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Restaurants Take Slow Approach
By Melissa Turner, News & Record, April 27, 2005

Slow food doesn't have to be just about eating home-cooked and canned foods. After all, most people like to eat out. So, restaurants are getting in on the action, too.

Restaurants such as Bistro Sofia and Bert's Seafood Grille sustain their kitchens with on-site gardens. And restaurants including Green Valley Grill and Lucky 32 use local products whenever possible.

Still, says Dennis Quaintance, whose company owns Lucky 32 and Green Valley Grill, they'd like to do more. "We get to buy right much local food, but only about 20 percent of what we hope to buy in just a couple of years," Quaintance says.

It hasn't come without growing pains. Buying locally has been more expensive for the restaurants - Quaintance says his company aims to spend no more than 30 percent more than it would for conventional foods. "We think that we get it back in flavor."

Still, buying conventionally would be easier: fewer vendors, a single delivery and tomatoes that look and taste the same every week. "There's just such an advantage to not using slow food because you just call 1-800-BIGTRUCK and they back up there with clean, sized, same stuff every day."

But Quaintance hopes as more businesses get in on the action, prices will come down and logistics will get easier.

Because, he says, it all comes down to taste: "The nearer the farm to the fork, the better the flavor."