Tom Spicer

Greetings from Spiceman,

In case you haven’t heard, Mitch Kauffman at Urbano and I are throwing down what looks to be a sold-out wing ding in my garden at FM 1410. There may be some sections C (compost bin) seating or section R (red ant pile) seating available but I’m not certain about that. The event is next Thursday May 24th BYOB, 6:pm doors open, 6:30 pm Food (buffet) 7:pm Music, some seating (chairs) available but bring a blanket for sitting down on the garden floor. Some Urb-an’ Spice in the garden so to speak. My gumbo, his Chef Ke’o is pitt roasting a pig (w/out lipstick) and we’re both coming up with sides a couple of which I plan to make ala vegetarian (fresh shelled peas, salads, corn bread and mo’) .Ladies, please where garden flats/shoes, and dudes…. please, no spike heels and certainly no leather chaps cuz it may be a bit too warm.

Unedited inventory list below.

Early this morning I picked up a few cases of spring onions (yellow “sweet 16’s”) from an east Texas farmer, not organic. Sorry… no appologies. Oh and…ran out of ca$h to get peaches and berries.

I also met the pea people to get 10 x 15# bags of assorted fresh shelled peas (creamers, pintos, limas, purple hulls and black eyed)

Then on to Love Field cargo facility to get freshly flown in wild and cultivated exotic mushrooms.

Gyromitra, aka flase or snow bank morel (not for novice foodies, look it up and proceed with caution)

Morels, i.e. true morels

Coral Mushrooms, aka cauliflower mushrooms, a little hard to clean but commonly eaten.

Fiddle heads are already commited but I’ll try to reserve 1# for retail.

Hen O’ Woods or Maitake mushrooms

Baby Shiitake we also sport a few imported, cultivated mushrooms like oyster and beech (aka shimejii, or crab mushrooms)

So most of you know that for our “retail shoppers” we mix them in an 8 oz bag for $10 …. Spiceman’s “Dime bag O’ shrooms”

The thing about my so called “retail store” is that it is not buffed out like a regular produce department which btw… is extremely wastefull yet a neccessary service but here in my store front, the “retail” aspect is more that I open my doors to anyone, let me say that again, ANYONE who’s brave, epicurious or crazy enough to walk in. I don’t have much of a sign but there IS a sign right above my door

My concept is that I’m kind enough to share with those people what ever I have on hand for my “chef based” traffic, wether the chefs pick it up or I deliver it gives cause for some of the best and/or different and freshest edible items one would hardly expect to find any where to be HERE. So be here now, hmmmmmm…. I like the sound of that, perhaps I should trade mark it.

My garden is turning over for summer plantings however, there’s plenty of radishes and various, adapted summer greens (exotic edible weeds) and many fresh herb varieties.

AssortMints, e.g. chocolate,orange and spearmints along with sweet basil, rosemary, thyme and the last of the fresh, green corrianderberries.

Squash Blossom are hit or miss, I have some on hand today.

Last but not least… g00se eGGs @ $3 each, that can be everything, let me think (got in trouble last time I did that)but, but,

OH yeah, The HERBMOBILE IS OUT AND ABOUT with Pandora’s produce box on board load with with the HerbOfWars driven by Jake with lots of deals to make.

The FM 1410 local produce Market and garden is located @ 1410 B (stands for “Between” the 2 Urbano Cafe’s) N. Fitzhugh

Ave. , Dallas, Tx. 75204 (google earth it). The garden is out back

Retail hours of operation are roughly 10:am to 5:pm mons-sats

Wholesale hours zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, you’re prolly still sleeping.

We accept $$$, visa, mastercard, magic beans and ? o.b.o

Store #214-954-7974 we answer “Spiceman’s FM 1410 produce market, Spiceman speaking”

Smoked Steelhead Trout with beet-horseradish puree, red onion, pickled celery, and apple (photos by Carol Shih)

Jeff Harris first appeared on my radar at the 11^th Annual Stephan Pyles Celebrity Chef Diner and Auction that took place at Stephan Pyles Restaurant. I knew he was execuchef of Craft at the W Dallas Victory Hotel but I hadn’t visited the restaurant or sampled his food.  At the event he produced Duck Cavatelli, Swiss Chard and Shaved Foie Gras. He successfully juxtaposed earthy, sweet, and bitter sensations in perfect proportions. It was one of those rare, out-of-the blue  “Great Dish Moments.” I resolved to become a regular customer.

Jump for the plot twist.

