Nature's Bounty

Ben Bebenroth's idea of bringing people out to area farms for dinner just doesn't get old. The chef and owner of  Spice Kitchen and Bar has been doing it since 2005, and I've attended these Plated Landscape Dinners multiple times, most recently earlier this month at Muddy Fork Farm near Wooster. It was as magical and memorable as ever.

The weather, the astonishingly good food, and grower Monica Bongue, who supplied just-picked ingredients including the asparagus served for our first course, made the event perfect, and that's a word I don't use often or casually. The long table, set up in a grassy space between the rhubarb patch, some fruit trees and the chicken coop, was covered in white linen and set with wine glasses and wildflowers. Six minute eggs and freshly made hollandaise came out of the temporary outdoor kitchen. Walleye, skirt steak and bread were grilled on a grate suspended over a campfire. Before the meal, guests got tours of the beautiful property from Bongue, who operates the farm with the help of her husband, as well as passed hors d'oeuvres and an excellent cocktail featuring ginger syrup and tequila. Well-paired reds and whites were poured with every course. Service, under the watchful, seasoned eye of Jess Edmonds, who favors dresses and cowboy boots, was impeccable. Ducks waddled by, the dog barked, the hens clucked, birds sang, breezes blew, the sun set with a gorgeous glow, the band played on and the world was a happy place.

You can make reservations for your own enchanted evening. There are dinners scheduled through October. My husband, Barney Taxel, took photos that show why you should.

  

After Party, After Sandy

 I was hanging out at Noodlecat late Saturday night,  mingling with some of the hard working chefs who so generously donated time and talent to the utterly fabulous and financially successful West Side Market Gala. As if he hadn't already done enough,  'Cat owner and chef extraordinaire Jonathon Sawyer, who worked with Michael Symon on the big fundraiser, rolled out the welcome mat for an afterparty. He wanted to be sure that those who worked the main event also had a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy some nice food and drink. Ben Bebenroth, who's own Spice Kitchen and Bar had been closed last week due to the power outages that crippled so many Cleveland neighborhoods, was outside grilling.

Eric Williams and I chatted about how Storm Sandy had hurt us here. Momocho, his Ohio City restaurant, was dark for three days. He lost about $5,000 worth of food and the building suffered some serious wind and water damage. He estimates his total losses at $15, 000, a lot for a small business but not much, we agreed, compared to the hit taken by those on the east coast, including some of the chefs scheduled to be here for the Gala. I mentioned reading an article in The New York Times about how tough things were for that city's hourly wage workers: their desperate attempts to get to work despite the dangers and transportation shut down because they couldn't afford to miss a day of work, and the despair of those who  lost desperately needed income when their employers didn't or couldn't open for business. Williams told me that, worried about his own people, he had gone to the bank, made a cash withdrawal and paid his staff for the days Momocho was shuttered. "I did it," he said, "because it was the right thing to do."

He didn't tell me this to boast or make himself look good. I wasn't on the job and he had no reason to think I'd write about it. We were just two people chatting about what had been going on. But thinking about it afterwards, I realized that I wanted to share the conversation because it encapsulates both some of the grief the hurricane left in its wake and the way people step up to help one another in times of crisis. The entire evening- the super efforts Symon and Sawyer made to find replacements for the chefs from out of town who were not able to make it here; how everyone pulled together to insure that the fundraiser went ahead as planned including Williams who cooked for the event; Bebenroth showing up with his usual smile despite a hellish week and troubles of his own; and my exchange with Eric- was a little story within a big a disaster and a testament to resiliency and goodness.

Gordon Square District Goings-On

The husband and I decided to start off our evening with a stop at Happy Dog last Friday night. We parked across Detroit, on West 58th Street and noticed lights on inside Spice Kitchen and Bar, the soon-to-open restaurant on the corner. I went up close for a look and spotted Ben Bebenroth, chef and owner, hard at work. He put down his paintbrush to unlock the door for us.

With his dad’s help, he was just about done applying the final coats of taupe, beige and white to the once candy-colored walls. They were putting in some extra after dark hours because the pressure’s on to ready the place for a special New Year’s Eve Preview Pop-Up Dinner. There will be two seatings for the five-course prix fixe menu. Four Bells Sparkling will be on tap for the event, just one of the festive beverages available.

