Phillip Frankland Lees all-vegetable Studio City restaurant, the Gadarene Swine, just went entirely vegan. Not so youd notice. The chef, who also owns Scratch Bar in Beverly Hills, says only one dish was left on the menu that wasnt vegan olives in a honey and lime sauce. But now hes replacing the honey with palm sugar and with that single change, the restaurant is vegan-friendly.

The operative word is friendly. Lee is into vegetables in all their permutations and many of the dishes feature one element, cauliflower, say, prepared myriad ways. We dont serve any fake meat or fake cheese, says Lee with an audible shudder. Right now, less than 15% of our customers are even vegetarians. Say what? He likes to define Gadarene Swine as a fine dining restaurant with a focus on fruit and vegetables. Period. The motto on the website is "vegetables elevated."

I never want to win the award for best vegan restaurant. I want to win the award for best restaurant, says Lee.

Going full-tilt vegan isnt the only change afoot at the 6-month-old restaurant. Hes just finished building an outdoor bar that hes dubbed the Wine Garden, which will open on April 1. There, hell be offering two beers plus a red, white and sparkling wine at $5 all day every day. The patio has lots of greenery and should be a great place to while away some time over a glass of wine or beer and some small plates from the new a la carte menu.

Starting April 1, hes also going to be doing a brunch/lunch menu all week long, basically from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Every day. Hes still working out the details of the menu, but he will reveal that it will include fresh-pressed juices and a peanut butter sandwich made with house-baked bread and cranberry jelly. And then at5 p.m., hell start his playfultasting menus, but the a la carte menu will still be available for those who just want a bite or something more casual.

The tasting menu is all chefs choice. When the server rings it in, the order reads just course one, course two. Each menu is custom-tailored to suit customers likes (or dislikes). For the chef, its freedom.

In other news, Lee has also promoted his sous chef Marty Shield to the position of chef de cuisine. Until now, Lee hasbeen doing everything himself, going back and forth over the hill between his two restaurants. Hesays that in two years hes had at most 15 days off, and thats probably an exaggeration.

He and his wife, Margarita, who expedites plates at the restaurants, spent their second anniversary working. Its kind of funny thats what we do on our anniversary. But what else are we going to do? he says.Its a beautiful life. I wake up in the morning and go to my restaurants. Thats my life and I love it.

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The Gadarene Swine goes vegan, adds wine garden

GREELEY, Colo. (AP) Were it not for the grain silos, Hereford might flash across the rear view mirror, passing entirely unnoticed by most traveling motorists.

The unincorporated Weld County community sits just 2 miles south of the Wyoming state line on the northern edge of the Pawnee National Grassland. To find its exact location takes some planning Hereford is not listed on the map, nor are its neighboring farm communities.

Rebecca Talmadge, co-owner of S T Organics, estimates between 15 and 20 people call her community home.

The grain silos that mark the town's skyline belong to Talmadge and her family.

While Hereford may appear sleepy to the naked eye, its grain elevator has a far-reaching impact on the organic food market both locally and nationally.

Organic grain farmers turn to Talmadge's elevator to store their wheat, barley, oats and corn harvested in northern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Much of this grain will eventually land on grocery store shelves, providing flour for organic breads and feed for organically produced milk.

When S T Organics took over the community's grain elevator in 2007, the Talmadges found that while many producers in the area were already farming organically, they struggled to find storage options and get certified.

The company now provides a once-elusive resource for area farmers to both store their grain and submit consultations on getting organic certification.

"The ones that didn't have storage options, they basically didn't certify organic, even though they were farming organically anyway. They just didn't do the paperwork and sold it on the conventional market," Talmadge said. "So they were losing financially because of the differences in the commodity prices."

While an organic farmer cannot guarantee notably higher prices every season, organic grains typically yield a higher market price than their conventional counterparts.

Originally posted here:
Rural Weld County finds booming business in organic grains