Veal Sweetbreads with smoked egg purée, sherry-maple gastrique, bacon lardons, pickled peppers and lime zest (Carol Shih)

In January 2011, it looked like he would carve his name indelibly on the Dallas food-o-sphere when it was announced he would have his own gig, Redfork. Harris paired with York Street alum Matt Balke Harris made a dynamic duo and it looked like their talent would draw the crowds necessary to “Hendersonize”  the road all the way to Jimmy’ Food Store. Moving out from the corporate umbrella at the W, educated palates in Dallas felt Harris would  project his own identity. People would stop complementing with “I thought you were great in A Man Called Horse.”[Ed. note: He's on his own here!]

A month after opening Redfork, the dream was over. The restaurant’s backer wanted something different and Harris and Balke left. Redfork’s new incarnation lasted just four months. A Vietnamese restaurant is scheduled to open in the space soon. The building will have gone almost full circle since its first days as a Chinese buffet.

Harris didn’t wait around. Two months after leaving Redfork, he and Balke joined Bolsa, the pioneering Oak Cliff farm-to-table eatery. It is hard to imagine a more philosophically compatible successor to Graham Dodds (now execuchef at Central 214), the chef who put the restaurant on the map as a leader in the farm-to-table movement and a source of the Bolsa mantra of four-star food at two-star prices (that sounds like a culinary Hotwire).

I got a chance to see and taste Harris’ new menu at a media event last week and I think it will please Bolsa diners as much as any of the former menus there.

Lamb breast with tuscan kale, kalamata olives, and baby artichokes (Carol Shih)

A starter of Smoked Steelhead Trout ($12) with beet-horseradish purée, red onion, pickled celery and granny smith apple was a welcome change from the ubiquitous salmon appetizers. There are some strong flavors there: beets are unmistakable. Horseradish, ditto. Granny smiths are tart (even if the rumors of Granny Smith being a tart aren’t true). But it works. There is even a textural interest maintained by the slices of picked celery against the oily-fleshed fish.

An Asparagus & Sugar Snap Pea ($10) salad was delivered with breakfast radish, black olives, cherry tomatoes, ricotta salata (TRENDING!), and lemon crème fraîsche vin. An especially good choice if this warm weather continues. It would go well with a rosé wine. Bolsa “Grand Fromage,” Chris Zielke, paired it with one from Red Caboose Winery and Vineyards, a Meridian, Texas winery that does a better job with its wines than it does with its web site.

For entrées, the Windy Meadows Farm Chicken ($19) with fiddlehead ferns, spring peas, roasted potatoes, and mustard jus was the most succulent chicken breast dishes I’ve been served in Dallas. The breasts are skinned, brined for two hours, and, once the skin is replaced,  they are wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. Cooking consists of sautéeing to a deep gold exterior. To serve, the breasts are sliced into disks and laid against each other on the plate. This regimentation is more than just a show. This chicken is tasty.

Asparagus and sugar snap pea salad with breakfast radish, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and ricotta salata (Carol Shih)

Lamb Breast ($24) with Tuscan kale (TOP OF THE TREND), kalamata olives, and baby artichokes is an unusual take on a meat that is too rarely seen on Dallas menus. It is cooked and then the skin seared to produce a textural effect not unlike pork belly. The flavor, however, is unmistakably lamb and able to take the bitterness of the olives.

It would be wrong to call Harris’ food rustic, though it does exhibit a controlled rusticity. It could appear finicky only in the charming dilapidation that is Bolsa. It may be stylistically indistinguishable from Graham Dodds’. It is honest food. Great care is taken choosing and combining ingredients and this contributes a rigor that one should not overlook in the lack of pretension.

Kudos too for Chris Zielke’s odyssey to put good Texas wines on the list. He served Red Caboose Winery Tempranillo (2008, I believe) as well as their rosé. He also stocks an interesting selection in the somewhat abbreviated wine inventory at Bolsa Mercado.

Tom Spicer sings the greens.

This note just in from the father of foraging, Mr. Tom “Spiceman” Spicer, over at FM 1410. Hear him type:

“Here are few quick peaks at my annual “Easter Grasskets: (living wheat grass in an basket with assorted colors of carrots, rainbow chard and a goose egg). Get ‘em while they’re hot. I have also reserved the artichokes and enough Easter Grasskets for my “Adopt-a-plot” peeps. (peep peep).”

