Blue State Coffee -A sneak peak at one of my new projects

A glimpse of my desk at Blue State Coffee. Endless spreadsheets and product catalogs for pricing and sourcing all the basics for a commercial kitchen. Almost done and ready to get in the kitchen and cook!

There is a lot going on in my professional food life these days. I haven't been blogging much about it, because well, at night when I'm blogging it is nice to get lost in thoughts of my garden and family, not spend more time thinking about all the many things that need to be done during the day... 

My professional life seems to be occupied by numerous unpaid projects that I try to squeeze in between paid work and parenting. One very exciting development in the past month is that I am now the Chair of the New Haven Food Policy Council, which I have been a member of for the past four years. Becoming chair has made me feel reinvigorated about the important work the council does and working with this great group of people! More on that later...
 

Fortunately, I have a cool paid job at the moment as well. Blue State Coffee recently took over the cafe spot next to Ashley's on York St. They hired me to help them develop a locally sourced fresh menu of sandwiches, salads, and baked goods for their York St and Wall St locations. The cafe is already up and running with great fair trade and some single origin coffees and teas. The food is still the menu from the Public Cup which has some nice items on it that many people have asked me not to change, like the Curry Tempeh Wrap and the Spinach and Strawberry Salad. There is so much to consider in developing a new menu, and sourcing local and seasonal foods. For example, the delicious salad I just mentioned has strawberries in it, which are in season in the northeast for all of about 1 month, after which time they are trucked in from across the country, often from California, or grown in green houses heated with oil in other closer locations. So, do we make an exception and have strawberries year round because the salad is so popular, do we substitute with other seasonally available fruits or just carry the salad when regionally grown strawberries are around in the spring, and early summer? The answer is not so easy. 

 Tasting local fare. Burrata cheese from Liuzzi's in Hamden, a thin layer of fresh mozzarella surrounding a creamy salty center, locally made using hormone free milk. Rustico roll from Judies, a crusty ciabatta, and some honey and greens....maybe the start of a new sandwich....

Now, try thinking this way about every ingredient on a menu, also taking into account, flavor,  farming practices, genetically modified foods, small family businesses vs. large corporations, the bottom line, and a short time line. Needless to say it is a complicated and interesting challenge. At the moment I am finishing up price checking every single item we will purchase and cataloging all the product numbers so that we can order food from distributors, tasting bread samples from Judie's and Fabled Foods, checking on produce availability with a bunch of cool local farmers, some through the CitySeed farmers' markets. Helping to redesign the kitchen, trying to find time to get in the kitchen and work with staff, and about 1,000 other things. Fortunately, there are a lot of great creative and hardworking people at Blue State and they have welcomed me into the kitchen, and occasionally let me use the espresso machine!

Brioche hot dog buns...hmmmmmm could there be a delicious local hot dog made from CT grass feed beef on the horizon......?

Theese guys are crazy about coffee, and I mean seriously serious! They even lopped off the little metal spouts on their espresso machine (above right) to achieve a more pure crema untainted by flowing over stainless steel. So, for now, I get to work with some nice people, drink delicious coffee and espresso, as well as some new limeade made from fresh squeezed juice (one simple change that was a "no brainer" as they say) and keep plugging away at the big puzzle that is local food.

Did you catch the irony of that statement? Local limeade in New England....or lemonade for that mater. Local? No. Expected and delicious? Yes. hmmmmmm.....