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!

Legume Bistro – Farm to table gem in Steel City

I was lucky enough to visit Pittsburgh recently and even luckier an old friend was available to meet for dinner.  She said I could pick the restaurant and I picked Legume since their menu mentioned some local farms – we were not disappointed. I was drawn in by this statement on their website:

“To provide customers with high quality food and gracious service in a warm, casual atmosphere at a good value that is, as much as we can know, sourced and produced in a way that nourishes the well-being of our community, as well as the lives of our employees, customers, and people we do business with.”

How could you not be?  And I loved this:

“We proudly source 100% of the pork, chicken, lamb and goat we serve from Western PA.  We occasionally  work with non-local meat and poultry items which aren’t commonly raised in Western PA, including antelope, goose, duck, veal, and pheasant.  Most of the beef we use is also from Western PA and we sometimes supplement with hormone-free antibiotic-free that is less local, as indicated on the menu. We receive deliveries of fresh seafood six days a week.”

They also change their menu daily and post it at 5pm every day.  The night we were there they had a Ribeye from Jubilee Hilltop Ranch (which my friend chose) and a Jamison Farms Lab Leg (which I chose).  Both were absolutely delicious.

I am going to let the words from the Jubilee Hilltop Ranch website describe their practices:

“The herds of grass-fed cattle raised at the Jubilee Hilltop Ranch produce only the finest all-natural angus beef. With carefully-chosen grasses for optimal nutrition, humane farming practices and rotational grazing in our pastures on the beautiful hillsides of southern Pennsylvania, we take the utmost care of our livestock. All of this preparation leads to a number of health, taste and environmental benefits that we pass along to our customers”

It looks like they do offer their beef to retail customers through a share but you will have to pick it up or call it get it shipped.  They are about a 2 hour drive east of Pittsburgh.

From the Jamison Farms website:

“The rolling Appalachian foothills are home to John & Sukey Jamison and their flock of sheep and lambs. There the sheep and lambs frolic and nibble on bluegrass, white clover, wild flowers and seasonal grass pastures with access to freechoice haybales throughout the winter months. Their 100% natural diet and free range lifestyle yield meat that is lean, firm, tender, delicate and pink, free of hormones, antibiotics, herbicides and insecticides.”

The website lists a bunch of different cuts for sale and also sausages, pie’s etc which can be shipped.  They are located in Latrobe, PA which is about an hour drive east of Pittsburgh.

A check of the menu today showed that they also listed the Jubilee Hilltop ranch ribeye on yesterday’s menu.  They also listed other meat dishes such as Grass-fed tartare, halibut, Scottish trout, Jamaican Pork stew and chicken under a skillet. Unfortunately they did not list the actual source of the proteins for these dishes.  We can assume that they are from local sources according to their website but would be good to list just like they listed the Jubilee Hilltop ranch ribeye.

Next door they have a more casual bar called Butterjoint that also served food.  On their menu they have pierogies (it is Pittsburgh), appetizers (beef tartare but doesn’t say grass fed) and burgers.  The meat from the burgers is from Thoma beef according to the menu today which is a meat market in Western PA.  Their website says that they source all their meat from local farmers and livestock auctions.  No mention of specific farms and I guess we can assume these are all pasture and humanely raised animals?

I love what they are doing at Legume needs to be more of it and the more transparency the better.