Chefs tour local farms

Adam Cavazos, one of the chefs at Sahadi Foods in McAllen, carried a candy-striped beet by its greens at Two Pines farm last week. The beet, freshly plucked from the Bayview soil, was about the size of a grapefruit.

"I could get several plates out of this," Cavazos said, referring to the dishes he serves up at the Middle Eastern restaurant.

Cavazos was one of several chefs who took part in the Texas Department of Agriculture tour of several Rio Grande Valley farms to learn about local ingredients they could use in their cuisine. Also on the tour were Jeffrey Sahadi, the owner of Sahadi Foods, chefs from Wild Fork in South Padre Island, A Catered Affair in Harlingen, and House.Wine. in McAllen.

The chefs learned about ingredients they never knew existed, like Vietnamese spinach and culantro, similar to cilantro, while sampling fresh, tasty examples of familiar staples, like shrimp and chicken.

The tour also brought chefs to some of the farthest reaches of the Rio Grande Valley. Chefs were taken by van to Universal Farms in Rio Hondo, owned by Nam Nyugen, a Vietnamese farmer who grows dragonfruit, wintermelon, and a variety of lettuce, herbs and other vegetables.

Richard Carney, the owner and head chef at Wild Fork, said he was already using many of the farmers’ products in his cooking.

"I go to the farmer’s market every Sunday," he said. "But they only come to the Island once a week, so I also have to buy produce from the supermarket."

Carney would like to use all local ingredients at Wild Fork, he said, but there are some barriers. For example, Wild Fork is an Italian restaurant, so tomatoes are a key ingredient in Carney’s sauces and he needs them all year round, not just during the local growing season.

Another barrier is the sheer distance between restaurants and many local farms. The Texas Department of Agriculture paid for the tour, which took participants on a 100-mile drive around Cameron County, visiting farms in Harlingen, Bayview, Los Fresnos, and shrimpers in Brownsville.

Diana and Saul Padilla, the owners of Yahweh’s Natural Farm in Harlingen, are hoping to organize the group of farmers so that restaurants will be able to pick up their produce in one centralized location. The Padilla’s have already started a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, where consumers can subscribe for regular boxes of produce from their farm.

The group took a pause midday to dine at Calesa, a restaurant specializing in Asian and European cuisine. Henry Hamor, Calesa’s chef, used produce, shrimp and chicken from the farms on the tour to prepare the sumptuous lunch, which included a creative shrimp appetizer, chicken-mango-peanut curry, spicy Caesar salad, and luscious chocolate mousse cake.

Some of the farms are already in business with restaurants. Bayview Veggies, for example, grows different types of lettuce for Cafe Shiraz in Brownsville. Producers said they would be glad to go through seed catalogues with chefs and plant vegetables specifically for their needs.

There have been other benefits from the tours as well, according to Nelda Garza, the coordinator for regional marketing programs for the Texas Department of Agriculture.

Some chefs have started doing cooking demonstrations at the San Juan Farmers’ Market.

"It’s great for the chefs to showcase their talents and come up with menu ideas, and it’s great for the growers," Garza said. The Brownsville Farmers’ Market also has a chef’s tent.

By the end of the day, the chef’s were full of delicious fresh food and inspiration. Carney said he looked forward to using even more of the produce he’s already come to depend on in his cooking.

"That’s what I want," Carney said. "Lots of color."