Winter 2010
Grow Pittsburgh Chef Spotlight
Essential to our work of demonstrating sustainable urban agriculture and production are our partnerships with local restaurants and purveyors. Grow Pittsburgh Restaurant Partners play a key role in supporting and promoting our work and their passion for quality local food provides our urban farmers with encouragement and inspiration. We, therefore, like to return the favor by drawing attention to one (or two) of these talented individuals in what we call our 'Chef Spotlight'. In this third installment we got the opportunity to ask Chef Seth Bailey of The Café at the Frick a few questions about cooking with local ingredients, what it's like to run a restaurant on historic museum grounds, and the benefits of having a fully functioning vegetable garden and greenhouse just steps away from your kitchen.
Seth isn't just one of out Restaurant Partners, he's also our neighbor at the Frick Art & Historical Center, the site of the Frick Greenhouse one of Grow Pittsburgh's main production sites. The Frick Greenhouse and The Café at the Frick are open year-round Tuesday-Sunday so stop by and visit us!
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Q: When did you first join The Café at the Frick as their Executive Chef?
I came into the executive chef role in the fall of 2009, and have been a part of the Frick team since January of 2008.
Q: With Grow Pittsburgh growing produce year round just a few steps from your kitchen door do you feel as if your cooking has become more affected by seasonality and what's available locally?
Seasonal foods have always been important to me and having a year round greenhouse and garden onsite gives us another source to get these products into the kitchen.
Q: What is your favorite part about having a vegetable garden and greenhouse on site?
The best part of having the garden and greenhouse on site is the ability to arrive to work in the morning and see what is available to be harvested for that day, and the Grow Pittsburgh staff is very accommodating in that sense. It also makes it possible to ask if they can grow specific items for the café.
Q: Is purchasing local and organic produce for The Café a priority for you?
The Café at the Frick's philosophy has been to serve local, sustainable, and organic food, and this fits nicely with my view of food as well.
Q: Do you find it challenging to run a restaurant on the same grounds as a fully functioning historic museum and greenhouse?
No, in fact it is the opposite. When you have a travel destination like we have here at the Frick with the Clayton, art, and car museums as well as the greenhouse, you always have guests on the grounds, and that makes for a great location to have a café.
Q: What is your favorite local ingredient to work with?
My favorite local ingredient would have to be ramps. I love wrapping whole trout in them and grilling or steaming it. (Freshly caught if possible)
Q: Do you have your own vegetable garden at home?
I do have a small garden around 70X30, I enjoy pulling heirloom tomatoes, corn and green beans from it and this year potatoes are going in as well.
Q: With winter upon us what seasonal dishes are you most looking forward to preparing?
This is the season for braising, and we have a lamb pot pie on the menu, it's a great way to warm up during these cold days
Q: Could you share a dish with us that you've created using Grow Pittsburgh produce?
Right now we are doing holiday dinners throughout the month. This week we are utilizing some of the last of the greenhouse's tomatoes that were started in the summer months. For this week's dinner we have hanger steak with hushpuppy dusted oysters and a tomato horseradish spiked hollandaise as well as pan roasted Wahoo filet with Pennsylvania mushroom risotto, and a charred tomato vinaigrette.