breast (I wanted all the parts to cook a chicken curry – need to bones for the gravy!) plus a pork butt roast (which I will smoke and make pulled pork) and some skirt steak (for fajitas).

Later that day I was preparing the chicken for the chicken curry.  I opened the pack of chicken breast(s) and found that the pack was actually one breast.  I had written before about how the chicken breasts I had bought from the Marble Creek Farmstead though Crowd Cow were so much smaller than you buy from the supermarket – most likely due to the fact that they were not grown with hormones.  However this chicken breasts was much larger but not as large as a supermarket chicken breast. I looked up the websites of both farms and both state that they raise Cornish broilers for chicken meat.  I guess MA chickens naturally grow larger than AL chickens?

(BTW the chicken curry was delicious – kids ate all their dinner!)