Dija Know… Joe’s Restaurant Newsletter -73 July 2012

Frying an egg on the sidewalk

Holy Toledo, it’s been hot.  In our 22 years in SF we cannot recall a hotter, drier June. Here at Joe’s we are saving energy costs by frying all our eggs out on the patio sidewalk.
Yes we will be open all usual hours throughout the July 4th week — daily 7:30AM – 9:00PM.

Effective July1, we have a new state law on the books aimed at protecting New Mexico’s most iconic agricultural product.  From the Las Cruces Sun News. (http://bit.ly/LyQOwE)  ‘The New Mexico Chile Advertising Act makes it unlawful for vendors to label chile as being from New Mexico unless it was actually grown here.  The law includes groceries, restaurants, convenience stores, farmers’ markets and roadside vegetable stands.
Hatch farmer Jimmy Lytle said he’s hopeful the regulation will boost the chile industry in New Mexico. “All too often,” he said, “retailed chile is dubbed as New Mexico-grown, when in reality, it’s from other states or other countries.”
State Rep. Andy Nunez, an independent from the chile capital of Hatch, sponsored the law. It was approved then signed in by Gov. Susana Martinez in 2011.   Nunez said he wanted to end persistent deceptions occurring across the state. Chile from Peru, India, China and Mexico was being imported to New Mexico, then falsely billed on labels or menus as the home-state product.  “New Mexico chile is the best. We have to do our best to protect it” ­­­­­said Nunez.’

Agreed!

 

Far be it for me to push the issue ( ! ) but a critically important next step would be to label it as GMO chile or non-GMO chile. As puzzling as it may seem, we have chile growers in NM choosing to grow GE (genetically engineered) chile.
Joe’s Meet Your Farmer program, started May 2011, continues.  Here’s how it works. Every Saturday after Market (sometime after 1:30) we invite any and all of our local growers to come by Joe’s to relax over a meal and a beer. (We bribe them with a “good deal”).  You, our guests are invited to sit with them, chat with them, ask them questions about their growing practices.  And just generally get up-close and personal with Who Grows Your Food.
You are invited to join this event:
“Dear Roland, Local Organic Meals in a Budget (LOMB) is very excited to have you as our guest chef on July 11, 2012. We’ve named your class Bella Pasta and Fresh Mozzarella. Our goal is to teach class participants how to use fresh affordable foods from the Market to create yummy meals. Demonstrating your pulled mozzarella and making a pasta dish with market fresh veggies sounds great. We do hand out recipes to the participants. Classes begin at 5:45 pm, are 90 minutes long, and are at held at Kitchen Angels at 1222 Siler Road.” Susan Bower, LOMB Committee Volunteer

Phone to reserve:  505-466-3665

It’s a long story but so many people ask why we named it Joe’s. A couple of reasons.  One you can read on the latte mug, the sugar bowl on your table.  Briefly, we wanted to create the kind of restaurant at which we would want to eat every day as customers – unpretentious and comfortable but offering excellent quality local food.  Then there’s the romantic part of why we chose the name Joe’s.  Roland and Sheila crossed paths at a restaurant called Joe Allen in NYC.  Joe’s was (back in the 70’s and 80’s anyway) a theater hangout, a place where the NY theater “gypsies” met after dance classes or auditions or rehearsals.  Sheila often frequented Joe’s with friends. Roland had been sent as sous chef from the Joe Allen in London to the Joe Allen in NY to train to open the newest Joe Allen in Toronto. Several months later, when he arrived in Toronto, life’s odd twists had taken Sheila, totally independently, to Toronto as well. Without an agent or a Toronto show-biz network to afford a seamless career transition, she went to work in a somewhat familiar environment, the Joe Allen restaurant. And yes, it was pretty much love at first sight. A mere 8 years  (yup, 8 years) later they married. And here we are today!

 

Joe’s signature latte cups, tee shirts, beer glasses and wine glasses are all for sale.  Ask your waiter.

Tuesday is STILL Spaghetti and Chianti Night at Joe’s.  $29.95 for two will get you Caesar Salad, Spaghetti with homemade Bolognese and a great ½ ltr of Chianti.  A heads up – we can’t hold this price much longer. The beef is pricey (local, grass-finished).

