Love Vegetables? You Need this Book.

And a look back at one of the most influential restaurants of the seventies.

I’m a little stunned that this wonderful book hasn’t gotten more buzz, because there’s nothing quite like it on the market. If you have a friend who truly loves vegetables, they definitely will want Farmer Lee’s fantastic The Chef’s Garden. Much more than a cookbook (although it’s packed with recipes), this huge tome is an encyclopedia of vegetables, many of which may be new to you. I can’t imagine any cook who wouldn’t want it.

Lee and his brother Bob farm in Huron Ohio, just as their father and grandfather did. During the farm crisis of the eighties the family literally lost the farm, watching as everything they owned was auctioned off. Then they started over, growing organic speciality vegetables for chefs and restaurants across the country. (Among other things, they were the first farmers to make a market in microgreens.)

It’s an inspiring story, and an inspiring place. At Gourmet, we often ordered produce from The Chef’s Garden, and each time a box arrived we’d gather excitedly around to see what riches it held. The Jones’ grow the most extraordinary produce; you’ll find herbs, flowers and vegetables you never knew existed (look up ice spinach, one of the most delicious vegetables I’ve ever tasted). Spending time on their website is a pleasant — and very informative — way to spend an afternoon.

The Quilted Giraffe was one of the restaurants that defined New York dining in the seventies and eighties. The first menu is from the restaurant Barry and Susan Wine opened on 50th Street in 1979; I’m guessing it’s from the early 80s. What I remember about my first dinner there is that I was so blown away by the food I missed my plane back to the Bay Area. My notes are filled with superlatives: “the roasted sweetbreads rolled in rosemary and served with fava beans were incredibly soft and wonderful, the best I’ve ever had.” At the time we had nothing that bold, that brash, that unabashedly expensive out west. (The signature dish was “beggar’s purses” filled with caviar and topped with gold leaf.)

The second menu is from the sleek new restaurant they opened in the AT&T Building in 1987. Note the addition of “our famous kaiseki tasting menu.” Barry Wine had become increasingly interested in Japanese cooking. When Sony bought the building in 1992, they closed the restaurant and Barry took charge of their corporate dining. In the interior of The Sony Club he opened an extraordinary 6-seat sushi bar whose granite counter had a little river flowing across it. It quickly became the most-coveted place to dine in the city, and the least accessible. 

For a fascinating peek at how Barry imagined the future of the food world on the nascent internet, click here.