How hotels bring farm-fresh goods to local tables

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1 Freshly made ravioli from Cascade American Bistro at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress How hotels bring farm-fresh goods to local tables by RONA GINDIN 32 edibleorlando.com fall 2012

Even the most locavore-loco among us decries Central Florida s lack of produce from area farms, artisan foods from nearby culinary craftsman and meats from regional ranches.

2 Even the most locavore-loco among us decries Central Florida s lack of produce from area farms, artisan foods from nearby culinary craftsman and meats from regional ranches. Some of us bop from event to crunchy event, picking up, say, tomatoes at a farmers market, homemade granola at a specialty shop and chef-smoked bacon at a harvest festival. Imagine what hotel chefs go through to get local goods. Whether they re feeding well-heeled travelers who prefer pesticide-free regional bounty in restaurants or via massive catering operations, the top culinarians put out hundreds or thousands of meals every day. They re fighting for the same Zellwood corn and Heart of Christmas lettuce leaves as the rest of us. Their efforts are as diverse as their menus. Some hotel chefs ignore the entire trend, saving themselves the added pressure of arduous procurement predicaments. Others highlight star area ingredients in only a signature dish or two. And then there are the fork-to-table fanatics, tracking down farmers, creating co-ops and generally restructuring traditional purchasing structures so they can infuse their menus with a majority of impressively sourced foodstuffs. Here we showcase some of Central Florida s lodging leaders, highlighting one dish apiece that celebrates nature s best, à la Sunshine State. Gaylord Palms Resort RESTAURANT Old Hickory Steakhouse CHEF Paul Player THE CONCEPT A classic American steakhouse with a modern twist featuring all-natural Black Angus beef, handcrafted cheeses and an extensive wine list A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Baked blackback flounder with roasted Zellwood corn and a citrus (local when in season) beurre blanc With 1,406 rooms, six restaurants and an extensive catering operation, the Gaylord Palms Resort churns through massive amounts of all foodstuffs, from tomatoes to fish fillets. Executive Chef Paul Player tried for years to use locally raised produce when possible but found CHEF PAUL PLAYER procurement a perpetual challenge. For the local guy to make money, they pretty much need me to buy their entire stock or it s not worth it for them, he recalls. Today Player receives loads of local bounty thanks to Osceola County Grown, which aims to connect farmers to restaurants. The goal is for one supplier to, say, buy from five farms and deliver the goods to 10 restaurants. This will work because the local farmers will sell in bulk and the chefs will get the county-raised greens. Player s main supplier, Red s Market [FreshPoint], works with area farmers. I tell them which farms I want them to buy from. They get my ingredients from there when the produce is available, then fill in with out-of-town goods when supplies are short, he says. As for fish, 90 percent of Gaylord s finny friends are from local waters, or at least are sustainable. Our purveyor has a list that s correlated with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration s watch list, he explains. Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort at Bonnet Creek RESTAURANT deep blu seafood grille CHEF Cory York THE CONCEPT Seafood restaurant dedicated to using local, sustainable and organic and otherwise sustainably grown and harvested ingredients whenever possible A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Space Coast mahi-mahi with Florida rock shrimp (in season), Gulf grouper, Cape Canaveral calamari, Waterkist Farms tomatoes and Healthy Living Farms fennel and leeks For Cory D. York, serving locally harvested and sustainable seafood is a culinary code of ethics. Insisting It s so important in this day and age that we follow our beliefs, the chef de cuisine of deep blu seafood grille is nearly fanatical about offering finfish and shellfish caught with respect for nature. With the help of Orlando supplier Gary s Seafood Specialties, York s menu might feature swordfish and mahi-mahi from the Atlantic Ocean and littleneck clams from the Gulf of Mexico. Since you can t always find wild halibut, as an example, and sometimes need farmed fish, York seeks out sustainable aquacultural sources. You know they provide proper feed, not ground up pieces of dog food or the same fish, he explains. Accompanying greens are provided by Mr. Greenjeans Produce, which delivers its goods with details on the local farms from which they come just so I know, York explains. York has been on a quest to learn all he can about top-quality seafood for seven years, and a recent visit to Spain confirmed to him that the American fall 2012 edibleorlando.com 33

standard of trucking things in, buying them for as little as we can get them and selling them as cheaply as we can isn t acceptable. In Spain, farm to fork is not a marketing tool. It s a way of life.

