Rich Lang's Page

[What follow is a private email which Matt Jennings, the chef and co-wner (with his wife Kate) of Farmstead & La Laiterie, sent out to friends and industry associates about the Swine Flu and factory farming. Coming from someone who is both very involved in, and very passionate about, the world of food and it's origins, it is a telling read. We reprint it here on Providence Palate with Matt's permission.]

Friends,

This is a hard email to write. Some of you are farmers. Some of you are chefs… Continue

Heads up: after a much anticipated opening on Ives St., United BBQ is about to pull the trigger and open its doors.

We all know how hard it is to get good BBQ in the Northeast, so our mouths are watering... The concept is inherent in the name, a sort of "We are not red states and blue states, but we are, and we have always been, the United States of BBQ", which will encompass a variety of barebecue styles.

The menu looks a great and is peppered with some distinctly Blue State, funk-o-fied entr… Continue

Nobody does tea like the Brits, and around here, nobody does tea like Basically British, brought to us by the Brit Fab Goldberg. Fab, like the incredible space she has created, has character. For years, it was a ritual on rainy winter days for my wife and I to make the trek out to Bristol, where she was located in a storefront, to steam away the mal… Continue

For all who missed it, there has been an article in the New York Times (featured on the home page of the web edition for much of both yesterday and today) about Gary Paul Nabhan, who "has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threate… Continue

A forum item raised the issue of the lack of tables at restaurants on Broadway. I wrote to a councilman (not the councilman for that ward), and his response follows. I don't understand the specifics of the issue on the West Side, but it sounds like a good start would be (a) asking the restaurant owners if in fact they want outdoor seating, or if they have chosen not to put tables out, (b) call your city council rep, and (c) call the Office of Neighborhood Services at 421-CITY.

Rich

Tables are… Continue