Texas Honeybee Guild
Brandon and Susan Pollard are Urban Bee- Wranglers in Dallas, Texas. As founders of the Texas Honeybee Guild, their mission is to support the area’s urban bee populations by starting community gardens, patronizing arboretums and buying local produce at places like the Farmers Market.
As part of their bee-wrangling duties, they maintain micro-apiaries at a dozen East Dallas properties. These sites allow them to extract honey for their own brand, “Zip Code
Honey®. Currently available in zip codes 75214, 75206 and 75236, raw unfiltered honey provides a local element and great benefit to your system. The pollens utilized by the bees in your own back yard can provide relief for allergy sufferers.
The Urban Bee-Wranglers keep a busy outreach schedule teaching the story of honeybees at grade schools, garden clubs and other educational venues.
Texas Honeybee Guild Raw & Unfiltered honeys and other hive products are featured in neighborhood produce markets, cafés, salons, restaurants, coffee houses, garden centers, and nutrition stores. This unique taste of our town supports the local food movement and secures the importance of our honeybee heritage and culture. You can usually find them on Saturdays and Sundays at Dallas Farmers Market. Texas Honeybee Guild
Brandon and Susan Pollard, 214.826.8696, texashoneybeeguild.org
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Dallas County Youth Village & Parigi Chefs Join Forces to Support Local
Parigi chefs Janice Provost and Chad Houser are faithful promoters of the Dallas Farmers Market. The menu of their Oak Lawn bistro proudly touts the Texas farmers and food artisans whose fresh, sustainable products add local flavor to Parigi’s New American cuisine.
The list includes several varieties of Mr. Lemley’s Canton-grown tomatoes and creamy mozzarella handcrafted at Paula Lambert’s Mozzarella Company in Dallas. The restaurant’s velvety fondue is a melted blend of three cheeses from the Veldhuizen Family Farm of Dublin, Texas.
On the dessert menu, there’s a chunky Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip ice cream created especially for Parigi by Henry’s Ice Cream of Plano. Other local producers include Heddin Farm in Pittsburg, La Cuesta Farm in Clifton and Bluebonnet Farms in San Antonio.
Team Parigi soon hopes to add a new name to their menu’s list of local growers. The chefs have been surveying the gardens cultivated by the young men of the Dallas County Youth Village, a juvenile detention center for boys ages 10-17. Chef Houser became aware of the Youth Village when he served as chef-mentor to some of its residents during the Mama Ida Ice Cream Making Social held last spring at the Farmers Market. One of the boys was awarded First Place for his Watermelon Deluxe Sorbet with Fresh Basil and Chef Houser became curious about the eager young man he had mentored.
Invited to tour the facilities, Chefs Provost and Houser were impressed with the Youth Village’s well-mannered residents and the positive educational and vocational programs that were changing their young lives. The facility, which has a ¼-acre vegetable plot and two large greenhouses, offers a 6-week Nutrition/Culinary Arts program provided by the North Texas Food Bank and a certification program in Food Management provided by El Centro College. About 45 residents have participated so far. Gardening volunteers, who supervise and plan the young men’s horticulture program, include County Extension agents and Master Gardeners from the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension program. Navy Sea Bees from the Naval Air Station in Fort Worth supervised a revitalization project that included green house repair.
Chef Houser is hoping to develop a chef mentorship program that would further develop the existing Nutrition and Culinary Arts Program. As the D.C. Youth Village garden continues to expand, the Parigi chefs will provide these young growers with a market for their produce. Coming soon: Parigi’s Ninny Salad, a pairing of Lemley’s juicy, local tomatoes and lightly-fried okra, nurtured and grown by the young men of the Dallas County Youth Village.
Parigi, 3311 Oak Lawn Ave. #102 Dallas, TX, 214.521.0295 parigirestaurant.com
Sublime Bakery
Sublime Bakery in Fort Worth is just what the name suggests. Offering delicious and tempting bakery products, Pastry Chef Catherine Ruehle is the Frank Lloyd Wright of cake making. Her creations are spellbinding to see and more than worthy of eating. Combining pastry skills with artistic design, Ruehle is always up for a challenge. Among
the cakes she has designed are a 5-foot tall, Star Wars themed wedding cake, a stiletto heel and a psychedelic 60’s cake with a live goldfish swimming between the tiers.
An eclectic boutique cake studio where the art of baking is combined with the art of decorating, Sublime Bakery offers made from scratch brownies, scones, truffles and cupcakes. In an effort to bring sweet dreams to those who are often forced to abstain, she has created a line of vegan and gluten-free items. Her latest addition is sugar-free products that satisfy the sweet tooth of those who are on a sugar-restricted diet.
Sublime Bakery opened in March 2008 and in its first year it was awarded the Best Birthday Cake and Best Cupcakes by Fort Worth Magazine. Sublime Bakery, Country Day Plaza, 5512 Bellaire Dr. South, Fort Worth, TX, 817-570-9630, SublimeBakery.com
Farmers Markets Friends & American Institute of Wine and Food Cooking Classes
For those of you who don’t know about this treasured offering right in the market kitchens at the Dallas Farmers Market Resource Center, it’s time you did. Eating great food cooked by great chefs in their restaurants is always a treat, but learning from the chefs how to cook delectable recipes right in your very own kitchen is a treat beyond measure.