3 standard of trucking things in, buying them for as little as we can get them and selling them as cheaply as we can isn t acceptable. In Spain, farm to fork is not a marketing tool. It s a way of life. Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek RESTAURANT La Luce by Donna Scala CHEF Donna Scala THE CONCEPT Authentic modern Italian country cooking with fresh ingredients A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Roasted Tanglewood Farms half chicken with grilled Zellwood corn polenta finished with red pepper butter At her longtime California restaurant, Bistro Don Giovanni, Donna Scala receives fish live and basil daily. Imagine her challenge, then, when opening a restaurant in Orlando where that kind of food culture doesn t exist. Here, even if the basil is local and fresh, it s still a couple of days old, says Francis Metais, Food and Beverage Director for the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, the local restaurant s home. Procurement is serious business for Orlando s La Luce, and the chefs incorporate local products wherever they can. Examples are eggs from Ocoee s Lake Meadow Naturals, honey from Winter Park Honey, and, lately, some tiny strawberries that were so good we just cut them in half, macerated them in lemon for an hour and put a bit of crumble on top, Metais reports. A summer salad of locally raised butter lettuce was prepared with grilled sliced local peaches. It s a constant battle to find good products, Metais concedes. But it s worth it. Guests will say, Wow! How come this salad is so good? The reason is that the ingredients are good. The Peabody Orlando RESTAURANT Napa at The Peabody CHEF Jared Gross THE CONCEPT Wine Country themed, primarily organic and farm-to-fork restaurant incorporating local flavors A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Cioppino, a seafood stew of mussels and Florida calamari, lump crab, rock shrimp, mahi-mahi, local fennel and leeks, spicy Waterkist Farms tomato broth, paprika rouille and house-made focaccia crostini garnish Hilton Orlando RESTAURANT Spencer s for Steaks and Chops CHEF Kevin Spencer THE CONCEPT Classic steakhouse featuring Prime dry-aged beef and contemporary twists A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Grass-fed nat- Grass-fed filet mignon at Spencers for Steaks and Chops at the Hilton Orlando 34 edibleorlando.com fall 2012

4 Party Hearty Hotels get most of their foods from huge distributors, middlemen who haul goods from canned tuna to quinoa to kitchens back doors. The distributors stock raw items, too, from carrots to shrimp. Yet some Orlando-area catering chefs prefer to purchase certain ingredients from local farmers. There s a bit of Goliath-David in these relationships, yet they seem to work well. Simply, the catering chefs want greens and such grown in a natural way and delivered shortly after harvesting, traveling only a few miles. The farmers like having regular customers who place large orders. Essentially, the entire practice comes down to personal connections between the catering chefs and the folks who tend the plants or feed the pigs or harvest the catch from Florida waters. I met a lot of farmers at Slow Food Orlando functions and now we use what s here, what s local, what s fresh, says Nando Belmonte, executive chef of Loews Royal Pacific Resort, who also snips herbs for cocktails from an on-premise garden. He gets fish from Wild Ocean Seafood out of Titusville, pork from Palmetto Creek Farms in Avon Park and lettuce from Heart of Christmas Farms in east Orange County. Heart of Christmas grows the lettuces we want for us. We order it. They clip it, cut it and bring it out to us. It s that fresh. The catering team at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes has a similar relationship with King Farm out of Bradenton. They plant whatever vegetables I want to serve, says Executive Chef Sean Woods. Lately I ve been asking for heirloom tomatoes, corn, beans such as black- and pink-eyed peas, fennel, cucumbers and peaches. At the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin, Hammock Hollow Herb Farm has a lot of power. Every year, I get a list of what owner Charley Andrews is going to grow, and we plan our catering menus accordingly, says Executive Chef Robert Ciborowski. We know that November through late February we ll receive a ton of lettuces from baby romaine to red and green oak leaf. Then we ll get into the root vegetables like round baby turnips and broccoli rabe, and then later in spring we ll see beans and dandelion greens and chard. Challenges are inherent in sourcing from one small guy, of course. Sometimes due to weather factors my suppliers won t have something, Belmonte says. I might get a call saying, It was too hot and I lost my tomatoes or It has been raining a lot and the fruit is bruised. One solution, he says, is to shop backward. I ask what s available and plan my menus from there. Ciborowski agrees, noting that one week he might receive 63 boxes of a product, 12 the next if there s a freeze. When that happens, we simply source what we need with another farmer, he explains. At the Ritz-Carlton, Woods is careful to word banquet menus in general terms. We get our pork from Palmetto Creek Farms and it s always available, but I may only be able to get a certain quantity of some cuts, he says. So, I ll write Palmetto Creek Farms pork on the menu but not specify if it s loin or center cut or belly. He does the same thing with fish. That takes trust from meeting planners, but Woods has that trust from the ones who plan events at the hotel regularly. We ll sit down in our Chefs Table room and talk about how, say, the fish market is volatile and I may need to switch the type of fish two days before if I can t get their requested within 48 hours of being caught, Woods says. Local farmers can have higher prices than mega-farms, especially those with small-scale operations that use natural techniques rather than pesticides, antibiotics or hormones, depending on the product. The chefs agree that the issue isn t significant for fruits and vegetables, especially since the quality is higher. If I start with good ingredients, we don t have to do a lot to make it taste good, Ciborowski says. Plus, we know these guys aren t doing anything to harm the environment or the people who will eat their goods. Also, small farms have little in the way of packaging and marketing costs, which compensates for higher production expenses. The big guys spend money to print their names on bags, to seal boxes, to market themselves, etc., Ciborowski points out. Locally raised produce often has a long shelf life, the chefs agree. I get the product 24 to 48 hours after it s picked, Woods says, so the shelf life is literally weeks long. Produce from South America, by contrast, is picked, packed, shipped possibly boat and trucked here, so it could be a week old before it even gets to the United States. Center-of-the-plate proteins can have a significantly higher price point, Ciborowski notes. If someone wants a complete organic dinner with sustainable proteins in the center of the plate, that s where cost is affected. At the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes, being able to offer such products is key to getting and keeping group business. Some clients request that we source from local farmers because their companies have green initiatives, Woods reports. Ciborowski agrees with those initiatives. Eat organic and eat local as much as you can, he says. It helps small business owners such as farmers, you re not putting anything into your body that can harm you and, ultimately, the food just tastes better. Rona Gindin fall 2012 edibleorlando.com 35

