Greenmarket Goddess 2002

In 2002, a little East Village restaurant named Patio Dining made a splash with its daily market menu. I was lucky to be part of that magical time. Chef Sarah Jenkins was working at Il Buco on Bond Street. She was my favorite chef. My wife and I had our first date there and many dates after that. We even had our rehearsal dinner there. One afternoon, she (Sarah) came to see me, "I quit Il Buco, I want to work with you.". I said, "Take a few weeks off, go back to Italy, then we'll talk". When she returned, we agreed to offer a daily market menu.

Sarah would go the market every day and buy what she needed for the menu that night. Every night there was one dish that was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life. One night it was the soup, the next it was the pasta and so on.

Rob and Robin at New York Magazine wrote a feature article titled Green Market Goddess- click here to read from the New York Magazine Archives.

Asparagus Recipe

Jimmy's No.43's chef Phillip Kirschen-Clark has been at the greenmarket through fall, winter, and now spring. Just a few weeks ago he was foraging upstate for ramps, now the farmers are offering the bounty of spring. It's the height of asparagus season, and New York Magazine's Rob Patronie and Robin Reisfeld have featured one of Chef Phil's recipes: Local Asparagus With Goat’s-Milk Dulce de Leche and Horseradish.

Spring!

It's spring. Yes, it has been spring on the calendar, but now it's spring on the farms as well. We have beautiful asparagus, from Cherry Lane Farm (New Jersey) and Yuno's Farm (Bordentown, NJ) and wild ramps from Max Creek Hatchery (near the Delaware Water Gap, NY state). They harvested the ramps from the forest nearby. That's how many farmers and chefs get their ramps, from the wild.

Another sign of spring: our lovely friend, Anne Saxelby is hosting her first of the season "A Day A-Whey" fieldtrip to Mecox Dairy on Long Island this Sunday, May 4th. For more information, visit the website at saxelbycheese.com.