Peep,peep yáll. Easter Grasskets is pretty good. Jump for all of the goodies Spiceman has in his garden. And adopt one of his plots. It’s cheaper than a dog.Here  is what he’s got:

Fiddle heads

Ramps again

Goose eggs

East Texas Strawberries

Spring Onions

Wild and exotic ‘shrooms

Mulberry trees  in  the alley loaded with berries
Easter Graskets with living wheat grass, baby garden carrots, rainbow chard and a goose egg
Today’s garden pics 008
Wall of petite greens
Petite lamb’s quarters
Baby Asian Mustard greens
Baby mixed color carrots
Baby Arugula
Rainbow Chard
AssortMints
Radish sprouts soon to be radishes
Mixed baby lettuces
Benziger Vinyards Cabernet grapevines from Beat with orange mint
Third year fruit from same vine in my garden
vines are loaded with grapes

Meanwhile, the debate on privatization of the Market and surrounding the Market with permanent housing continues. If you would like to show your support  the Dallas Farmers Market, you can join the Dallas Farmers Market Friends. They also  have a petition you can sign to try to influence city officials to consider other options for the housing solution. Their goal:

…is to present both sides of the story (via links on the DFMF.org website) so people can get a feel for everything going on. In the end, they’d love to have people speak out, sign the petition and hopefully convince city officials to alter their decision about the supportive housing. They’ve added links to the petition itself to the DFMFriends.org site, and have the links to both sides of the story there, as well.

There is a public hearing this Thursday. Do your homework here, decide which side you’re on, and show up at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library (1515 Young Street) on Thursday, April 5 at 6 PM.

Photographer Kevin Marple+Graham Dodds' Scotch egg=Central 214 deliciousness.

Graham Dodds, execuchef at Central 214, is doing some crazy stuff with eggs. He serves a Poached Farm Egg: an egg atop a Lyonnais salad of chopped greens, lardons and crumbled Caprino Royale goat cheese ($10 at lunch and pictured below the jump). Cut the floppy egg with your knife and the viscous yolk flows out like molten lava and runs with an iridescence that makes you wonder if you should be wearing protective dark glasses. {Ed. note: I’m leaving it in!]

The unavoidable feeling of richness carries through to the taste as well. It reminds me of what a farm egg is supposed to taste like. They do because Dodds buys them from Steven at Urban Acres. You can too. They come from Yellow Prairie Farm in Caldwell Texas,  where the farmer’s name is Dan. He is just one of the small producers that Dodds has fastidiously sought out during his years working as a chef.

Jump for the glory of Graham Dodds’ eggs.

I got the scoop on Central 214’s farm-to-table approach last week from when I dined  with two California winemakers and a wine industry marketing executive from San Francisco. We had the triple cooked fries (best in Dallas) and slow-cooked goat brisket (people almost forgot their manners scrambling for morsels) but we also tried the exquisite poached farm egg. I was pleased to see their obvious pleasure in the food they were served and their surprise that such a central Californian idea being executed so successfully in Dallas.

Poached farm Egg at Central 214

Class (1) April 7, Chef Jason Weaver. Texas Spice at the Omni Dallas Hotel Theme: The Farmers Market Welcomes Back Chef Jason

Class (2) April 14, Chef Tre Wilcox. Marquee Grill. Theme: Spring Cooking with a Top Chef

Class (3) April 21, Chef Joel Harloff. The Second Floor. Theme: The Second Floor at the Market

Class (4) April 28, Chef Bruno Davaillon. The Mansion Restaurant at Rosewood Mansion. Theme: The Mansion Cookbook

Class (5) May 5, Chef Jeffery Hobbs. Sissy’s Southern Kitchen & Bar. Theme: Cinco de Mayo

Jump.

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Class

Doors Open @ 11: OO AM

Classes are Demonstration Only.

Market Resource Center

1010 South Pearl Expressway

Dallas, Texas, 75201

$25.00 per Class. Due Thursday before Each Class

$30.00 at the Door

$110.00 for Entire Series

($15 Savings)

(One Person Only)

Group Rates Available

For More Information:

www.aiwf.org/dallasftworth

OR

Call 214-653-8088

Participating chefs include: Abraham Salum, Al Havens, Anastasia Quiñones, Andre Natera, Andrew Bell, Andrew Ormsby, Blaine Staniford, Brian C. Luscher, Bruno Davaillon, Chad Houser, Dan Landsberg, David A. Temple, David Gilbert, Franchesca Nor, Garreth Dickey, Graham Dodds, Greg Bussey, Hollie Dorethy, Jack Perkins, Janice Provost, Jason Maddy, Jeff Harris, Jeffrey Hobbs, Jill Bates, John Tesar, Jon Stevens, Josh Black, Katherine Clapner, Matt McCallister, Nathan Tate, Randall Copeland, Sarah Green, Scott Gottlich, Scott Romano, Tiffany Derry and Tre Wilcox.

Tickets are $60 per person or $110 for two. Mixin’ it up on the Boulevard is giving away 100% of its proceeds to Meals on Wheels, Inc. and Water for Chizavane. Buy your tickets here.