On a cold January morning, I made my way down to the Farmers Market to see for myself. That day, Chef John Tesar, formerly of the Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, was at the helm. A passionate supporter of the local farmers and producers, Chef Tesar’s lifestyle is local and seasonal. Lesson number one that day: “Where it comes from, what it’s fed and ultimately what is the result of this process on the environment; these are important things everyone should be thinking about.”
The market kitchen buzzed with activity and flavorful aromas filled the air as Chef Tesar instructed the group of about 100 on how to prepare the days offerings. On the menu was Steak au Poivre, with grass fed beef supplied by one of the Farmers Markets vendors. The lively dialogue that accompanied the cooking instructions stressed the
importance of educating yourself in products, knowing where your food comes from and maintaining a healthy relationship with your local sources. The class atmosphere was friendly and the Farmers Market Friends readily attended to your needs while serving up samples of the prepared dishes. Chef Tesar answered questions on topics ranging from where to buy your local beef, to how to shop for seasonal produce to why cooking with a cast iron skillet was important.
“Great chefs of the world are made by their relationships with the farmers and ranchers. Develop a relationship with your food provider” was Chef Tesar’s mantra. Walking away from class that day, what I remember most was the importance of buying local, not just as a movement to support the farmers, but also as a means of leaning toward seasonality and freshness.
For those unable to visit the Farmers Market to purchase local, grassfed meat products, Chef Tesar recommends this website as a source to find products near you: eatwild.com.
Spring classes begin in March. Classes are held on Saturdays from 11:30–1:00 at the Dallas Farmers Market Resource Center, 1010 S. Pearl Expressway.
Sponsored by the Dallas Farmers Market Friends (dfmfriends.org ) and the local chapter of the American Institute of Wine & Food (aiwf.org/dallasftworth)
Khatter Vineyard
The enjoyable pastime of Saturday afternoon drives to explore the local vineyards can find you at a quiet little one, nestled among towering pecan trees, overlooking a crooked
creek in Parker, Texas. Khatter Vineyard is a half-acre, family-owned and operated boutique vineyard that grows its own grapes, and bottles and ages its own award-winning
Cabernet Sauvignon wine.
Owners Carolyn Khatter and husband Jay have been nursing their vineyard for over seven years. What once was a vegetable garden is now a vineyard with over 200 vines.
The grapes are hand selected from vines that have been excessively pruned to provide the maximum amount of nutrients to the fruit. This unique technique produces grapes that are bountiful and robust, ensuring a wine that has a lengthy finish to the palate. The black gumbo soil of the region is nutrient earthy and structurally complex.
Khatter Vineyard offers a small tasting room where you can sample their award- winning Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association Wine Competition awarded them a silver medal in 2005, and at the 2006 Lone Star International Wine Competition, they
won the bronze.
Recognized by the state of Texas as a promoter of the state’s wine industry, Khatter Vineyard has become an integral part of the local wine culture. They host a myriad
of special cultural, culinary and philanthropic events.
The winery and tasting room are open Saturdays from Noon to 6 pm.
Located at 4110 Brookwood Drive,
Parker, TX 75002, 972.516.1940
khattervineyards.com
Bolsa: South Dallas’ Slow & Tasty Food Gem
The idea behind Dallas’ newest slow food restaurant, Bolsa (Spanish for bag), began with a vintage auto body shop on Davis St. near the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff. Christopher Zielke, co-owner of Bolsa explains, “It was born out of the building, and the neighborhood. We love this neighborhood and the revitalization that is going on down
here. We found the building and then thought about what the area needed and how we could fill a gap.” Zielke and partner Christopher Jeffers, both long time veterans of the restaurant industry, decided to fill the space with Bolsa. It’s a quirky little dining spot offering a relaxed atmosphere and dishes created from local food offerings. Bolsa opened its doors July 11, 2008, with fresh, local food as their specialty.
Chef Graham Dodd sits down each day and tweaks the ever-changing menu based on the fresh produce supply for that day. With little storage space, Bolsa embraces a strictly fresh model. “We don’t have a freezer, a fryer, or a walk-in cooler. All of our produce is delivered daily so we re-write the menu daily, based on what’s available and
fresh,” says Chef Dodd.
The goal is to prepare meals with as many local ingredients as possible. Local purveyors Eden Creek Farms, about an hour south of Dallas, grow most of the produce they use. Tom Spicer, owner of F-M 1410, and a legend among local chefs for his food foraging, keeps Chef Dodd happy with his luscious additions. While the menu changes daily, staples such as the flatbreads and bruschetta remain a constant.
For something a little outside of the mainstream food scene, venture over to Oak Cliff and check out Bolsa. You can catch live music once a month, dine on the outside patio, or if you’re on the go, pick up some local produce, cheeses, jams, honey and other offerings in the restaurant’s market. Little did you know that supporting the movement to eat locally could be so painless and taste so good.
Bolsa 614 W. Davis St., Dallas, TX 75208, 214.367.9367, bolsadallas.com
Edible Dallas & Fort Worth is a quarterly local foods magazine that promotes the abundance of local foods in Dallas, Fort Worth and 34 North Texas counties. We celebrate the family farmers, wine makers, food artisans, chefs and other food-related businesses for their dedication to using the highest quality, fresh, seasonal foods and ingredients.
