Medfly quarantine affects Santa Monica farmers markets and others

A recent find of a Mediterranean fruit fly in Santa Monica has caused state authorities to declare a quarantine that has started to affect vendors and customers at 10 farmers markets in that city and adjacent areas – just in time for the pre-Thanksgiving rush.

Armando Garcia, whose family grows citrus, avocados and other fruits in De Luz, in northern San Diego County, and who sells at the Santa Monica farmers market, found out about the new regulations on Tuesday at a meeting for farmers organized by county, state and federal authorities.

As he related while setting up his stand early Wednesday morning, he was told that he could continue to bring fruit from his farm to the market, but if it were displayed openly, where fruit flies could attack it – as almost all vendors have done up to this point – he could not bring the fruit back to his farm but would have to donate or destroy it. Fruit that is protected from flies because it is within a closed truck will be exempt from this requirement, as will be fruit that has been exposed only while being handled briefly and actively, so that flies cannot settle.

Vendors will be asked to cover their produce with insect-proof screening, but that fruit cannot be brought back to the farm, said Anthony Jackson, domestic program coordinator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Audrey Saunders on the Tar Pit: cocktail flights, housemade sodas, Sunday brunch (served all day because Saturday nights can be long)

Now that New York bartender extraordinaire Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club has teamed with Mark Peel and Jay Perrin of Campanile to open the Tar Pit, what's in store? Cocktail flights, food-and-drink pairings, Sunday brunch, housemade sodas and more.

And if you thought the name Tar Pit made it sound, well, dumpy, there's a reason (besides the reference to the La Brea Tar Pits).

"We drew inspiration from the old black-and- white movie 'My Man Godfrey,'" said Saunders. "William Powell is homeless and living on the city dump. He goes to work for Carole Lombard’s crazy family as the butler, rebuilds his fortune, then returns to the city dump to open the Dump -- a nightclub. When someone enters the Tar Pit for the first time, they'll be able to connect the irony in what the name represents, as opposed to the actual feel of the space." This place is no pit.

"The beverage program is neoclassical and tips its hat to the 1940s Hollywood bar scene," she  said. "It will encompass everything from old classics to new creations. We will also be developing an in-house carbonation program for housemade sodas." 

Cocktail flights also will be offered, in which you pick any three drinks from the cocktail menu and create your own flight (each is half the volume of a standard drink).

And get this:

Grilled Cheese Truck to host 'pre-melt' at Farmer's Kitchen at Hollywood Farmers Market

[UPDATE 12:36 p.m.: sign-ups for the "pre melt" are full, but there is a waiting list in case of cancellations.]

While readying the Grilled Cheese Truck to roll out, chef Dave Danhi quietly announced via Twitter this morning that he'll be hosting a pre-melt this Sunday, Oct. 11 at the Farmer's Kitchen at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Danhi will be dishing out sandwiches from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Those who want to attend should sign up for the event via the website. Expect a line.

Danhi's been testing a slew of recipes including a traditional cheddar and tomato melt with bacon bits sprinkled into the crust; the Caprese Melt made with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, balsamic syrup and fresh basil; and the Sweet Sammy (pictured at right) made with King's Hawaiian bread, roasted banana puree and Nutella

--Elina Shatkin

Photo: The Sweet Sammy dessert sandwich from the Grilled Cheese Truck. Credit: Robert Danhi.

What's fresh at the market? Winter squash

Let California Cook columnist and L.A. Times Food editor Russ Parsons serve as your guide to the freshest produce of the season. Recipes included, and updated regularly.

What's fresh at the market this month? Winter squash. So what do you do with it once you get it home? How about mushroom and winter squash gratin or squash baked with sage and chili butter?

-- Rene Lynch

Join us on Twitter @latimesfood and Facebook @latimesfood

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Photo credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

The dineLA food truck rolls out with some big names attached

It's a sign of the times: Anisette's Alain Giraud will be handing out free samples from a food truck on the Third Street Promenade. "I've never worked inside a truck, so I don't want to get too ambitious," he says of the French delicacies he will prepare.

That's not a permanent change of venue, of course. Giraud is one of five well-known Southern California chefs who will be participating in a promotion in advance of dineLA's first fall Restaurant Week, which will begin Oct. 4.

But while Giraud may not be ambitious, that's certainly not the case with dineLA, which hit on the canny idea of tapping into the food truck fad that has taken the city's popular imagination by storm.

Giraud will spend one day on the dineLA truck, which was donated by RoadStoves, the same company that helped the Kogi Korean barbecue taco truck redefine road rage. The other chefs who will cook on wheels and hand out free tastes are Eric Greenspan from the Foundry on Melrose, Jason Johnston from Dakota at the Roosevelt, Walter Eckstein from Lawry's the Prime Rib and John England from downtown's new Rosa Mexicano.

To read the rest of Jessica Gelt's story, click here.

Photo: The chefs are,  from left: John England of Rosa Mexicano, Walter Eckstein of Lawry's the Prime Rib, Alain Giraud of Anisette Brasserie, Jason Johnston of Dakota Steakhouse and Eric Greenspan of the Foundry on Melrose, with the dineLA food truck at RoadStoves. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times

Church leads the way to more healthful diets with fresh produce market

Dorothy Carson figures her diet of frequent fried chicken and virtually no fresh produce finally caught up with her in July, when she was hospitalized for a stroke-like condition.

