Slow Food Takes Over the City

IMG_00001433Last week, we told you about our unique relationship with old world butchers like the East Village Meat Market and small, sustainable farms such as Flying Pigs Farm. Our commitment to our menu has always been about the “slow food movement,” which was launched in 1986 by founder Carlo Petrini (who rumor has it will be at Jimmy’s No. 43 Sunday afternoon – hint hint). Slow food was initially coined as an alternative to fast food, but it has grown into an international movement that encourages farmers, food purveyors and everyone else (we all eat!) to embrace the local ecosystem and grow and raise food that fits into that ecosystem.

We’re proud to be part of the slow food movement, and we’ve extended our embrace of sustainability to many of our beers. We seek out and serve up local brewers, often before they hit “the big time.” For example, this week we’re featuring several beers from Brooklyn’s The Other Half, including:

  • *Veldrijden Love Saison – a 7.8% ABV big farmhouse ale
  • *Hop Showers IPA – a 7.4% ABV India Pale Ale
  • *Cool Summer Bro! – the last of their seasonal (and sessionable) 5.0% ABV Summer Wheat beer

And we have one final word on slow food and the post from last week. It suddenly dawned on us that non-charcuterie-knowledgable carnivores may not be familiar with the lardo we’ve sourced from EVMM and Flying Pigs. This delicious pork cut – also known as “fatback” – can only be obtained from a free-range, grass-fed pig; commercially raised pigs don’t have this naturally occurring fat. Fatback is a “hard fat” similar to lard (which is great for frying foods!) that can be salted and cured and served up as a sandwich meat.

We’re so sure you’re going to love fatback/lardo, that starting today at 6 p.m. and every day through the weekend (also in the evenings – while supplies last!) we’ll be serving up complimentary lardo toasts for you to sample. We’ll recommend some beers (or wine or cider) to pair, and hope you’ll take your step on the journey of being a slow food supporter. Cheers!