Mangia! Mangia!

Chicago.

Yet another great use for brebis, from the LA Times. Personally, I'm a big fan of the strawberry-brebis combination, though I'll bet that sour cherries - or even cranberries - would match well. Of course, they're all available locally¹ and well worth testing out.

Speaking of the glories of local food, tonight is REAP's Local Night Out. It's part of the Food For Thought Festival festivities, most of which'll be taking place on MLK Boulevard Saturday morning. It looks like a good mix of restaurants taking part this year, ranging from Roman Candle pizza to L'Etoile's elegant French cuisine². The gimmick, in line with REAP's local food emphasis, is to have local restaurants celebrate local food. It was fun last year, even if Sharon and I got to Roman Candle after they'd sold out of most of the night's specials. If you can go, go early.

While I'm at it... L'Etoile has been making a serious effort to showcase their producers through a series of special dinners. Willow Creek pork, Fountain Prairie beef, and now a vegetarian dinner paired with wines from California's Central Coast region³. And Braise, which isn't a restaurant yet⁴, will be catering a special five-course dinner at Fountain Prairie. A few weeks ago, there'd been one at JenEhr Family Farm, as well.

And on top of all of this, it's a mere week and a half until the eleven-course dinner⁵ at Fountain Prairie. Will everything be ready?⁶ Will it all come out as planned?⁷ At the very least, will everyone have a good time?⁸ I guess we'll see.

* * * * *

¹In Madison, that is. Perhaps in Chicago, though getting fresh, local food takes much more effort in the city.

²What I wonder is this: is Tory doing anything different from usual?

³I know there were others. I just can't recall them.

⁴My understanding is that a series of complications - including a building lease that fell through - have kept chef David Swanson from actually having a bricks-and-mortar setup just yet.

⁵Still not revealing the menu, which is still in a bit of flux. Should be 99% of the way there this weekend, though.

⁶Given the amount of effort going into early preparations, it had better be. I'll be ready for free time again once the dinner's over.

⁷Probably not. Something always goes wrong, usually last minute. Not that this is necessarily a problem, but it's something I've come to expect when I take on complicated tasks.

⁸They'd better, damn it.