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!

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.

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.