Bebenroth, and his food, have quite the following, so tickets have been selling fast. But as of five nights ago, there were still some spots available. Call 216-432-9090 for prepaid reservations.

Then he’s closing to finish the makeover and organize the staff, but only briefly if all goes according to plan (does it ever?), the restaurant should be completely ready and serving meals Tuesday through Saturday toward the end of the second week in January.

It was nice chatting with Ben, but we were hungry, so we headed on to Happy Dog. The bar was wall to wall people, a rowdy crowd gathered to enjoy the particular peculiar pleasure of DJ Kishka and his annual Christmas show (he does his thing there monthly). I was in need of food, not polka tunes, and I feared the servers would never find us in the bouncing boozing mob. Luckily there was an alternative close at hand: Underdog.

The proprietors of the tavern cleaned and remodeled the basement, turning it into another seating area and underground playroom for grown-ups. It’s been open just a couple of months. A long shuffleboard runs parallel to the bar. There are three old-fashioned pinball machines and a large screen for cartoons. On Thursdays only, a limited number of burgers, 24 to be exact, are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. The rest of the time, it’s the same menu as upstairs: hot dogs and your choice of 50 toppings (as many as you want) that run the gamut from traditional (house-made ketchup, dill pickle and baked beans) and ethnically eclectic (Brazilian chimichurri, Korean kim chee, and Thai chile and garlic sauce), to gourmet (Brie, black truffle honey mustard and wasabi aioli) and kind of out there (chunky peanut butter, caramel applesauce and chipotle hollandaise).

I was restrained, choosing a modest three, and relatively conventional in my selections (Guinness sauerkraut, caramelized onions and barbecue sauce) and very happy with the result. I washed it down with a cold Shiner Bock. The husband ventured into more creative territory with Oaxacan red chile and chocolate mole. An order of tater tots arrived and disappeared in short order too.

We ate, we drank, we ran into people we know and were glad we’d decided to cross the river and make a visit to one of Cleveland’s coolest up and coming neighborhoods.

Spicing Up the Options

I’m happy to be the bearer of some really good news. The recently formed culinary dream team of chefs Ben Bebenroth and Andy Strizak, both highly regarded champions of sustainable agriculture and the local food movement, are going beyond the catering they’re known for and the on-farm dinner series Plated Landscapes that’s done nothing but grow since Bebenroth launched it five years ago. The duo is starting a restaurant, a first for both. But the vision is for something that goes way beyond the ordinary arrangement of tables and chairs. Over drinks at Flying Fig, Ben and his wife, Jackie, shared the details of the multi-part, multi-phase project.

Spice Kitchen + Bar will open, once renovations are completed, in the spot at the corner of Detroit and West 58th Street that has recently housed a succession of restaurants (La Boca, Roseangel, and the short-lived La Boca Barrio). No date yet. But you can follow the progress of the transformation at thespiceblog.com. The space became available unexpectedly, and as Ben tells it, “We saw this as an incredible opportunity that fell in our lap. But we had only seven days to react and make a decision.” They went for it. In keeping with the philosophy and made-from-scratch style the chefs are known for, expect a menu of simple, familiar dishes rooted in the best of what’s grown and raised in Northeast Ohio. Think of it as good in every way: good tasting; good quality; good for your health, the environment and the community.

In stage II, sometime in 2012, The Spice Rack, inspired by Karen Small's Market at the Fig, will be doing business in a small connected storefront, offering a selection of local, artisan food products, prepared items from the restaurant and maybe even some supplies for home gardeners. Conceivably, you could stop in to pick up a lunchtime burrito to go, a jar of salsa plus a pound of stone-ground cornmeal to use later that night and a package of heirloom tomato seeds. Then there’s the plan to reinvent the patio with edible landscaping in containers and raised beds so it can accommodate diners and also supply the kitchen, with more ingredients coming from a plot of land behind the parking lot that they’ll put under cultivation and the 10,000-square-foot garden, complete with two hoop houses to extend the growing season in Ben and Jackie’s backyard. All these agricultural efforts are grouped under the name Spice Acres.

