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….

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.