Tom “Spiceman” Spicer sez he’s got “tahmayduhs”: Louisiana Creole beefsteaks, roma, and heirloom.

What a great fit. Hage will help local artisans and food businesses get up and running. The focus, naturally, will be on local start-ups and chefs upping their game. Participants will pay a membership to join. They will have access to a shared commercial kitchen and retail space which will enable them to sell their products without the initial expense of building out their own space. Cox Farms Market and Matador Meat & Wine have already signed on as neighbors at Sylvan | Thirty.

I think this culinary incubator needs a proper name. Shall we give it one?

Celebrate the sweet life of Mama Ida Papert.

Don’t plan on showing up at the 17th Annual Hoedown tonight without a ticket. They must be purchased in advance here.

Never been to one? Well, get off your butt and head to at Fair Park’s Food & Fiber Pavilion tonight at 6:30PM. This is a special celebration presented by the Dallas Farmers Market Friends for the Dallas Farmers Market. Not only does it mark the DFM’s 70th, it will also be held as a tribute to one of Dallas’ more dedicated civic servants and the 1991 Founder of the Dallas Farmers Market Friends, Ida Papert, who sadly passed away in January of this year. If that isn’t enough, then here’s a bonus: The Lil’ Blue Pills are playing!

Class (1) October 15 with David Holben, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse.        Theme: Fall Treats from Del Frisco’s

Class (2) October 22 with Lan Nickens, Chamberlain’s Steak & Chop House.            Theme:  South American Beef Specialties

Class (3) November 5 with Doug Brown, Beyond the Box   Theme: Autumn Cooking with Doug Brown

Class (4) November 12 with Jim Severson, Sevy’s Grill.   Theme: Sevy’s Back at the Market

Class (5) November 19 with Joanne Bondy, Old Hickory Steakhouse.   Theme: Charcuterie: Cures, Brines and a Smoking Gun

How to sign up? Jump.

Doors Open @ 11:OO AM

Market Resource Center

1010 South Pearl Expressway

Dallas, Texas, 75201

$25.00 per Class

Due Thursday Before Each Class

$30.00 at the Door

$110.00 for Entire Series

($15 Savings)

(One Person Only)

Group Rates Available

For More Information:

www.aiwf.org/dallasftworth

OR

Call 214-653-8088

Burnt ends, caramelized onions, and Hatch chile pizza by Jay Jerrier of Cane Rosso.

I received several texts and tweets from peeps who attended last nights barbecue bonanza fundraiser at Pecan Lodge Catering at the Dallas Farmers Market. According to one of the organizers, the event raised close to $10,000 for the family of Lt. Shannon Stone, the fireman who died in July after falling head first from the stands at the Ballpark in Arlington.

The twEAT of the night came from the Pope of Pizza, Jay Jerrier who apparently made a pie covered with burnt ends, caramelized onions, and roasted hatch green chiles. Holy crow I could eat that right now.Jerrier says he made at least 50 pies and he plans to make them at his restaurant until the chiles run out.

How lovely to see Pecan Lodge Catering, Lockhart Smokehouse, and Cane Rosso work together to create such a spirited evening. If last night revealed the character of our next generation of restaurateurs, then we have a bright future.

Tom Spicer: "Even cucumbers need a little shade."

This unedited list just in from Spiceman:

Developing and properly staffing any small business operation, especially a farm of any size, on less than a budget of shoe string potatoes isn’t easy… then throw a tanked economy on that camel. Fewph!

But I’ve DONE IT! My garden is filled out and flush, The new deck we built less than a year ago RULES, I have awesome garden workers, 2 lovely ladies to assist you with your produce needs (Ellen and Nicole)…now all I need is a driver.

Ok nuff said…here comes the good stuff:

Louisiana Chanterelles by this coming Wednesday…got the call from my buddies while they were still on a 12′ flat bottom boat, 15 hp Mercury trolling motor with a dingy loaded with ice chest of chanterelles in tow.

The Pacific Northwest continues to be the main stay of wild mushroomies though new venues like Montana are pushing up morels

Wild Sea Beans are here and looking to get some Huckleberries soon.

South Texas (Carizzo Springs and Sandia) are producing some really fine tasting melons, Canary/crenshaw, Israeli and Sugar Queen.

Marfa, TX Tomatoes are gapping but new crop Marfa maters may show as early as this comming Friday. These tomatoes are the best, utilitarian tomatoes for restaurants that blow through cases every day. I’ve had a hard time getting as good of a tomato out of Tennessee or back east.