This location is also going to be headquarters and home base for Spice of Life, the parent company for this whole family of brands and projects, including the well-established catering operation, Plated Landscape events, and farmers market food stands.

They acknowledge that their undertaking is an ambitious one. It’s going to be a slow, incremental, step-by-step process. Let’s wish them well, show our support by showing up when the lights go on and count ourselves lucky that these people are committed to pursuing their dreams here.


Image by Bloom Photography, courtesy of Spice of Life

More Dirt

Last week I wrote a post titled One Night [Farm] Stands about a couple of special fieldside dinners. Turns out there’s a veritable bumper crop of chefs going rural this summer. More meals cooked and served where animals are raised and produce is grown are scheduled for August, so I’m spreading the word.

Jim Denevan, founder of Outstanding in the Field, is the unofficial granddaddy of the forks-in-the-field concept. He started doing it in California in 1999 and later took the events on the road, partnering with acclaimed regional chefs around the country. The bus (there really is one) stops at Thaxton’s Organic Garlic, a picturesque 10-acre spread in Hudson on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. Fred Thaxton, a science teacher at Cleveland Heights High School, and wife Lisa, in the same profession, started planting as a hobby in 2000. They now harvest a dozen varieties that are prized by local chefs and sold at area farmers markets. The menu is in the more-than-able hands of our own Jonathon Sawyer, of Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat fame, so no doubt the food will be extraordinary. garlic harvest at Thaxton family farm

But be prepared for some sticker shock: The price, $180 per person, is set by Denevan’s organization, not Sawyer. If this doesn’t scare you off, best to make your reservations immediately to be sure of getting a seat at the communal table.

Next up is an Emerging Chefs shindig on the evening of Friday, Aug. 19, with Kimberly McCune. She’s the founder/owner, with partner Scott Roitblat who’ll be cooking with her, of Vine and Dine, a company that offers catering and personal chef services with an emphasis on healthy, locally sourced products. They’re calling this casual family-style supper in Geauga County ReHival because McCune is introducing her very own microbrew, ReHive Ale. It will be produced by Buckeye Beer Engine and available to the public in September, which just happens to be national honey month. But guests at this “Return to Earth Dinner” on Meadowlane Farms in Newbury, five minutes from Chardon, will get first sips of these suds along with dishes made from ingredients gathered within a 50 mile radius of where you’ll be eating. Go to the website to purchase tickets ($69.57 each and get information about overnight accommodations.

Plated Landscapes, the on-the-farm dinner series created by Ben Bebenroth of Spice of Life Catering, has been going strong since 2006. These well-planned and perfectly executed multicourse feasts combine the trappings of fine dining with the laid-back beauty of natural settings. He has three scheduled for this month that aren’t sold out … yet: Saturday, Aug. 13, Muddy Fork Farm in Wooster; Friday, Aug. 19, Auburn Twin Oaks Winery in Auburn; and Friday, Aug. 26, Morgan Farm Stay in Ashland. To make reservations, get driving and ask questions about the menus, call 216-432-9090 or email jess@spiceoflifecaters.com with the subject "Plated Landscapes." Check out the online calendar to see what’s planned for September and October.

Muddy Fork Farm, Plated Landscapes, 2010

Meal With A Mission

Somewhere in the world a person waits for a wheelchair or a walker that could change their housebound life; a doctor is in desperate need of a stethoscope or surgical dressings; health clinic staff yearn for a portable x-ray machine and a few blood pressure cuffs. Such things are plentiful here and hard to come by in many third world countries and underserved communities around the globe. Medwish International, a local non-profit founded in 1993, recovers lifesaving, life changing surplus medical supplies and equipment and redistributes them to developing nations.

On May 21st, from 7-10 PM, the 40,000 square foot warehouse on Euclid Avenue where stuff is stacked and stored before being shipped overseas is also a party center. It’s the 2011 Band Aid Bash, the organization’s annual fundraiser. Guests get music, a video conference with a recipient hospital, and food. But no rubber chicken for this charity bash. This year’s fabulous eats are provided by the highly regarded Spice of Life Catering. Linking up mission and menu, Chef Ben Bebenroth prepares dishes from parts of the world Medwish serves: Caribbean jerk chicken and plaintains; African inspired breads and dips; Middle Eastern lamb vindaloo; and South American style grilled flank steak with chimichurri sauce.

