Recap for people suffering from short term memory loss:

Starting March 23rd
Potager’s “Other Stuff” Store
208 S. Mesquite St., Arlington 76010
Every other Friday, 3:00pm-5:30pm

Anyone planning to open a burger place in Dallas had better have a novel story to tell. It seems just about every variation on the simple meat and bun has already been done.

Enter Elevation Burger, a franchise that  focuses on quality of their food and the awareness of their footprint on the environment. The first Dallas location opened last January in the Preston Hollow at Hillcrest and Northwest Highway. I met with owners David and Fiona Barleggs and they walked  me through the process  that they claim elevates the hamburger.

They really have a unique product. Jump.

Why  the name Elevation Burger”? Is it from Colorado? No, actually, it is from Virginia. The name applies to their idea of elevating the product, elevating the customer experience, and elevating the staff experience.

The elevation of the product is epitomized by the company’s slogan “Ingredients Matter.” David can describe how every thing they use to build a burger is better than what is sold in similarly priced restaurants around town. The pride of place is the beef. It is organic and fed solely on grass (no ‘grain finishing’ as is sometimes done with grass fed beef). The cheese is cheddar, aged at least six months, not the processed cheese widely used elsewhere. The buns are made from potato flour. The fries are cooked in olive oil. The drink dispenser serves soft drinks made with cane sugar.

The ingredients arrive fresh, not in some semi-finished form. The potatoes come from Idaho and are peeled and sliced on the premises. The meat is ground and made into patties in the kitchen.

Methods matter: The fries are put through a two-stage cooking process (not the three-stage process made famous on the web, unfortunately) in order to arrive at a crisp crust and soft interior. Each order is made fresh and delivered to your table.

The menu follows dietary trends and styles more than most burger houses. Vegetarian? There’s a burger for that. Vegan, there’s a burger for that too? Want to avoid bread? Have a ‘bun’ made of lettuce. Want a massive burger, or anything in between? Get the Elevation Burger. Buy as many patties as you want and choose your toppings. The Multi-story burger is delivered with a vertical skewer holding it all in place. The patty size of 3.2 oz makes one patty suitable for most children, two for hungry adults, three for guys with small penises trying to impress dates. Raised on In-n-Out ‘animal style’? They have that too: It’s off-menu but ask for ‘messy’. Southwestern chile lover? Ask for the hot sauce. Its superior.

Monitors selectively turn off lights depending on ambient light

They are passionate about saving energy. The sign at the top is LED. Lights are on a timer, so they are selectively turned off on bright days. Bulbs are various low-energy types. Drinks are almost all in glass bottles (a few plastic remnants remain). The tables look like wood but are actually compressed sea weed fibers. Wild huh? The chain is aiming for LEED Certification, the de facto conservation standard for green buildings. The notion of a restaurant getting it is unusual since a restaurant is, by definition, an energy user. However, it is possible, assures David.

Some things are simply innovative without having a green angle. My absolute wow moment was the soda machine. It’s the new Coca Cola ‘Freestyle’ and it mixes 129 different drinks. Ten year old kids learn its

The Coca-Cola Freestyle serves 129 different drinks

multi-level menu immediately – it takes adults a bit longer. It is connected by WiFi to Coke in Atlanta and will download new recipes automatically at night. Ingredients go in to interchangeable cartridges at the back. Best of all, it is designed by Pininfarina (the designer of most Ferraris). Way cool. Another neat thing: The Dyson Airblade hand dryers in the bathrooms – they are getting more common but they are still the only air hand dryer that works. Considerately, the bathrooms also have paper towels. David and Fiona are going to monitor their use for several months to see if people still want paper after trying the Airblades.

Target demographic for Elevation Burger is the mum seeking to feed her kids a better diet when they want burgers. So the places are family-friendly (e,g. no music, family-sized tables available, etc). The outside patio is certified dog-friendly. On a Saturday lunchtime the place saw a busy flow of people. Since some seats were empty, many people must have got take out.