After two months in recovery from blurred vision, Carson returned to church at First African Methodist Episcopal Church a few weeks ago. That very same day, she said, the church launched a new open-air fresh produce market to bring healthful foods and better diets to the residents of South Los Angeles.

So there she was this weekend, scooping up fresh cucumbers, avocados, green beans, grapes and other produce she said she never would have dreamed of eating before. Carson said she now consumes about six daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Her weight and cholesterol levels are down.

"It's like an angel brought this to me," Carson, 58, said of the market. "It has really helped the community. . . . Now we are finally eating well."

FAME Assistance Corp., the church's nonprofit economic development and social service arm, officially unveiled the market Sunday at Western Avenue and Adams Boulevard. The festive grand opening featured elected officials, live entertainment, food booths and the main stars of the show: bins and bins of fresh produce.

The new market, open on weekends, seeks to bring healthful fare and nutritional education to what one community activist called the "food deserts" of inner-city Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, a nonprofit economic development organization, has launched a campaign to attract major supermarkets to South and East Los Angeles and the northeast San Fernando Valley. Even some liquor stores, long the bane of inner-city neighborhoods, have begun offering fruits and vegetables. Read more here.

-- Teresa Watanabe

Photo: Worknesh Ayele, left, and her daughter, Hiwot Tesfaye, shop at the church's produce market Sunday at Western Avenue and Adams Boulevard in South Los Angeles. Photo credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

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Michelle Obama brings home the kale, eggs, peppers and more from farmers market

I don't know many people who go to farmers markets if what they crave is a celebrity spotting. Unless the celebrity is a chef, or the market is in Hollywood.

But at the market near the White House, shoppers got to see Michelle Obama on Thursday, the market's opening day. A major figure and fresh tomatoes. Not bad.

According to a pool press report, several hundred people gathered at the market, which is run by FreshFarm Markets. Co-director Ann Yonkers said 18 farmers and producers would sell products at the newest outpost, at a corner of Lafayette Park.

Obama has been promoting healthy eating, in public statements and with a garden at the White House, where a group of elementary school students have worked.

According to the pool report, Obama was greeted by wild cheers when she said,"I have to say, I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables. This is a very, very good thing, and it's raining outside and everybody's pumped up."

Obama also did some shopping -- black kale, eggs, cherry tomatoes, peppers, pears, fingerling potatoes, cheese and chocolate milk, according to the White House.

Other speakers included U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who noted that there are more than 4,700 farmers markets in the country, and Washington Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.

The new FreshFarm Markets will be open Thursdays through October, from 3 to 7 p.m. The nonprofit organization operates eight other markets in Washington and Maryland.

-- Mary MacVean

Photo: First Lady Michelle Obama at the farmers market near the White House. Credit: Associated Press

Upstaging the tomatoes at D.C.'s newest farmers market

   
It may be hard to pay much attention to the produce, meat or breads for sale at Washington, D.C.'s newest farmers market when it opens Thursday afternoon. Shoppers -- maybe even the vendors -- are likely to be on the lookout for some star shoppers: the Obama family.

Eighteen farmers and producers will set up the market outside the White House grounds, north of Lafayette Park, on Vermont Avenue between H and I streets.

"It would be wonderful" if the Obamas came to shop, says Ann Yonkers, co-director of FreshFarm Markets, a nonprofit organization that will run it. "But we're not counting on it."

The idea developed over time, Yonkers says. Her organization was excited about the garden planted at the White House earlier this year, she says, adding that  she was introduced to Sam Kass, White House assistant chef and a former personal chef for the Obamas by another chef, Nora Pouillon. "We began thinking, 'Wouldn't it be great ...,' " Yonkers says.

The White House garden "became such a great symbol for growing your own and paying attention to what you eat," she says.

The new market will sell meats, cheeses, produce, baked goods, flowers and preserves. Vendors accept food stamps and WIC and senior citizen coupons, FreshFarm Markets says. It will run Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. through Oct. 29.

White House Farmers Market launches Thursday

According to the Chicago Tribune, the White House Farmers Market will indeed launch this Thursday:

Speaking at the Chefs Collaborative conference in Chicago Tuesday, U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary Ann Wright told 150 delighted food professionals about the market, which will sell local produce from D.C. area farmers and run late into the fall. But those hoping to buy some green beans and bell peppers grown by the First Lady herself will be disappointed. Most of the White House garden produce goes to area food banks, Wright said.

Shucks. I was really hoping I could find some of the Obamas' honey on Foodzie.

-- Krista Simmons

Photo: Victory garden outside San Fransico's City Hall at Slow Food Nation. Credit: Krista Simmons

Farmers markets bracing for L.A.'s tab

Farmers market managers in Los Angeles are in a tizzy over a proposal to pass on all the cost of setting up shop -- such as traffic control officers, traffic barriers and no-parking signs. Some markets fear it could put them out of business, or, at the very least, force them to move.

"It’s pretty scary, and we’re all trying to figure out exactly what’s going on," said Melissa Farwell, a market coordinator for Raw Inspiration Inc., which sponsors 15 local markets.

Since the first certified farmers market in Los Angeles was established in 1980, the city has covered such expenses as traffic control officers, traffic barriers and no-parking signs. For many years, legislators and policy analysts have proposed billing markets for these costs, but only this month, faced with a giant budget deficit, has the Los Angeles City Council taken action. Read the rest of the story here:

What do you think? Should city funds go to such a use? Or should the farmers markets be fully self supporting?

Photo: David Karp / For The Times