Wolf Creek Farm in Tioga, TX is done on heirlooms but has still been delivering the finest produce selection (as usual) hats off to Tim McCullough… consisting primarily of Marconi and Gypsy peppers, baby okra, some eggplant, cipollini onions and really awseome jarred and “put up” bread n’ butter pickles, dill pickles, smoked red jalapeno salsa, Pesto made with his peacns in lieu of pine nuts, heirloom tomato base sauce, asian pear butter. His processing kitchen that runs the length of his barn is a work of art and state of the art. Another incredibly beautiful farm.

Sid Greer of Greer Farm in Daingerfield, Tx (stunningly beuatiful farm) has loaded me down with the best blueberries I’ve ever eaten…perhaps with the exception of those tiny lil Maine blueberries…Please come carry them berries away while they last.

Our FM 1410 Garden has arugula out the wazoogula in sizes and varietes from micro, petite, baby and full blown Wild (the word for wild in Mexico is Sylvestre though we call it Sylvetta and in France wild foraged is called Savage) also have Rucola, the Italian varietal.  We have in spades all the wild salads which love the summer heat and thus take the place of cooler weather salad greens like lettuces…what are those weeds? 4 varieties of amaranth including 2 varieties of the Jamaican Spinach they call Calaloo…I also have the coleus leaf varietal called Merah that I’ve deemed it ”Calico Calaloo” which normally I’d write a poem about however it’s not flowing here and now but this other stuff I’m telling you about is.

Then, 2 varieties of purslane (very high in triomega amino acids)  blended with 2 varieties of Lambs Quarters aka Quelites (K-lee-tes) in Mexico. This is an awesome salad blend of what Neal Sperry refers to as “noxious weeds” so come score a bag of  “Salad Noxois” or if you prefer “Weedorf Salad”. We toss in the sour, lemmony herb Red Veined Sorrel, and  Fennel Flowers, Salad Burnette (a nice cucumbery salad pot herb)and Red stem Malibar Spinach (no room for a kitchen sink in this salad)

Then there’s Lemon Basil, Thai Basil, Shiso, aka Oba Leaves (Japanes Basil-Mint)

The first thing we pick out back in the morning are the squash blossoms….and plenty for all of Dallas.

Ok, Have some freestone peaches from Terrel, Tx. don’t know how long I’ll be able to get them but have them now.

I’ll be picking up 240# of 5 varieties of fresh shelled legumes most of which are to air cargoed to Boston within hours of procuring them. Speckled Butter Beans, Creamer peas, Crowders, Purple Hull and Lima beans. I’ll keep some for us otay pankies? OTAY.

Have some nice fresh Sumac, Fennel Pollen and Dill Pollen in house. Ok friends, thank you for your support and sorry I didn’t post prices it just holds up the process of getting this info out to you. Besides…let me say that most of you know that I’m competitively priced on retail as well as wholesale.

As a reminder to my Chefs…we offer a consitant supply of commodity produce, e.g. a full line of Fresh herbs, Salad greens in spades, mushrooms too, accented with the best tasting seasonal fruits and veg. So come on down and shop hungry.

Best regards

Spiceman

Spiceman’s FM 1410
1410 B North Fitzhugh Ave.
Dallas, TX 75024

Assembling a mise en place for my super-secret East Texas peaches dessert. Doggie chew bone (right) not included.

Have you been eating Texas peaches? This guy has and he has a question for you.

Just finished some peaches I picked up at Dallas Farmers Market last week, and they were spectacular. Which brings to mind the question: which restaurants in town serve a great cobbler? I’m a Southern boy and really enjoy these  two months of the year when you can get a good peach cobbler at its freshest. Any info would be appreciated.

I’m not giving him my address and I know Gubbins wouldn’t give out hers. So, restaurants feel free to sell your peach desserts below.

Please join us for the Summer 2011 Farmers Market Chefs Cooking Class Series:

July 16, Chef Samir Dhurandhar, Nick & Sam’s, Theme:  Indian Barbecue

July 23, Chef Jamie Samford, Zanata, Theme:  Summer Cooking from Zanata

July 30, Chef Dean Fearing, Fearing’s, Theme:  Dean Cooks at the Market

August 6, Chef Dunia Borga, La Duni, Theme:  Pastries by La Duni

August 13, Chef Patton Robertson, Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck, Theme:  Market Cooking from Five Sixty

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM Class

Doors Open @ 11:OO AM

Market Resource Center

1010 South Pearl Expressway

Dallas, Texas, 75201

$25.00 per Class

Due Thursday Before Each Class

$30.00 at the Door

$110.00 for Entire Series

($15 Savings)

(One Person Only)

Group Rates Available

For More Information:

www.aiwf.org/dallasftworth

OR

Call 214-653-8088