Farm To Table To Sponsor ‘For The Love Of Pittsburgh’ Food Tasting

In the middle of a cold Pittsburgh winter, a Farm to Table Local Food Tasting might seem like an unfeasible event to pull off.

Even though local produce is hard to find now in this region, Erin Hart, director of health-benefit services for American HealthCare Group, the sponsor of Farm to Table, says it’s a great time of year “to slow down and savor the winter offerings of local farms and food producers.”

Those offerings include greens, squash, potatoes, apples, onions and garlic; shelf staples such as canned goods, honey and maple syrup; and all kinds of meats, eggs and cheeses.

The first “For the Love of Pittsburgh” Farm to Table Local Food Tasting will take place Feb. 8 at Pittsburgh Public Market in the Strip District.

Read more: http://triblive.com/lifestyles/fooddrink/7509114-74/farm-local-pittsburgh#ixzz3QvMNhKKN
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Restaurants Renew Farm-To-Table Dining Concept In York County. Has Its Time Come?

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting York County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The walls of Tutoni’s in York are covered with chalkboards — one displaying cuts of a pig, another showing different types of cheese — each with a description of where the food came from.

The pork loin, for example, was once a Heritage pig that roamed free on Rettland Farm in Adams County.

Bright green arugula leaves, one chalkboard says, were grown in the greenhouses of Brogue Hydroponics in Chanceford Township.

Soft, silky mozzarella was made at Caputo Brothers Creamy in Jackson Township.

Read more: http://www.ydr.com/local/ci_26566765/farm-table-dining-has-failed-york-county-before

Kickstarting A Braddock Restaurant: Kevin Sousa’s Superior Motors

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When chef Kevin Sousa last year announced plans to open a fourth restaurant in Braddock, one of the Pittsburgh area’s poorest boroughs, it was big news. Not only would the high-end destination eatery in the 1929 Couda Building give Pittsburghers one more place to enjoy Mr. Sousa’s award-winning modern cuisine, but it also would bring much-needed life to a town all but left for dead.

Then reality set in.

While various grants from the county and Heritage Community Initiatives were to raise upwards of $300,000 for renovations, the dilapidated structure at the corner of Eighth and Braddock avenues would end up needing way more resources. Too many dollars, in fact, to make the ambitious project feasible. Magarac — as the restaurant was to be named after the imaginary Croatian steelmaking folk hero — was about to be history before it even got started.

Without rich investors or bankers willing to take a chance, Mr. Sousa had to change direction this fall to keep his dream alive. First up was finding a new building that would prove cheaper, quicker and easier to build out. Second was coming up with a creative source of financing to pay for it.

With Mayor John Fetterman’s help, he’s hoping to hit on both cylinders.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/life/dining/2013/12/05/Kickstarting-the-Braddock-restaurant/stories/201312050096#ixzz2md7YTAqp