Results tagged “organic”

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this year's recipients of the USDA Farmers Market Initiative Program. Green City Market was awarded a grant for $76,300. The grant money will help fund GCM's Farmer Scholarship Program, which helps facilitate participating farms in obtaining 3rd Party Organic and/or Sustainable Certification by 2012; staff salaries; the Edible Gardens program; and marketing materials for the market's electronic benefits transfer (EBT) program. [Inbox]

         

Odds were solid that the bustle of a restaurant kitchen would be music to the ears of Christian and Omar. Their father Jose owns and operates Bridgeport mainstay Tacos Erendira and makes one of our favorite al pastor tacos in the city. Mother Maria is the sugar behind the spice of North Center's Café 28 as its longtime pastry chef. Now the sons enter the cutthroat world of restaurants with a concept that's downright bold in a neighborhood whose idea of brunch is eating a Polish sausage and fries from Maxwell Street Depot and drinking a Mickey's Big mouth on the hood of your car.

We've been looking forward to seeing Nana (3267 S. Halsted St., 312 929 2486), an organic breakfast/brunch spot in Bridgeport by Omar and Christian Solis, whose father Jose owns nearby Tacos Erendira, open for months. Chicago Brunch Blog reports that they're finally taking the paper off the windows and are slated to open 6 a.m. Monday with a menu including buckwheat pancakes with banana and mulled hemp seeds, liege (a leavened batter with beads of pearl sugar that burst and caramelize in the waffle iron) and the "Nanadict:" a pupusa topped with crumbled chorizo, poached eggs and poblano sauce. Coupled with the packed houses at HAN 202 nightly and Nightwood, my backyard could be on the cusp of destination dining. [via Grub Street Chicago]

Remember that rooftop garden we told you about a few weeks ago? It’s not open to regular patrons of Uncommon Ground, but if you go to an upcoming Slow Food Chicago Dinner, you can get a group tour of the nation's first certified organic rooftop garden. We’ve been up there, and it’s not to be missed.

Chicago Community Ventures recently awarded City Provisions Catering and Eventsand Irv & Shelly's Fresh Picks as part of its Sustain Illinois competition. Irv & Shelly's, as readers know, delivers local organic and seasonal produce, meats, dairy and breads to its subscribers and is one of the more popular CSA programs in the area.

         

In the gray days of March, when the produce at the store is looking its most tired and our spirits really need an infusion of chlorophyll, we start to crave farmer’s markets. Fresh vegetables, flowers, being outside, and getting as much produce as we can eat for whatever cash happens to be in our wallets; farmer’s markets help revive us after the long, hard winter. Daley Plaza (our usual haunt) doesn’t open for another month and a half, so that’s clearly out. Luckily, Green City Market has come to the rescue.

This week's selection was born from a desire to do something positive for a friend in need. Shortly before her 40th birthday, Virginia MacLean was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. MacLean was already raising funds for cancer research running triathlons and endurance events, so she enlisted the help of two longtime friends to assist her in a new fundraising endeavor. Those friends just happened to be Alan Shapiro of SBS Imports and Pete Slosberg of Pete's Brewing Company fame.

One could make the argument that a zoo, by nature, is already organic. But this weekend, the Lincoln Park Zoo is implementing one step in a five-year plan to reduce the attraction’s impact on the environment when they open the Cafe at Wild Things. The cafe will only feature organic, sustainable, locally produced snacks. Even the utensils will be made of biodegradable cornstarch-based plastics.

Launching on Earth Day late next month: organic Frango mints. The Tribune reports that Macy's and Frango producer Gertrude Hawk will make the organic mint chocolates using organic vanilla, organic milk chocolate and organic cane sugar, and that the mints will be packaged in recyclable paperboard boxes printed with vegetable-based inks. Macy's says that the decision to sell organic Frangos is part of an effort "to keep pace with growing consumer demand for organic products."

Last year, perhaps a little earlier, we gave you a quick run-down of where you could buy yourself a turkey and at what cost. We felt that it would be nice of us to do that again for you ... not to mention the fact that we haven't had time to get a turkey for ourselves. So, without further ado, a decidedly skewed to the north side turkey roundup. Dominick's located at 6009 N Broadway...

A couple weeks back we had the opportunity to sit down for a few beers with Jon Cadoux, founder of Peak Organic Brewing Company in Portland, Maine, at the Streeterville Elephant & Castle. Like many craft breweries, Peak evolved from both Cadoux's home-brewing hobby and commitment to organic and sustainable agriculture. He was in town making the rounds, help his distributor place his beers into some new accounts. He was pretty successful: in addition...