It’s never too early to make your reservations.  It was a surprise, but a few guests have already called!  This year for our Wine Dinner (in conjunction with the Wine and Chile Fiesta) we are partnering with Galante Vineyards out of Carmel, CA.  Here are some excerpts about the winery.  “Our philosophy is simple: grow the finest grapes possible and let the fruit express itself in the wine. Since all of our grapes are estate grown, each bottle of wine we produce embodies the characteristics of our unique region, exhibiting the natural flavors that are born from the land.

The Galante Family has a long history in the Monterey area. Owner Jack Galante’s great grandfather, J.F. Devendorf, was the founder of the town of Carmel. In 1969, Jack’s parents purchased a 700-acre cattle ranch in rustic Carmel Valley. While still maintaining a working cattle ranch, the Galantes, in 1983, began growing premium grapes on their property, specializing in Cabernet Sauvignon.

Several factors influence the quality of the grapes grown at our vineyards. Due to the extreme daily temperature variations in Cachagua (upper Carmel Valley), the growing season is very long with harvest normally occurring in mid October. This long “hang time” ripens the grapes slowly, intensifying their rich berry flavors. We also thin the crop  . . . to provide a low yield of very high quality grapes. We do not use pesticides or herbicides and irrigate only when needed. These methods combine to produce the highest quality grapes.  Our vineyard names are also meaningful; for example, Blackjack Pasture is adjacent to the field where a favorite roping horse, Blackjack, spent the last of her 36 years.”

Roland is looking forward to pairing his dishes with these multi-award-winning wines. After tasting them the other day, Roland is inspired to reach back into his classic European training for some timeless cuisine.  But as you know by now, much will also be inspired by what is ripe, ready and seasonal from our local farmers at the last minute.  Reserve the evening – Sept 26, 6:30.  We are calling it “Continental Cowboy Classic”. It will be a fun evening.  Cowboy gear recommended – wine dribbles and food spots hardly show on plaid shirts!

 

Joel’s Salatin’s latest book – Folks, This Ain’t Normal – is available for sale here at Joe’s.  His beautiful Polyface Farm is located in VA and is a near perfect template for sustainable food-production. He is a humorous and articulate voice for taking back control of

our food and thereby our health and our economy.

Gluten free? Please check out our GF menu.  We now stock gluten free pasta as well (not a huge choice…yet).  Do ask.

Free food!  With a Joe’s gift card for $100 (when you pay with a check or cash) it is programmed to give you an additional $10 worth of free food or drinks or merchandise. This is our “frequent diner” card.

Joe’s hand-made French chocolate truffles.  Do you know anyone who wouldn’t love a little red bag of divine truffles?  $1.99 @  or 6 for the price of 5  — $9.95

Are you on Joe’s check list? Are you using your credit cards less frequently?  I know we are and somehow it is liberating.  Far less paperwork and fees and more fees.  Then there are the regulations – they change frequently and always in the BB’s (big banks) favor. We as taxpayers have contributed generously to the BB’s bailouts and their CEOs’ mega bonuses.  Well, enough is enough.  Here at Joe’s we are going retro and will do what we can to encourage guests to pay by personal check and of course time-honored cash and precious metals!  So if you are a “regular” and wish to pay by check, please ask your waiter to get you on Joe’s check list. It’s a one-step process. Couldn’t be easier.

Dija know: What 27 local restaurants combined buy from the SF Farmers Market in a year, Joe’s alone buys in under 2 months. Each year we increase our local spending. In the interest of transparency, in 2009  $69,000 went exclusively to local products, in 2010 that was over $80,000 and this year we expect to top $100,000 allocated to locally grown foods alone.

Chill out!  These may help – a tall iced Chai, an organic iced coffee made with coffee ice cubes, and our fabulous Haagen Dazs ice cream coffee float.

 

Joe’s is now on Twitter. Go to joesdining.com then click on the bird.  You may find some $urprise$ tweeted there from time to time.

Lost in translation:
   A sign posted in a laundry in Rome:
LADIES, LEAVE YOUR CLOTHES HERE AND SPEND THE AFTERNOON HAVING A GOOD TIME.
On a poster in Johannesburg:
ARE YOU AN ADULT THAT CANNOT READ?
IF SO WE CAN HELP. CALL THIS NUMBER.

 

Joe’s
2801 Rodeo Rd (at Zia Rd) Santa Fe, NM   87507
505-471-3800       www.JoesDining.com