Lifestyles

The "farm-to-table" concept -- restaurants that patronize area farmers -- is steadily growing here, says Julie Speicher, marketing manager for the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.

One mission of PASA -- a nonprofit organization promoting farms that produce healthful foods while respecting the environment -- is networking to build markets for local and sustainably produced food. Until a few years ago, food service was a relatively untapped market, from independent restaurants to chain-level diners.

"What Pittsburghers do for fun is go out to eat," says Speicher. "And there are lots of places to eat, with interesting things to eat. And people are starting to care about what they eat and where it comes from. They want honesty."

While gourmet meccas such as San Francisco and New York City long have taken advantage of serving ingredients raised nearby, it's taken some area restaurateurs longer to realize that the farmer down the road is ready and willing to please.

"A few restaurants might have been buying directly from farmers for 20 years," says Speicher, "but the idea really is taking off now."

Some restaurants are crediting farmers on their menus -- perhaps bean sprouts from Mung Dynasty, portobellos from Creekside or Yukon gold potatoes from Laurel Valley Farms. On its menu, La Cucina Dolce restaurant, in Monroeville, makes a point of mentioning its support for area producers, such as Penn's Corner Farm Alliance, Fede Artisan Pastas and Jamison Farm lamb.

Better distribution methods have made connections easier, too, so it isn't necessarily up to the farmer to drive fresh-picked corn and lettuce to clients dozens of miles away. Speicher cites distributor Paragon/Monteverde Food Service, which specializes in locally grown and seasonal produce, meats, poultry and dairy, for streamlining what used to be time-consuming and costly for farmers, particularly concerning fuel and refrigeration expenses.

Even though this is not growing season, Paragon/Monteverde lists items on its Web site ready to deliver from producers in Allegheny, Butler, Lawrence, Westmoreland and Somerset counties -- from snow pea shoots to honey, and mushrooms to apples, with arugula and potatoes thrown in for good measure. Off-season produce is grown in greenhouses, some of it hydroponically.

Ann Haigh -- she and her husband, Peter, host "On the Menu," a weekly food and wine program on WURP-AM 1550, The Edge -- is happy to see Pittsburgh embracing "buy fresh, buy local" attitudes.

"I think they have gotten much more organized, and certainly PASA has helped," says Haigh, a restaurant critic, food writer and former restaurateur. She credits Slow Food Pittsburgh, a chapter of an international organization that promotes taste, tradition and the honest pleasures of food, as an important catalyst.

Primary players here have been corporate chef Bill Fuller, of big Burrito Restaurant Group; David Eson, PASA's director of Western Programs; Virginia Phillips, of Slow Food Pittsburgh; and Craig Richards, former executive chef at Lidia's Pittsburgh restaurant, she says.

The latest round of players in the "buy local" game are household names -- Eat'n Park Restaurants, and Levy Restaurants. The latter services PNC Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Eat'n Park announced an initiative last June called FarmSource SM to partner with local farmers in each of the communities it serves, emphasizing the grower with signs at its salad bars. Suppliers included Turner Dairy Farms, Wexford Farms, Laurel Vista Farm, Brenkle's Farm and Harvest Valley Farms.

And in January, Levy Restaurants began to explore a partnership with Allegheny East Special Produce, a hydroponic lettuce greenhouse operated by the Allegheny East Mental Health & Mental Retardation Center, says Michael G. Sperekas, Levy's general manager at the convention center.

"We're the largest 'green' building in the world (sustainable building design and construction), so we are doing everything to support the green aspect." Levy already has networked with PASA to purchase local farm produce, he says.

He and chef-supervisor Dan Andrasko recently met with Kate Bayer, director of development & marketing for Allegheny East, and greenhouse staff to look over bibbs, butterheads and baby arugula nurtured from seed at the site, part of a park along the Youghiogheny River Trail in the Buena Vista section of Elizabeth.

"The whole point (of the greenhouse) is to be a money maker so we can maintain the park," developed about 10 years ago to meet the special needs of Allegheny East clients as well as all disabled people, Bayer says.

"We're not funded by the government," she says, "so the lettuce will 'buy' the salaries for the workers and the fertilizer and so on."

The operation already sells to chefs through Paragon/Monteverde.

Says Sperekas, "The advantage we have is that our executive chef can give to the pound what we bought last year (for certain events). And each convention has registration, so we know how many are coming."

Andrasko, who grows herbs outdoors on the rooftop of the convention center, is interested in using a greenhouse concept at the Downtown facility so he can expand his gardening, with assistance from Allegheny East.

"We've got a huge space," he says. "We can probably go to town with it."

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