ural filet mignon from White Oak Pastures in Georgia with Palmetto Creek pork belly, confit potatoes, Frangelico onions, English pea puree and trufflescented Lakeridge Winery cuvee noir www.

Right, The Wave of American Flavors at Disney's Contemporary Resort offers Atlantic yellowfin tuna on salad greens grown in Fellsmere tossed with Ruskin tomatoes and served with eggs from Dade City.

seafood A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Lake Meadow Naturals half chicken with roasted root vegetables and natural jus www.marriottworldcenter.

5 ural filet mignon from White Oak Pastures in Georgia with Palmetto Creek pork belly, confit potatoes, Frangelico onions, English pea puree and trufflescented Lakeridge Winery cuvee noir Left, A composed salad from Renaissance Orlando at Seaworld. Right, The Wave of American Flavors at Disney's Contemporary Resort offers Atlantic yellowfin tuna on salad greens grown in Fellsmere tossed with Ruskin tomatoes and served with eggs from Dade City. Orlando World Center Marriott RESTAURANT Hawk s Landing Steakhouse & Grille CHEF James Routhier THE CONCEPT Steakhouse with golf course views featuring Harris Ranch Prime dry-aged beef and local seafood A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Lake Meadow Naturals half chicken with roasted root vegetables and natural jus Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress RESTAURANT Cascade American Bistro CHEF Kyle Anderson THE CONCEPT Casual bistro featuring a melting pot of American and international cuisines with an emphasis on Food thoughtfully sourced, carefully served A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Florida rock shrimp ravioli with Cape Canaveral pink shrimp, Zellwood corn, local tomatoes and house-grown pea tendrils Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando RESTAURANT Islands Dining Room CHEF Nando Belmonte THE CONCEPT Pan-Asian cuisine with a twist incorporating local flavors A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Port Canaveral shrimp and papaya salad with Royal Red shrimp, green papaya, 3 Boys Farms hydroponic tomatoes, Heart of Christmas Farms organic baby greens and garlic-lime vinaigrette Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld RESTAURANT Catering department CHEF John Janucik A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Compressed local watermelon salad with Waterkist Farms heirloom tomatoes, basil, B & W Farms baby arugula, feta cheese and cayenne vinaigrette JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes RESTAURANT Primo CHEF Gilberto Ramirez THE CONCEPT Contemporary Italian cuisine emphasizing fresh ingredients including produce directly from the hotel s organic garden and local farms A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Pan-seared Florida snapper with Florida rock shrimp and Florida orange nage Disney s Contemporary Resort RESTAURANT The Wave of American Flavors CHEF Frank Brough THE CONCEPT Casual eatery blending seasonal American and international flavors, focusing on local and regional sourcing A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Atlantic yellowfin tuna on salad greens grown in Fellsmere and tossed with Ruskin tomatoes and served with naturally raised eggs from Dade City disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/thewave-restaurant Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotel RESTAURANT Todd English s bluezoo CHEF Chris Windus THE CONCEPT Coastal cuisine with international and New American culinary influences in an ethereal underwater Jeffrey Beers designed space A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Dirty South Swordfish barbecue-rubbed swordfish from Florida s east coast with Key West Littleneck clams, Hammock Hollow tomatoes, house-made smoked tasso risotto from Pasture Prime Farms pork and Cape Canaveral rock shrimp bluezoo Loews Royal Pacific Resort RESTAU- RANT Emeril s Tchoup Chop CHEF Gregory Richie THE CONCEPT Asian- Polynesian fusion cuisine in an exotic setting CHEF GREGORY RICHIE A FLORIDA CELEBRATION Panko-crisped Palmetto Creek Farms pork cheek gallette with peaches and house-made mustard-coriander vinaigrette 36 edibleorlando.com fall 2012

GARDENING WEEK 9 EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR GARDEN: FOOD PRESERVATION AND SEED SAVING

GARDENING WEEK 9 EXTENDING THE LIFE OF YOUR GARDEN: FOOD PRESERVATION AND SEED SAVING What we would like you to learn: 1. Learn about the history of food preservation. 2. Learn about different ways to