Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -117 August 2015
One gorgeously unique tomato at the
August 1st Farmers Market
Yes they’re here! Those incomparable close-to-divine sun-ripened heirloom earth-grown (not hydroponic) local tomatoes. I believe there is a consensus – we’ve all fallen in love with tomatoes. Avid gardeners have never lost sight of truly seasonal foods. But many of us spent decades thinking tomatoes were a pale sickly orange color, one size only, tough enough to do your grip exercises on, and rather tasteless on a sandwich. Well with the rise in popularity of farmers and farmers markets, we now have reason to be in love with the tomato as she was meant to be. Yes, I know – “she” – but really, don’t you think of tomatoes as girls or ladies? Well I do too. We have been waiting for this moment and it has come. Admittedly a little later in Santa Fe than in other regions. The tomatoes are merely trickling in right now (Aug 1st) but we are buying as many as Roland and Chef Russ can get their hands on. And we will continue to buy as much as the market can supply. You know what that means – Joe’s inimitable and famous Margherita Pizza has finally arrived. And with her (there I go again with my gender bias) the Caprese Salad. We offer these two dishes at ONLY this time of year and made ONLY with the local tomatoes and our own house-made fresh mozzarella (fiore di latte). There’s just nothing like it.
I’ve written in the past about the dangers of fluoride* (and gotten flack for it – ouch be gentle, I’m sensitive). I am by no means, alone. Look at this Santa Fe only list of professionals who have officially signed against it as well. You will no doubt recognize many names. Need I say more?
* Howard Bleicher, DDS
* Curtis Brookover, DDS
* Abraham Cobb, NREMT-P Paramedic/FF
* Daniel Cobb DOM
* Michael W. Davis, DDS
* Gigi Gaulin, DVM
* Seva Khalsa, LM (Licensed Midwife), CPM
* Jimmie McClure, DC, Board Eligible DABCN
* Shannon Plummer, DOM
* John Seagrave, PhD (retired physicist)
* Debra Sherry, DHHP/DMH (homeopathic doctor)
* Kenneth Stoller, MD, FAAP
*Excessive fluoride exposure is well known to cause a painful bone disease (skeletal fluorosis), as well as a discoloration of the teeth known as dental fluorosis. Excessive fluoride exposure has also been linked to a range of other chronic ailments including arthritis, bone fragility, glucose intolerance, GI distress, and thyroid disease. (And that is not the entire list.) fluoridealert.org/researchers/professionals-statement/signers07/
Friday August 7th from 7:30am til 11am, Richard Eeds returns to Joe’s broadcasting on 101.5 the Morning Show live. During the broadcast you can watch and hear Richard at work and benefit from a surprise discount on your breakfast! Just ask.
A new and highly contested study would have about 50% of the US population in the 40-75 age group on statin drugs to lower cholesterol. Hogwash! Why do you think that recommendation would be so vastly increased? Hmmm. Thank heavens rational minds question the study, saying “(the study)…greatly overstated a patient’s risk of developing a heart problem and …would lead millions of additional people to take statins, exposing them to potential side effects such as muscle pain or damage with little to gain.” NY Times July 2015. Added note: one in four adults age 40-75 now are on statins.
More on my favorite topic – fat! The good fats* are extraordinarily good for us and don’t make us fat. This from Dr. Bruce West on butter, “Butter does not cause heart disease. During the period of time that heart disease climbed from obscurity to the number one killer in the US, the butter consumption in this country plummeted by over 400%. A medical research council survey showed that men eating butter ran half the risk of developing heart disease as those using margarines.”
* Good fats: butter, cheese, and milk ideally from grass-fed animals, olive, coconut and grapeseed oils and lard from organically raised grass-fed animals.
Wrap your hands around this If you haven’t yet tried our giant Wagyu beef hot dog, don’t miss it. Chef Russ debuted it especially for July 4th and it’s been such a hit we frequently offer it on the daily specials menu. Keep an eye out.
Greeting cards. For a truly local and unique greeting card, wander up to the red counter and browse through our local artists’ cards. Beautiful.
Y For a sweet treat or impromptu gift for your dear ones, we now have lovely gift boxes for Joe’s melt-in-your-mouth French chocolate truffles. 4 in gift box $10, and 6 in gift box $12.50
Lest the industrial hemp subject get buried before the next NM legislative session, you can pick up an informative flyer in front of the glass brick window here at Joe’s. It is so important for our economy that we get this incredibly useful non-psychoactive crop legalized once again.