Cheesburger Ordered 'Messy' Style

The acid test of any restaurant of course is the food. How does the burger stack up? All that attention to ingredients and process pays off. The cheeseburger I had was one of the best of the non-single site operations around. Better than the Mc…clones, better than Whataburger, better than In-n-Out. Better also than the higher level Smashburger. I have not tried Five Guys, one of the chains that Elevation regards as their direct competition and the chain out of which the Elevation founders emerged. It was not as good as Restaurant Ava’s, which is the best burger I have ever had (and twice as expensive). The main taste aspects where Elevation wins are the tastiness of the meat (no grey puck stuff here) and that cheddar is smoky and fairly sharp, not just the fatty emulsion that passes for cheese at too many places. I also tried a chocolate shake, which was good and had an intense chocolate flavor, and then a vanilla shake with Oreo and Banana add-ons (these are actually blended into the ice cream in the preparation). It left the chocolate shake in the weeds and, subject to diet setting the timing, I’ll be back for that one.

Additional stores in the Dallas area are planned for the next few months.

Ferrari designer designed the soft drink machine

The Deep Bowl at Company Cafe. (photography by Kevin Marple.)

Dining out was once so simple. You sat down in a restaurant, ordered whatever sounded good, ate it, and went on with your life. Now you need an advanced degree in epidemiology before you’re qualified to choose an entrée. Every day, we get bombarded with health warnings about food: too much added sugar will kill you if excess salt doesn’t get you first. Menus are loaded with politically charged, often slippery buzzwords: “sustainable,” “organic,” “locally grown,” “free range,” “grass fed,” “genetically modified,” “farm raised.” Go ahead and order red meat, but that cow had best been raised on tall-stem Texas blue grass handpicked by a nun.

Many area producers and restaurateurs have their hearts in the right place, but I can’t help but be suspicious of some who tout ingredients as “organic” or “local.” This is Texas. There is no such thing as a locally grown tomato in January. Organic is even more confusing. If your butterhead lettuce was sprayed with an “organic” pesticide such as a bacterial toxin or pyrethrum or rotenone, can it really be considered organic?

Click here for the whole story.

Many consumers don’t realize that the FDA does not require genetically modified food to be labeled. That’s because the FDA has decided that you don’t care if the tomato you are eating has been cross bred with frog genes to render the tomato more resistant to cold weather. Some consumers may not be concerned with eating “Franken Food”, but for those who are, here is how to determine if the fruits and vegetables you’re buying are (GM) genetically modified.

For conventionally grown fruit (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9. Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8. Example: A conventionally grown banana would be 4011. An organically grown banana would be 94011. A genetically engineered banana would be 84011.

Dr. Dirt has more guidelines for steering clear of GM foods in your diet. Click here. If you have questions on this newsletter or any other topic, check his radio show schedule. Or follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

jump for the Vitality mission statement…

At Vitality House we offer delicious, flavorful, unique dishes that are nutritionally beneficial. Our mission is to make your journey for a healthy lifestyle a simple path to follow. With the collaboration of our first class Chefs and our in-house Nutritionist, the menus we present are designed to meet the highest nutritional standards. All of our dishes are pre-portioned and nutritionally analyzed so that the biggest decision to be made is which tasty creation you will chose to enjoy!

In addition, our Nutrition and Wellness Consultants are always available for your individual goal setting, meal planning, and fitness programming.

Vitality House offers the complete package for your well balanced, healthy lifestyle.

“On a recent trip to a local Whole Foods, their USDA Organic wine display featured wine almost exclusively from some of the world’s largest wineries. Those are the producers with the resources to navigate the time-consuming and convoluted NOP process.” Read the rest of Duman’s article here, but promise to come right back.

Photography by Wade Griffith.

Patrick Kennedy files a story about Urban Acres in the March issue of D Magazine. It’s an in-depth look at former-chef-turned-thoughtful grocer Steven Bailey and his venture Urban Acres. Here’s a snippet of Kennedy’s story:

Urban Acres’ recipe is one part hands-on learning experience and two parts community involvement, further distinguishing it from the impersonal feel of either the downtown Farmers Market or a typical supermarket. Every time I’ve visited the store, I have run into an old friend or made a new one. The feel of the place is flavored as much by the community as it is by Bailey himself. He is staking his business on the one thing his competition will never have: a home here in Dallas.

