Harvest Vine and Salumi Expand!

[Schielke]

This rules!!!!!!

Ben

[malarkey]

damn right it does!!

[mamster]

I thought this was the best part:

Wife "Marilyn and I are really excited about this," says Batali, who hopes to use his new facility to teach local chefs to cure their own meats. ("It shocks me that every chef in town doesn't make his own pancetta!") Even more exciting, he says, is that their daughter Gina and son-in-law Brian D'mato are moving to Seattle to become partners in the burgeoning family business.

This tiny business is doing incredible things for the quality of food at restaurants all over town, both by supplying expertise and fine ingredients and by raising the bar of what people expect in terms of quality. I love that!

Maybe I should try making my own pancetta--it's unsmoked, so I won't be treading on col klink's territory.

[nightscotsman]

That new "communal 'harvest table'" mentioned is just crying out for an eGullet gathering, don't ya think?

Thanks for pointing us to the good news, Schielke!

Edited December 8, 2002 by nightscotsman (log)

[col klink]

This is what cracked me up:

"Salumi's expansion — and its new curing room, designed to meet USDA standards — should be completed by next summer. "

At first I laughed, then I realized that along with bringing in more help, they're probably planning on making salumi not just for the restaurant but more than likely, expanding into high end supermarkets or mail-order. Though it's just a guess, I'm betting on the former.

[Schielke]

Yeah, maybe with more space and meat he can be open on the weekend so I can have some.

Ben

[Coop]

On a recent trip to Seattle we dined at the Harvest Vine. Of course I am thrilled to see it expanding. However I am surprised to hear the art gallery next door is prosperous. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. By the way the peppers stuffed with brandade is fab. As for Salumi perhaps some day I will be one of the blessed few who enter the much discussed heaven for salami.

[Blue Heron]

It will be very nice if we will be able to buy his products at our upscale grocery stores with the new curing room, but I can't say that I'm impressed with the addition of "a whopping 3 feet to the existing cafe", plus 1 table in the old curing room to seat 6. That's almost nothing. It will still be hard to get a table in there, unless one arrives when they open.

[thelastsupper]

I just noticed that H. V. was open until midnight! I have always had trouble getting in to this place, lamentably, as I have an ongoing crisis with Seattle's perception of Spanish food and I've heard de Jimenez is the real deal. These hours will make it somewhat easier to see what they're about. Nice to see they are running on Spanish time in terms of dining hours. Might be more pleasant after 9:30 anyway. . .

[trillium]

Word is that Armandino is actually stepping out of doing so much of the physical labor and training others to do it in his place. His retirement hobby kinda got out of hand and stopped being so much fun, I think.

I've been contemplating making my own pancetta too, especially when he insisted on coating it all with cinnamon for a while! The problem is, I can't find what I consider decent pork here in Portland yet. I was really spoiled buying "heritage" pig from a farmer in Indiana who let his pigs run around in pasture and eat grass instead of feed. The farmers here sell good but boring pork. It's just fresher and better quality than the stupidmarket but doesn't really taste any different. I think pancetta made with old-fashioned pork would be outta this world.

regards,

trillium