A Tuesday night tradition at Joe’s – it’s Spaghetti and Chianti Night. $29.95 for two will get you Caesar Salad, Spaghetti with homemade Bolognese and a great ½ ltr of Chianti. Wadda deal! The Bolognese sauce is made with our grass-fed-and-finished beef.
DiJa Know – your grandma was right. Fish is brain food. From the British Medical Journal Oct 25, 2002: a study of more than 1400 adults over age 68 showed that eating fish once a week reduced the incidence of dementia by a whopping 34%.
Stop it already! Stop it with the seedless fruit! Whoever the well-meaning horticulturists are who continue to develop these seedless varieties of fruit and vegetables, just stop it. Seedless watermelons take all the fun out of it, seedless grapes have little or no antioxidant properties – one of the reasons red wine is so good for us. Seedless cucumbers? What’s wrong with a little burp from time to time? Of course digging a little deeper into conspiracy – without seeds, no one can freely propagate these foods. Is that good? Is that bad? And for whom? You know what they say, follow the money. But my main beef – without seeds, much of the really potent nutrition is gone. Take grape seeds for example – packed with essential fatty acids, amino acids, and powerful flavonoids (such as proanthocyanidins), these little bitter seeds have been associated with multiple health benefits. Eaten on a regular basis they can improve cardiovascular health, reduce leg swelling and varicose veins, have anti-depressant effects, provide protection against certain types of cancer, offer weight loss benefits, treat depression, and even fight yeast infections caused by Candida.
So just stop it already with the seedless varieties!
Good things are worth waiting for. At Joe’s we do not buy pre-cooked items or microwave your food. We get the whole item and prepare it ourselves. Yes some items can take a little longer. But we trust that you appreciate the difference and can taste the difference. If not, be assured your body can and does know the difference.
Why do we keep hammering on this “buy local” theme? Many factors are out of our hands when it comes to our food supply. Most of what ends up on the American dinner table derives from a shockingly few giant agribusinesses. Their influence reaches from designing the (GMO) seeds to planting, fertilizing, processing and shipping. We as consumers cannot with confidence hand over the entire stewardship of our food to these few multinationals. Our passion here at Joe’s is for a local sustainable food supply – food produced by growers who are accountable for what they grow. KYG – Know Your Grower. We are able to look our local farmer in the eye and ask him about his growing practices or even visit his operation. This gives us the confidence that we are eating food that is healthy, wholesome, non-genetically engineered, often better than organic, humanely treated and minimally processed. It is grown with a smaller energy-use footprint and transported short distances. We cannot divorce human health, the economy, ecology, personal (perhaps spiritual) satisfaction or honorable work from food. Food is fundamental. What we eat, where it
comes from, the stewardship of food animals, the nurturing and building of soils – all these factors affect us at a cellular and visceral level. Santa Fe is fortunate to have one of the very best Farmers Markets in the nation. Here at Joe’s we offer this bounty to you, keeping dollars in the community. In the interest of transparency, in 2008 Joe’s spent $30,000 on local foods. In 2009, $60,000. Each year since 2012 we have far exceeded $100,000 per annum.
Land, economy, health – inseparable.
Tired of still paying for BB’s (big banks) bailouts? Of lining the pockets of the uber-rich Wall Street bankers? And still no commensurate convictions? DiJa know…in 2011 a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve found that the Fed gave 16 trillion dollars from American taxpayers to bail out the “too big to fail” banks with a hefty portion of it going to CEO’s obscene bonuses. Can you imagine — had this staggering figure been re-directed to the people of the US, how different the picture could have looked today? Manufacturing starts, “shovel-ready jobs”, skills training, road and bridge repairs, national parks, education, etc. Had that been bailed out to the American people, each man woman and child would have received $50,000! Every time we use a credit card, part of that 3%-5% fee contributes to the BB’s. Now let’s be real – in today’s world one cannot function without a credit card, but there are still (legal) alternatives that reduce our dependency on the BB’s and actually save us money. We have a couple of suggestions: (1.) Joe’s Check List – If you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on the list. (2.) Joe’s own credit card/gift card – purchase a $100 gift card with cash or check or silver or gold coin, get a $10 free bonus!
Giggles:
If you are having a bad day, just remember that on this day in 1976 Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake in Apple for $800. Now it’s worth $58,065,210,000.
Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM 87507
505-471-3800 www.JoesDining.com
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