Here’s the whole story.

Sustainable Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot Grapes at Bennett Lane

The organic, sustainable, biodynamic, eco-friendly, save the earth trend is something we are seeing a lot of, and personally, I am a fan.  Though I don’t have (or honestly want) a wind turbine in my back yard, I wish I had solar panels on my roof. 

It is encouraging to see more and more farmers embracing green practices, especially in wine.  With that I have been drinking more and more earth friendly wine.  Here are a few that have stood out.  Some have been sent for editorial consideration, some I just love.

Retzlaff Organic Vineyards in Livermore; Retzlaff taster Daphne Seymour; Organic Cabernet Grapes at Retzlaff

I was in Livermore, CA recently and visited Retzlaff Vineyards.  Certified organic grapes surround the casual tasting room and production facility, almost like you have been invited into their house.  Tasting room manager Connie Vandevanter makes you feel this way too.  The Estate Blend Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot is a stand out here with big plum, cherry and licorice flavors that create a lovely, lengthy finish. 

Napa’s Etude Estate has been producing high quality,  vineyard designated Pinot Noir from their Carneros estate since 2004, with Deer Camp being their first.  Named after an old deer camp structure at the base of the vineyard.  The 2007 Pinot Noir blends earthy truffle aromas with lush blue and blackberry with a finish that lingers on the palate well past the last sip.  Etude lies within the 1300+ acre Grace Benoist Ranch.  Protection of the natural wildlife on the ranch (everything from deer and wild turkeys to rattlesnakes and bobcats), wetlands within the ranch and conservation of natural flora, oak and bay trees, are important parts of the work Etude is doing to create responsible vineyards.  They have even installed owl boxes throughout the estate to provide a natural habitat for owls to live and breed, eliminating the need for poison to be used in gopher control.   

Naked Merlot from Snoqualmie Vineyards

Snoqualmie Vineyards makes a line of Naked wine from Washington State that is completely organic from vine to bottle,  flavorful and uncomplicated, and a great value (all are less than $15 retail.)  USDA certified organically grown grapes are used throughout the winery to create wine representative of the Northwest, and Snoqaulmie’s sustainable philosophy.  The Horse Heaven Hills Vineyard Riesling and Columbia Valley Merlot were the two on top of my list.  The Riesling does a nice job of balancing fruit with acidity to create a slightly off-dry wine filled with stone fruit, baking spices and slight minerality.  Black cherry and blackberry aromas exude from the Merlot, with an abundant, fruit forward palate.

In 2007, after 40 years of specialized wine making for wineries such as Chateau St. Jean and Arrowood, Amapola Creek Vineyards and Winery was created simply because Richard Arrowood asked his wife “who would I be if I didn’t make wine?”  And, this creation by the esteemed winemaker is producing outstanding small lot Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Zinfandel.  With certified CCOF organic vines on a small 20 acre estate in Sonoma Valley, the focus is the land, meaning hands off winemaking that allows the terrior to shine through.  The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon is proof of this.  Filled with currant, anise and black plum layered with nutmeg and mocha.  Balanced and well structured, the wine coats the mouth in a velvet with vibrant flavors.

Bennett Lane  is a winery at the very top of the Napa Valley region in Calistoga.  Though they source grapes from a handful of vineyards throughout the valley, owner Randy Lynch’s Vineyard in Calistoga is completely sustainably farmed, and they have detailed requirements for their producers to help with the valley’s sustainability, creating responsible wine making.  For instance, soil erosion prevention plans are in place, composting of  bi-products and grape skins, only organic and soft chemical use on the grapes.  The Lynch’s are still relatively new to the industry, founding the winery in 2003, but they are producing complex wine with bold flavors.  The 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon shines.  Filled with black cherry, dried currant and chocolate with structure allowing it to be enjoyed now or aged for a few years.