Live and silent auctions include many unique and appealing culinary experiences:
-A wine- and cheese-tasting with Brandon Chrostowski, of L'Albatross, for you and ten of your closest friends
-Two seats at a Spice of Life Plated Landscape Dinner
-An opportunity to cook in the kitchen of "Fire," side-by-side with chef Doug Katz, and then enjoy a champagne brunch
-Dinner for four custom-created by Paladar’s executive chef Robert Cabrales.
-Tickets to the next Emerging Chefs event "Big Flavors. Bold Venues."

Think about this. You get your money’s worth in good food and good times. And what you’ve spent means babies and their mothers have a better shot at surviving, kids can grow up healthy, and their elders are more likely to reach a ripe old age. That’s quite a return on your investment. And those who focus their contributions on environmental causes should know that in 2010 Medwish kept 450 tons of medical surplus designated for disposal out of landfills by getting it to those who needed it. Tickets and info at MedWish . Those who don’t attend can get in on the giving-and some of the goodies- by making a bid in the online auction or purchasing a chance to win a classic sportscar.

Food from the Ground Up

Much of the food on our plates starts in the soil. That’s easy to forget, especially if much of what you buy comes in boxes, cans and jars. Even the big bargain bag of chips -- so many steps removed from the natural world -- depends on corn or potatoes that spring up out of the dirt. Three upcoming events connect us to the simple yet significant fact. They’ll do it from three very different perspectives.

RIPE, Sept. 24-26, is a new family focused festival at the Cleveland Botanical Garden that’s bringing the local food movement a little closer to home. In addition to putting farmers and the restaurant chefs that support them in the spotlight, it aims to educate visitors about how doable and pleasurable it is to grow your own food. The brainchild of Kari Moore, founder of FarmShare Ohio and leader of the Northern Ohio Slow Food group, and Doug Katz of fire food and drink, this is the first time for this event. Expect good things to eat; a marketplace of area vendors selling, jams, honey, herbs and green products; cooking demos; and all kinds of how-to sessions on a variety of topics from canning to composting. Complete program, tickets and more information available here. Five-course Harvest Moon preview dinner on Thursday.

Ben Bebenroth will be one of the cooks for that feast. He’s the man behind the Plated Landscape dinner series and partner in Spice of Life Catering. A self-described “woods stomper” who’s been camping and finding forest edibles since he was a boy, the chef has decided to share some of his stalking expertise. He’s the instructor and guide for a course in food foraging sponsored by the Continuing Education department of Case Western Reserve University. Foraging, according to a recent article I read, is the next big thing in the foodie universe. Bebenroth's three expedition series, September 22nd, 29th and October 6th, from 10 a.m.–1 p.m., is open to the public and costs $75. Modern day hunter-gathers will scour the meadows and forests of the School’s 389-acre University Farm in Chagrin Falls and get some instruction on what to do with their harvest. I hope to be among them. To register, call 216-368-2090.


A benefit dinner for R.E.A.P. is scheduled for Oct. 3 at Dante Restaurant in Tremont. The acronym stands for The Refugee Empowerment Agricultural Program. It is part of a larger collaborative effort involving the Ohio City Fresh Food Collaborative, which operates a 6-acre farm at West 24th Street and Bridge Avenue, Refugee Response, the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation and Great Lakes Brewing Company. The farm, on formerly vacant land behind an apartment complex, is an amazing and spirit-lifting sight. The training initiative employs 15 immigrants: They’re getting a fresh start in their new home, and the community gets fresh locally grown food. Chef Dante Boccuzzi will incorporate vegetables they’ve raised into the meal. Grazing stations serve from 6-9 p.m., but show up at 4:30, and you can board a Lolly Trolley for a tour of the farm with wine and cheese. Tickets are $100, $75 for dinner only and can be obtained by calling the Refugee Response office, 216-236-3877, or e-mailing info@refugeeresponse.org. Seating is limited. Chef, who has a generous heart and a philanthropic bent, is doing more than raising money for the group. He’s offering one of the refugees the opportunity to build career skills by working with him in the restaurant’s kitchen. It's a chance that could change a life.